Labour is the category of cost incurred in employing people, such as operatives, craftspeople and tradespeople, to carry out construction work.
Together with plant, materials and subcontractors, labour is one of the basic resources from which construction rates are built up. Labour costs are usually expressed as an all-in hourly rate, which includes not only basic pay but also the employer’s additional costs, such as National Insurance, holiday pay, pension contributions, sick pay, training levies, insurance and an allowance for non-productive time. Multiplying the all-in rate by the time taken to complete a unit of work gives the labour element of a unit rate. For the QS, the labour content of a rate matters when valuing variations, assessing daywork, checking disruption claims and analysing productivity, so it helps to understand how the contractor has built up its rates.
Related terms: All-in Labour Rate, Labour Constant, Daywork, Man Hour.
