NECA Project Management & Estimating 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: When performing a labor unit analysis for electrical estimating, what does the term 'labor unit' represent?
- The hourly wage rate for a journeyman electrician
- The number of man-hours required to install one unit of material (Correct answer)
- The total labor cost for an entire project
- The ratio of foreman hours to journeyman hours
Correct answer: The number of man-hours required to install one unit of material
A labor unit is the number of man-hours required to install one unit of a specific material under normal conditions.
Question 2: Which scheduling technique uses a probabilistic approach by defining optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic durations for each activity?
- Critical Path Method (CPM)
- Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) (Correct answer)
- Gantt chart scheduling
- Resource leveling
Correct answer: Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
PERT uses three-point duration estimates (optimistic, most likely, pessimistic) to account for schedule uncertainty.
Question 3: In electrical project management, what is the primary purpose of a Schedule of Values?
- To list material prices from suppliers
- To allocate the total contract value across work items for progress billing (Correct answer)
- To define the sequence of work activities
- To calculate the project's critical path
Correct answer: To allocate the total contract value across work items for progress billing
A Schedule of Values breaks down the contract sum by work items so progress payments can be accurately calculated and billed.
Question 4: What does a 'productivity factor' of 0.85 indicate on an electrical project?
- Workers are operating at 115% of standard efficiency
- Workers are operating at 85% of the standard labor unit efficiency (Correct answer)
- Only 85% of the work has been completed
- Material waste is 15% above expected levels
Correct answer: Workers are operating at 85% of the standard labor unit efficiency
A productivity factor of 0.85 means the crew is performing at 85% of the standard published labor unit, requiring more hours than baseline.
Question 5: Which of the following is considered an indirect cost in electrical contracting?
- Wire and conduit installed on the project
- Journeyman labor hours for device installation
- Project superintendent's salary (Correct answer)
- Circuit breakers specified in the drawings
Correct answer: Project superintendent's salary
Indirect costs like superintendent salaries are not directly tied to specific installed items but support overall project execution.
Question 6: When calculating a bid, an electrical contractor adds overhead and profit after determining the bare cost. If bare cost is $400,000, overhead is 15%, and profit is 10%, what is the total bid?
- $500,000
- $506,000 (Correct answer)
- $510,000
- $460,000
Correct answer: $506,000
Overhead: $400,000 × 1.15 = $460,000; then profit: $460,000 × 1.10 = $506,000.
Question 7: In project scheduling, 'float' or 'slack' refers to which of the following?
- The number of workers available beyond project requirements
- The amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the project completion (Correct answer)
- Excess material ordered above the quantity takeoff
- The buffer added to each activity's duration estimate
Correct answer: The amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the project completion
Float is the amount of time a non-critical activity can be delayed without affecting the overall project completion date.
NECA Project Management & Estimating 2
When performing a labor unit analysis for electrical estimating, what does the term 'labor unit' represent?