MASTER SCHEDULE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 99, 23 October 1942, Page 4

MASTER SCHEDULE

BUILDING WORK

"SYSTEM COME TO STAY"

"I am inclined to the belief that this system, inaugurated as a war measure, has come to stay," said the Minister of Public Works (Mr. Armstrong), in a statement dealing with the operation of the system of building construction under a master schedule which he was given leave to make in the ! House of Representatives yesterday. A good deal of the information given by the Minister was contained in a statement issued earlier this week by Mr. Chas. Luney, president of the Federation of Master Builders. The Minister said that the competitive tender system would have failed to meet the tremendous defence programme of the past few months, and in addition, costs would certainly have soared. Although he was satisfied that the schedule system was sound, it must be subject to constant check and adjustments as costs became available. Such a check had just been carried out, and as a result works were graded into four groups according to the standard of work required. PROFIT RATE. A final check was made on the cost of the works after they had been completed in order to see that the firms concerned did not realise more than 5 per cent, profit and 2& per cent, overhead on the cost of the work. This I system was an incentive to greater initiative and efficiency, and individual units reaped the reward in increased turnover. It provided as fair a basis as could be devised for employer and employee. There was also the advantage of no delay in calling tenders, and all works were co-ordinated under one control. The master builders themselves, through executive committees, nominated firms to carry out jobs for which their plant and personnel were best suited.

Although it had not yet been possible to work out square footage rates of various buildings for comparison with military works cai'ried out previously by the Public Works Department "under the competitive tender system, or on the cost-plus basis, the Minister said he was assured that the cost under the schedule system would compare more than favourably. This had been achieved notwithstanding the increased cost of materials and labour, and perhaps a lower standard of labour due to the absorption of so many of the younger and more virile tradesmen into the forces. He commended the co-operation which builders had shown.