BCGBC4007A Plan building or construction work

Organise labour

Determining labour requirements 

Calculating labour constant
Example 1
A bricklayer may lay 500 standard bricks in an eight hour day. To calculate the average number of bricks per hour: 
500 ÷ 8 = 62.5 or just 63 (by rounding up) for ease of calculation. 
This figure is referred to as a labour constant. It is used in calculating the number of hours of bricklaying required to lay bricks for a house of a given size.
Question 1
If a bricklayer lays 400 bricks in an eight hour day, what is the average number of bricks laid per hour?
A.     	42
B.     	45
C.     	50
D.     	53
The correct answer is C - 50. That's because 400 ÷ 8 = 50.

Example 2
A house job requires the laying of 8,000 bricks. Using the labour constant of 50 from the previous question, the number of hours to lay these bricks is 8,000 ÷ 50 = 160. 
Question 2
Using the labour constant of 50 bricks per hour how many hours of bricklaying are required to lay 6,000 bricks?
A.     	130
B.     	143
C.     	150
D.     	750
The correct answer is A - 130. That's because 6000 ÷ 50 = 120 which gives the number of hours of bricklaying required to lay 6,000 bricks.

Example 3
If 120 hours of bricklaying are required to complete the job, the number of days of bricklaying required is: 120 ÷ 8 = 15 days.
Question 3
What is the number of days (assume eight hour days) needed to complete 180 hours bricklaying?
A.     	15
B.     	18
C.     	20
D.     	22.5
The correct answer is D - 22.5. that's because 180 ÷ 8 = 22.5, which could be rounded to 23 days.

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