KORHow many days for framing? For drywall? A gut-feel answer works as long as your projects look alike. As soon as the house is bigger, or there's an extra storey, it goes wrong. The method that holds up starts from what you already have: the quantities from your takeoff.
The formula
Three ingredients:
- The quantity, in the same unit as the takeoff: linear feet of wall, square feet of floor or roof, number of fixtures.
- The production rate: what one crew does in one normal day (e.g. 200 sq. ft of flooring per day). This is your number: it depends on your crews, your methods and the type of project.
- The number of crews working on the activity at the same time.
Round up because a day started is a day on site. And an activity never lasts less than one day.
Starting production rates
The table below gives starting production rates, in round numbers, for a typical residential crew of 2 to 3 people. These are illustrative values, not market data: replace them with your own crews' numbers as soon as you have them.
| Activity | Measured as | Starting rate (1 crew) |
|---|---|---|
| 2x6 wall (framing) | wall length | 70 lin. ft / day |
| 2x4 wall (framing) | wall length | 100 lin. ft / day |
| Wall drywall | wall length | 60 lin. ft / day |
| Wall and partition painting | wall length | 120 lin. ft / day |
| Shingle roofing | roof area | 1,000 sq. ft / day |
| Flooring | area | 200 sq. ft / day |
| Plumbing (fixtures) | count | 3 fixtures / day |
Note that wall drywall and painting are measured here by wall length, like the framing: it's the same measurement, reused. The rate assumes a typical wall height; for 10-foot walls, lower it.
Complete example: a bungalow
Quantities measured on the plans (example): 136 lin. ft of 2x6 exterior walls, 180 lin. ft of 2x4 partitions (so 316 lin. ft of walls to board and paint), 1,450 sq. ft of roof, 850 sq. ft of flooring, 9 plumbing fixtures. One crew per activity.
| Activity | Calculation | Calculated days | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wall framing | 136 ÷ 70 = 1.94 + 180 ÷ 100 = 1.80 | 3.74 | 4 d |
| Wall drywall | 316 ÷ 60 | 5.27 | 6 d |
| Wall painting | 316 ÷ 120 | 2.63 | 3 d |
| Shingle roofing | 1,450 ÷ 1,000 | 1.45 | 2 d |
| Flooring | 850 ÷ 200 | 4.25 | 5 d |
| Plumbing (fixtures) | 9 ÷ 3 | 3.00 | 3 d |
With two crews
Doubling the crews halves the calculated days, but the rounding still goes up:
| Activity | Calculation (2 crews) | Calculated days | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wall drywall | 316 ÷ (60 × 2) | 2.63 | 3 d (instead of 6) |
| Flooring | 850 ÷ (200 × 2) | 2.13 | 3 d (instead of 5) |
| Plumbing (fixtures) | 9 ÷ (3 × 2) | 1.50 | 2 d (instead of 3) |
In reality, two crews don't always go twice as fast: they get in each other's way in a small house, wait for the same material or the same inspector. On a small building, keep some slack, or don't count more crews than the space allows.
Add up before rounding
When an activity covers several items (e.g. the 2x6 walls and the 2x4 partitions on the same floor), add up the calculated days, then round once. With 100 lin. ft of 2x6 and 120 lin. ft of 2x4:
| Method | Calculation | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Rounding each item | 100 ÷ 70 = 1.43 → 2 d; 120 ÷ 100 = 1.20 → 2 d | 4 d |
| Add up, then round | 1.43 + 1.20 = 2.63 | 3 d |
Rounding each piece up adds a day that doesn't exist. It's the same rule as for takeoff quantities: round at the end.
Another common approach: person-hours
Some estimators keep their rates as hours per unit rather than quantity per day. The calculation becomes:
Example, with a round number to replace with yours: 316 lin. ft of drywall at 0.25 h per lin. ft = 79 hours; with 2 people working 8 hours a day, 79 ÷ 16 = 4.94, so 5 days. Both methods lead to the same place; the hours method has the advantage of also feeding your labour cost. Pick the one your crews understand.
Keeping your rates up to date
A production rate is only as good as its source. The best source is your own jobs:
- Record the quantity actually installed and the number of days actually spent, activity by activity.
- Divide: that's your real rate for that type of project.
- Keep separate rates when conditions change a lot (cathedral ceilings, steep roofs, winter).
After three or four projects, your durations will be more accurate than any starting value.
When quantities change
An addendum adds a room, the client enlarges the deck: quantities change, so durations do too. Recalculate the duration, but don't replace it blindly: if your superintendent already adjusted a duration for a good reason (difficult access, smaller crew), keep that choice.
With KOR
In KOR, the production rate is set on a takeoff item or on its template: a quantity per day (in feet or metres) and a number of crews, with the resulting duration shown. The starter templates come with starting rates like the ones in the table above, to be adjusted. The "Starting schedule" button creates one activity per trade and per section (e.g. Basement, Ground floor), with duration = quantity ÷ rate ÷ crews (days added up before rounding, minimum 1 day), linked finish-to-start in construction order. When the takeoff changes, a new duration is suggested, never imposed. Two more modules are in preparation: bid management and project management.
In short
- Duration = quantity ÷ (rate × crews), rounded up, minimum 1 day.
- The rate is one crew's output in one day: it's your number, not a table's.
- Add up an activity's days before rounding.
- More crews doesn't always mean faster.
- Measure your real rates and keep them current.