Labor rates

Settings > Labor rates holds your wage rates as rate sets. Keep as many sets as you need: your open shop rates, a union local's rates, a prevailing wage or Davis-Bacon determination, or a custom set for one job. crux uses them to price labor on your estimates.

What a rate set holds#

• Name of this rate set (for example a union local and year).
• What kind of rates: Open shop, Union, Prevailing wage, Davis-Bacon, or Custom for one job. Union and prevailing wage sets also ask where they apply.
• Effective date (optional).
• One row per Classification, with Base $/hr, Fringe $/hr, Burden %, OT x (the overtime multiplier), and the Burdened $/hr crux works out.

Add or change rates#

You never type into a spreadsheet here. Every change is shown to you before anything is saved.

• Add a rate set: fill in the set's details and its rows, then Check these rows. Review, then save.
• Upload a file…: pick your wage sheet (Excel, CSV, PDF or Word). For a table, match each thing crux needs to a column in your file, then Check these rows. A PDF or Word document is read with you in a chat instead.
• Import a folder…: point crux at a folder of rate files. It reads each one, sorts labor, prices and production rates, and shows everything in one review. Nothing is saved until you click Save. See Import a folder of rate files.
• Save an example template to my Desktop: a blank sheet in the right shape. Fill it in, save it, then upload it.
• Edit with crux: opens a new chat where you say what to change in plain words, like "bump all wages 3%". You see every change before anything is saved.

Edit changes a set; Delete removes it (you are asked first). The search box finds a set by name, kind or where it applies.

Burden on fringe#

Apply burden to fringe paid to plans is a company setting. Off (the usual): burden is charged on the wage and on fringe paid as cash, not on fringe paid to union benefit plans. Turn it on if your insurer or accountant burdens the whole fringe. A rate set can follow the company setting or make its own choice.

Import a folder of rate files#

1. Click Import a folder… on Labor rates, Materials or Production rates (or in the setup wizard).
2. Choose the folder. crux reads every file (and its subfolders), and sorts what it finds.
3. One review lists only the rows that are new or change what crux uses today, each file's notes and problems, supplier quotes, and documents to read with crux in a chat.
4. Fix or leave out any file (Leave this file out, Put it back, Change the set), then Save all. Or Cancel the import: nothing changes.

Prevailing wage jobs#

When a bid requires prevailing wage or Davis-Bacon, crux reads what the documents require and asks you which determination applies. It never assumes a jurisdiction.