BuildWellIndirect costs
Indirect costs are costs that support the work but aren’t tied to a specific task, such as supervision, temporary facilities, project insurance and site cleanup.
The term is used in two ways. On a single job, indirect costs, often called general conditions, are project costs that don’t belong to one task: the superintendent’s time, a portable toilet, temporary power, site protection, final cleaning, and job-specific insurance or bonds. Across the business, indirect costs often means overhead: costs that support all jobs.
General conditions are real job costs, so list them in the estimate. On a longer job they grow with time rather than with the amount of work, which is why a schedule delay costs money even when no extra work gets done.
Company overhead is usually recovered as a percentage added to every job or built into your labor rate.
Whatever you call them, the risk is the same: costs that aren’t on any line get left out. Keep a checklist of general conditions and run through it on every estimate, from permits and dumpsters to protection for floors and the cleanup at the end.
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- Card and bank payments, no extra BuildWell fee
- iPhone, Android and the web
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