Cost build-ups

A build-up is the reason a line total is not just “quantity × a remembered unit rate.” Infrenta’s estimating methods compile cost items from the resources and rules that actually drive the work.

The methods available depend on the item. Not every line uses every component below.

Materials

Material build-ups can include raw material, yield, BOM explosion, scrap, and related conversion steps. Steel items may also compile galvanizing where the method calls for it. The intent is to keep mill, fabrication, and coating logic from collapsing into a single undocumented rate.

Labour

Crew and production methods attach labour hours to quantities and productivity. A labour total should be explainable as crew composition × duration or production, not as a rounded number that no longer matches the schedule assumption.

Equipment

Equipment can appear as owned or rented spread cost, production equipment, or quoted equipment packages. The engine distinguishes a vendor equipment quote from a factored installation so reviewers can see which numbers are market quotes and which are allowances.

Subcontractors

Subcontract scope is typically represented as quoted or allowance-based items, not as a hidden remainder after internal costs. If a subcontractor quote is the source, the trace should say so.

Allowances

Allowances, plugs, and fixed amounts are semantically distinct in the compiler. An allowance is a conscious incomplete. It should remain visible as an allowance rather than looking like a measured cost.

Indirect costs

Indirects can include duration-based costs, trucking, freight, engineering, and contingency-related items depending on the method pack. Duration indirects exist so a longer installation duration is not invisible to the commercial picture.

Why build-ups matter

When a number cannot be opened, teams argue from memory. When a number can be opened into materials, crew, equipment, freight, and allowances, a reviewer can challenge the assumption instead of the personality of the estimator.

Continue with Markups and adjustments and Explain This Number.