Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Your project estimate.
Your project estimate who?
Your project estimate was just blown out of the water 😊
If you’re crying/laughing, it’s probably because you’ve been there.
Marine projects have a way of deviating ever so subtly away from the final cost of the job. 30 minutes get logged late here and there, something takes longer to fix than originally thought, parts ordering got messed up, and the final tally doesn’t look quite like the original estimate. It happens.
There is a way to keep it at a minimum though, and that’s exactly what we’re covering in this short blog. But before we get into it, let’s talk about what these gaps actually mean.
Why does Job Costing Dissonance exist?
There are a couple of reasons why a disconnect occurs between what you think your jobs are costing, and what they actually cost.
- Teams waste time chasing logged information – “Did we log that?” / “Which step was that part used for?” / “Where did those hours go?!” The back-and-forth adds up.
- Billing is a bit of a puzzle – Instead of flowing smoothly, billing often requires double-checking labor entries, matching parts to the right task, or confirming details with the team. The work gets done – it just takes extra time because the information isn’t always in one place.
- It’s hard to see where exactly the projects are getting stuck – There is no clarity on where jobs are getting stuck, because there isn’t a good way to keep track of them. Sensing and anticipating future stopgaps is nearly impossible because there is no historical data to back it up.
Where does PierVantage help with job costing?
PierVantage makes job costing clearer by organizing what you do into bite-size, digestible pieces.
- Projects are broken down into clear steps – Each step has its own labor, parts, and notes, which makes everything easier to follow.
- Time and parts get logged as and when they happen – This real-time log means you’re not scrambling to consolidate your weekly reports, and you’re not hunting for missing information.
- You can ALWAYS see what’s going to happen – PierVantage does a great job showing:
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- How a job is progressing
- Where the costs are going
- Improves visibility of the profit margin at every level of the project
- How the estimates compare to the actual numbers
Bringing it All Together…
Job costing is always complex and ever-evolving in the marine world. PierVantage helps bring clarity to the chaos by giving your team the tools they need to better organize themselves, so you know that the next time a project estimate comes knocking… you’ll actually have a clear, confident answer.
If you want to chat about what an implementation looks like, reach out to Stephen Bullard at or contact us here.