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various lines and features of the work, for the purpose of assisting in reducing cost of production. He collates the reports received from the foremen, which give the number of men employed, the hours worked, the features of work on which they were engaged, and the quantity of work produced. He verifies the hours earned by means of the timekeeper's record, and the quantities of material and the units of work actually installed by means of the material clerk's records. He then determines from the foremen's reports what the unit costs of production have been each day. When there is any indication that any of the costs should, or possibly could, be reduced, he makes such investigations and does such timing of labor steps as is necessary to determine where the reduction, if any, can be accomplished.

THE WATCHMEN. The watchmen guard the works day and night. They should allow no one on the job except those having business on it. On large operations persons wishing to enter the works should be required to present an admission card. The watchmen should not permit anyone to leave the works with a bag, bundle, or load without an order from the material clerk or superintendent authorizing its removal.

THE FOREMEN, MECHANICS, AND LABORERS. The foremen are charged with organizing the work of the workmen under them, and using every effort to keep the workmen's output at its highest point. They keep records of the number of hours worked by the men under their charge and the number of units of each feature of the work performed daily. These records are given to the production clerk.

The remainder of the field force is composed of laborers and mechanics (unskilled and skilled workmen), who physically execute the work of construction from the digging of the first shovel of earth, through foundation work, steel erection,

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brick-laying, fireproofing, and any other trades, until the work is completed and ready for delivery to the owner.

Part-Time Employees

The contractor sometimes employs men to supervise and in other ways to assist in the progress of the work but who have their headquarters in the contractor's general office. Some of the men frequently and regularly visit the site and hold conferences with the superintendent and other members of the job organization at the site or in the office, with a view to solving structural problems and advising on methods to be followed.

Other men visit the mills and shops where material is being manufactured for delivery to the job in order to inspect it as to quality and to see that it will be ready for shipment in time to be delivered at the job when needed. They also trace railroad cars from the mill to destination and from one railroad division or transfer point to another so as to have the cars move along quickly.

There are draftsmen who promote the progress of the job by seeing that everyone interested is furnished with whatever plans and specifications are needed to complete his work on time. They prepare full-sized details from the architect's drawings which are termed “shop drawings." These are elaborations of the architect's drawings in such form as is necessary to enable the mills and shops to manufacture material to the exact dimensions and shapes required.

The charges for the services of these men are all items of cost of construction. The fact that desk room is provided in the main office for handling their work does not cause the salaries of the employees to be part of the contractor's general overhead. The services furnished are services which the construction of all jobs requires.

Very frequently a single type of service is not sufficient to occupy a man's entire time during the progress of a job. If

a man were assigned direct to the operation and placed on the works, part of his time would be unproductive. By giving him desk room in the contractor's office, each operation is charged only for the actual time devoted to it. It is evident that this part-time plan means a considerable saving in the cost of any particular job.

The employees who give their time to more than one job usually keep a time slip which indicates the time spent on each job every day and which is approved by the department head. The employee's salary is prorated over the jobs on which he worked during each payroll period.

Field Office

The contractor must maintain a field office in which to keep all the plans and other records used on the job from day to day, and in which to prepare records and reports for submission to his main office. Some of these records and reports are the data on which the accounting department bases its entries. One purpose of Part I of this book is to make the reader thoroughly familiar with what happens in the field in connection with this data, such as payrolls, reports of material received, shipments of contractor's equipment, etc. The architect's representative generally has an office in the temporary structure in which the field office is housed. The maintenance of the field office requires the installation of telephones, heating apparatus, electric light and the furnishing of stationery and drafting supplies and office furniture, all of which are essential to the conduct of the work.

Employment of Mechanics and Laborers

When a laborer or mechanic seeks employment at the job site, he sees the foreman in charge of his line of work. The foreman engages him and issues an employment ticket

(Form 8). The foreman indicates the date and hour of the workman's employment, his trade and the rate per hour he is to receive. All writing on the tickets should be in indelible pencil.

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Form 8. Employment and Discharge Ticket (Duplicate Form)

This form is so printed on both sides that when folded a carbon duplicate is obtained. Double-faced carbon sheets only should be used. These tickets are numbered serially before being issued to a timekeeper, and each numbered ticket must be accounted for.

One form is preferably used for both employment and discharge of men as a convenience to the foremen. The foremen cross out all words except "Start" when employing a man, and similarly all except "Layoff" or "Discharge" when laying off or discharging men. The difference between "Layoff" and "Discharge" is that a "Layoff" is generally regarded as resulting from the completion of work, and "Discharge" from all other causes. "Quit" refers to a workman's taking his pay and never returning to work.

The workman takes the employment ticket to the timekeeper's office. The timekeeper assigns him a number by which

the workman is known during his employment. The workman is required to sign both copies of the employment ticket. He is given a brass identification check, numbered to correspond with the number assigned him by the timekeeper, and reports to a foreman to begin work.

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Form 9. Employment and Discharge Ticket (Stub Form)

The size of the above employment and discharge ticket is 21⁄2 x 51⁄2 inches, including the stub. It can be used when the workman's signature is not considered necessary. Such tickets are bound in serially numbered books. The workman is given a ticket by the foreman. The details of employment or discharge are entered on the ticket and copied on the stub remaining in the book. The books are returned to the office. The data on the stub is compared with the entries on the payroll sheet.

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The employment ticket, approved by the foreman and the superintendent, is the timekeeper's authority for entering on the payroll (Form 10) a workman's name, starting time, and rate of pay. The original copy of the employment ticket is retained by the timekeeper until the end of the payroll period and forwarded to the office with the completed payroll. The duplicate copy, however, is mailed daily to the office.

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