Labour, Material and Expenses recorded week by week — Sunday to Saturday — is the fastest honest picture of a site. Attendance by trade gives you productivity; material quantity and rate gives you consumption; expenses catch the leakage everyone forgets.
Cumulate every week into a running project cost and compare it against the BOQ value of the work completed. When the two lines separate, you have found the problem while it is still small.
Remember on site
- Record daily, close weekly, cumulate always.
- Compare cumulative spend against the value of work done, not against the budget calendar.
- Rates change between purchases — store the rate with the day, not the item.
Check yourself
In a weekly L-M-E cost sheet, what does the 'L' stand for?
In attendance recording, what unit does a full 8-hour working day count as?
How is a half-day of labour attendance typically recorded?
Why are weekly cumulative L-M-E sheets maintained instead of only daily entries?
What should always accompany a material purchase entry in the expense sheet?
If weekly material spend is high but very little work progress is visible, what should the site engineer do first?
What does 'E' in the L-M-E cost tracking system represent?
A mason attends site for 4 hours out of a standard 8-hour day. What attendance value should be logged?
Comparing weekly spend against 'work done' is best measured by which method?
Why is escalation of cost variances important in weekly tracking?
Which of these is a labour cost entry in the weekly L-M-E sheet?
What is the main benefit of tracking L, M and E separately rather than as one lump cost?