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When the foreman acts as timekeeper, he generally also checks and reports delivery of material.

Time Kept by Workmen

Individual time cards are sometimes carried by workmen. These cards provide sufficient spaces for each workman to enter daily his earned time. The foreman approves each individual card, and the hours are posted from the cards to the payroll sheets prepared in the contractor's office. These individual cards, however, are impractical for unskilled labor.

Analysis of Wages

The distribution of wages among the different cost subdivisions is sometimes provided for by adding columns to the payroll sheet (Form 10) at the right, of those showing the daily time and wages earned. The timekeeper or the foreman inserts the feature of work on which mechanics and laborers were daily engaged.

Field Manual

A field manual should be prepared containing instructions to members of the job organization. These instructions should outline the procedure to be followed by them and any special construction directions the contractor wishes to impress on his organization.

Photographing Work

Photographs should be taken from time to time showing the progress of the work and the actual field conditions. These photographs should be properly inscribed with the name of the operation and the date taken and the number of the photograph, each job having its own series.

CHAPTER IV

THE CONTRACTOR AND THE MATERIAL DEALER

Prompt Buying Important

It is of prime importance that as soon as a contractor has secured a contract for new work, he should promptly sign the contracts with the subcontractors who are to perform part` of the work and should also enter into written agreements for the purchase of materials, supplies, and services. It is important that these contracts and agreements be executed without delay, not only because of the possibility of market fluctuations increasing his cost and reducing his profit, but also to enable the subcontractors to perform their work and material dealers to deliver supplies at the job site at the times the time schedule shows is necessary to complete the work on contract time.

The furnishing and installation of materials by subcontractors will be discussed in Chapter V, "The Contractor and the Subcontractor." The present chapter will treat only of material purchased for installation by the contractor's own organization.

Bills of Material

Careful purchasing of materials means buying at the most advantageous prices and securing deliveries when they will be required at the job. This can only be done by the preparation of lists showing the kinds and quantities of materials to be bought and the dates on which they will be needed. These lists, called "bills of material," are prepared by the estimating department from a recheck of their quantity sheets

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K. S. Kerbaugh, Inc.
Contractor

Kensico Dam, Part of New York City Catskill Water Supply System
(307 feet high and containing 960,000 cubic yards of masonry)

J. Waldo Smith, Chief Engineer, Board of Water Supply

giving the quantities and kinds of materials shown on the plans and in the specifications.

Purchase of Bulk Materials

These "bills of material" are given to the purchasing agent, who negotiates for the purchase of the material. He requests bids from dealers supplying different classes of material. These bids are tabulated when received and contracts are awarded to the material men quoting the lowest prices consistent with delivery when needed.

The contract with the owner or the specifications often require the submitting of samples to the architect for his approval before any contract is entered into with the material dealers. When samples of material have been furnished and approved, a requirement is inserted in the contract that material delivered under the agreement shall equal the sample submitted.

Purchase Agreements

After a decision has been reached as to the material dealer to whom the contract is to be given, a purchase agreement is prepared. These purchase agreements usually contain the following provisions:

1. Description of the material to be furnished.
2. The point at which delivery is to be made.

3. Requirement that defective or unsuitable material is to be
removed by the seller.

4. A clause protecting the contractor and owner against any suits for damage which might result through a claim for infringement of patents.

5. The exact date when delivery shall begin, and the date when final shipment is to be made.

6. Requirement for the seller carrying insurance for his employees and others when there is any possibility of a liability being passed to the contractor by statutes.

7. Responsibility for losses to contractor or owner occasioned by failure to make deliveries within time specified, unless such failure is due to causes beyond the control of the material dealer.

8. Purchase price, cash discount allowed for prompt payment, and quantity discount to be given whenever such discount is customarily allowed.

Material is very often purchased at carload prices. When there is a possibility of additional teaming being required, or some deliveries being "team-load deliveries" out of stock, provisions should be embodied in the agreement covering the prices for the additional teaming and the "team-load deliveries."

A form of agreement used by a large construction company is given in the Appendix (Form E).

APPROXIMATE QUANTITIES. Purchase agreements should state the quantity of material to be furnished, but it should be clearly indicated that this quantity is approximate only and that the agreement is intended to cover the requirements of the work. The purpose of this is to avoid giving an order for a greater or smaller quantity than will be needed to complete the job. An agreement with a stated quantity becomes, as lawyers express it, a "firm contract" for quantity specified. This quantity may be in excess of actual needs, leaving the contractor with unused material to dispose of when work is finished, or it may be too small, necessitating his purchasing the remainder needed for the work at possibly a higher price.

USES OF AGREEMENTS. Several copies of the purchase agreements should be prepared. The material dealer, the purchasing agent, and the accounting department should each receive a copy of the complete agreement. The superintendent of the job and the expediting department are each given a

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