# Making material lists on T&M jobs...



## mdshunk (Mar 13, 2005)

I've tried several methods to take material lists on T&M jobs and service calls. Sometimes I try to write the items down on a pad as I take them off the truck, and sometimes I count and measure up after the work is done. I generally have ended up counting and measuring after the work is done, as I often use things that might be kicking around in my bags. 

Wire and cable is often a problem. It's a pain to measure up afterwards, as it takes a little time to do it accurately. I've been experimenting lately, and I've come up with a method that works pretty darned well for NM, UF, and MC cable. 

I bought a few 50 lb. digital fish scales. (Berkley Cat. No. FS50, $19.99 at Gander Mountain). I made some charts with lengths and weights of every gauge and type of wire we carry on the truck. Just weigh the coil when you take it off the truck, and weight it again when you put it back. Look up that weight on the chart under the type of wire, and it will tell you how many feet you used. I've been doing this for about a month now, and it's really speeding up the tally on how much wire was used on a service call or T&M job. Just thought I'd pass that along.


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## ron schenker (Dec 11, 2005)

Sounds like something you could custom fit to the electrical industry. Market it properly and you could become rich beyond your wildest imagination(which I would guess is *pretty* wild) You need a catchy name...something like
"Digiwire scale" or "Shunk's wire weight scale"
If you're looking for a partner, I want first dibs!

All joking aside though, this sounds like a great way of figuring out how much wire you used. Believe it or not, I used to use this method when I was in the vending/amusement business to count quarters from the video games in our arcade. Rather than roll up the coins, we weighed out $100 Glad freezer lock baggies. We would then sell the bags to the change machine and take out bills. Saved an awful lot of time.


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## Speedy Petey (Sep 30, 2003)

I see this in manufacturing and shipping facilities. They use counting scales. Weigh one (or a few) small items and the scale calculates what one weighs. 
Then every time a worker throws an item in the bin it counts it, actually it weighs it. You can throw 13 in the bin and it knows exactly what 13 items weigh.

I never thought to implement this into wire measuring. 
GOOD IDEA Marc. 
I may try it out.


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## mdshunk (Mar 13, 2005)

Hey... we might be onto something here. Get in touch with the OEM for these digital fish scales and turn them into counting scales. Have a button for each gauge and type of wire, then hang it. If anyone wants to follow through with that, the idea is yours for the taking...


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2006)

You should take the charts, laminate them, and sell them at places like Home depot, Lowes local hardware stores etc. You could also make you own sacales. Just by the ones now, make a small plastic panels with the memory stored in there and stuff. Tho that might be a little hard to do....Sweet idea tho. 

Josh


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## mdshunk (Mar 13, 2005)

OsNap said:


> You should take the charts, laminate them, and sell them at places like Home depot, Lowes local hardware stores etc. Sweet idea btw.
> 
> Josh


Threre you go... I'll put you in charge of that. Feel free...


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2006)

Sweet, I just need a chart, and I can copy and stuff, humm...I know that girl that works in the school office were the laminator is humm....


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## GregS (Oct 1, 2006)

You just need it to measure the length?

Is there no foot markers on electrical sheathing like there is on low-voltage cabling? Or is that a pain in the ass compared to weighing it.. 

I run LV in a lot of new houses and just charge the builders a flat rate to pull. So if it's 30 metres or 1 metre is the same amount. It works out in my favour in the end 

Same for post-closing houses. I pull through basements and attics for additional drops and charge a flat rate for that, regardless of the run length... That is unless it is REALLY long.

With the rising cost of copper my box costs are going up so I am raising my rates accordingly.


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## mdshunk (Mar 13, 2005)

The Cat5e and the Series 6 cable that I use both have footage markings. NM, UF, and MC do not.


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## JamesNLA (Jun 2, 2006)

ok, here comes my $.02

I am all for the digital age, and things not analoge.

Imagine a wire rack with ...whatever 15-20 rolls of various wire types.

In the center of the spool, is a device that act's like a bearing of sort. The inner part is stationary the outter part is moving with the actual spool. With the help of pre programming different wire types, even a little network that can talley all the different wire types and weights. 
Heck, go one step further, and have it make an .XLS file you can transfer to SD card, for computer accounting. I imagine a guy on commercial jobs for weeks on end, it could be made to talley any way one wants. 

Now, what will make this a good idea or not is if it can be sold with a profit. 

I like it!


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## Guest (Nov 13, 2006)

I got it! Put all of your wire on reels, then take one of thoses things the mesures distance when you roll it across something, and mount it to the side, dam i good. lol


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## mdshunk (Mar 13, 2005)

OsNap said:


> I got it! Put all of your wire on reels, then take one of thoses things the mesures distance when you roll it across something, and mount it to the side, dam i good. lol


Wouldn't work. When you're in a home that is occupied, you're luck to find a spot to sit down an ordinary roll of cable, let along some mechanical contraption in addition to it. You're crawled back in crawl spaces, in attics, etc. Anything in addition to the plain roll of cable won't work in the field.


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## GregS (Oct 1, 2006)

mdshunk said:


> NM, UF, and MC do not.


You'd figure that would be an option considering it's done on pretty much all the cat3, cat5e, cat6 and RG6 cable these days.


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## RobertWilber (Mar 5, 2006)

hey md...
'nother new picture...
have a tough week?
you've aged BADLY in the last coupla days ...:whistling 

I like the scale idea, but it seems like just another piece of crap to break...
and you have to remember to mark the estimated remaining wire length on the leftover coil after you deduct your usage, or you could start charging phenomenal prices for wire...

I keep a field log and neurotically notate everything I use as I go along, though I do charge for "assemblies" to includes screws, clamps, etc. and I make these numbers up on the spot, weighting them by feel.

...but I charge out each cable run as I pull it, unless I am using full coils
I don't think twenty feet of wire matters either way, when you charge for 400 feet and considering the labor rates people pay.


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## reveivl (May 29, 2005)

JamesNLA,
"ok, here comes my $.02

I am all for the digital age, and things not analoge.

Imagine a wire rack with ...whatever 15-20 rolls of various wire types.

In the center of the spool, is a device that act's like a bearing of sort. The inner part is stationary the outter part is moving with the actual spool. With the help of pre programming different wire types, even a little network that can talley all the different wire types and weights."

That would average out ok, but the length of wire/rotation varies dramatically between the first wrap and the last...


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## Sparky Joe (Apr 29, 2006)

So who is the picture of now? Can't say it's you since we all know you look like Charlie Manson now.


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## mdshunk (Mar 13, 2005)

Sparky Joe said:


> So who is the picture of now? Can't say it's you since we all know you look like Charlie Manson now.


It was pointed out to me, by a respected and reveared leader in our industry whose name we all know well, that a picture of that person as my avatar was not in the best interest of my brand image. For now, out of professional recpect for this person and confusion on my part, I changed it to a wise old man.


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## Sparky Joe (Apr 29, 2006)

So is that what a wise old man looks like, I always wondered


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## Speedy Petey (Sep 30, 2003)

mdshunk said:


> ...I changed it to a wise old man.


So now is that you?


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## mdshunk (Mar 13, 2005)

Speedy Petey said:


> So now is that you?


No, I'm just a regular guy. I still look like Charlie.


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