Understanding unit price books

What is in a unit price?

A JOC price book, also called a unit price book or UPB, lists construction tasks with units of measure and unit prices. Books can contain tens of thousands of line items. An entry’s full task description and unit matter more than a familiar search-result title.^[1][2]

Unit prices include direct material, labor and equipment costs, but not indirect costs or profit. A contractor’s coefficient is a separate factor covering costs outside those unit prices, such as general and administrative and other overhead, insurance and bonding.

Find entries for the described work

Illustrative example: a school district needs damaged ceiling tiles replaced and a corridor repainted over a holiday break. The scope identifies the affected tiles, painting surfaces, access and proposed work hours. The task examples below are scope descriptions, not quotations from a particular price book.

Search the specified book for entries representing the ceiling and painting work. Compare each candidate’s full description with the scope. Check whether associated tasks are included in that description before selecting additional entries.

Keep the actual entry reference beside the scope task. If a selection does not fit, resolve the difference rather than rewriting the scope to resemble the first available entry. The intended work determines which selection needs to be justified, not the other way around.

Check the unit before the quantity

For each line item, pricing multiplies book unit price by quantity and the contractor’s coefficient. A quantity only makes sense alongside the selected entry’s unit. Retain the takeoff calculation so another reviewer can see how the site measurements became that quantity.^[2]

For the corridor painting, compare the measured surfaces with the actual unit used by the selected entry. Convert measurements to that unit explicitly where needed. Keep excluded adjoining surfaces out of the takeoff unless the scope is revised to include them.

For the ceiling work, mark which tile locations produced the quantity and confirm that it matches the selected entry’s unit. Do not assume every entry is priced by a count of tiles. When similar entries use different units or describe different work, document the reason for the selection.

• Locate the complete entry in the specified book.
• Compare its task description with the corridor scope.
• Confirm its unit and retain any measurement conversion.
• Trace its quantity to labeled takeoff notes.
• Check associated tasks for both omissions and overlapping selections.

Apply the appropriate coefficient

Contractors bid their coefficient or coefficients. Solicitations may distinguish normal working hours from other than normal working hours, and work outside normal hours is generally expected to carry a higher factor. Show the category beside the coefficient rather than leaving the reviewer to infer it.^[1][4]

The school’s holiday break is an access window, not a coefficient definition. Compare the proposed work hours with the solicitation’s categories. If the schedule changes, review the category as well as the quantity and task selections before recalculating the proposal.

Keep non-prepriced work identifiable

Work not in the book is non-prepriced work. Non-prepriced items generally carry a coefficient above 1.00. Identify that work separately instead of choosing a poorly fitting book entry to hide the gap.^[4]

Describe the task and its location, document why the proposed book selection does not represent it and assemble the support required by the pricing instructions. For the corridor, distinguish a question about what a selected entry includes from a task that is not represented in the book. Resolve the first question before treating the task as non-prepriced.

Review the selections, then the total

Because both parties use the same book, negotiation is mostly about selected items and quantities. For the corridor, resolve which tiles and surfaces are included, whether each entry represents that work and whether the measurements support its quantity. Then check the factor and arithmetic.^[3]

Record the outcome beside the affected entry. If the painting boundary changes, revise the scope, takeoff and priced quantity together. Keep the final matching scope and proposal with the issued job order so the work team receives the same package the reviewer accepted.