Construction Equipment Costs & Management Flashcards
7 cards from real CPE practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Construction Equipment Costs & Management flashcards as text
The Caterpillar Performance Handbook is primarily used in construction estimating to:
Answer: Obtain equipment production rates and performance data for cycle time calculations
The Caterpillar Performance Handbook provides detailed production rates, machine specifications, and performance data used to calculate equipment cycle times and output in estimates.
In earthwork estimating, 'bank measure' (BCM or BCY) refers to material:
Answer: In its natural, undisturbed, in-place condition
Bank measure describes material in its natural undisturbed state before excavation; this is the baseline measurement from which swell and shrinkage factors are applied.
The 'swell factor' in earthwork and equipment estimating accounts for:
Answer: Volume increase when soil is excavated from its natural undisturbed state
Swell factor reflects the volume increase—typically 10–40% depending on soil type—that occurs when soil is broken up and loosened during excavation.
Job efficiency factor is applied to ideal equipment production rates in estimating to account for:
Answer: The difference between ideal operating conditions and actual field conditions
Job efficiency factors (typically expressed as a percentage of ideal output) adjust theoretical production rates to reflect real-world conditions such as operator skill, grade, surface conditions, and management effectiveness.
A crawler-mounted excavator is generally preferred over a wheel-mounted excavator when:
Answer: Working in soft, muddy, or unstable ground conditions
Crawler excavators distribute weight over a larger track surface area, providing superior stability and flotation in soft or unstable ground where wheeled machines would sink or lose traction.
When performing a rent-versus-buy analysis for construction equipment, the financial 'break-even point' is defined as:
Answer: When total cost of ownership equals total cost of renting for the same time period and use
The break-even point occurs when the total life-cycle cost of ownership (depreciation, interest, insurance, maintenance) equals what renting would have cost for the same utilization period.
In equipment production estimating, 'cycle time' is defined as:
Answer: The elapsed time required to complete one full work cycle of an operation
Cycle time is the total time for one complete operation cycle (e.g., load, haul, dump, return for a truck), which directly determines production output per hour when divided into 60 minutes.