Transform the Resource Allowables to the Cluster Unit of Measure

Once the component resources have been added, you can transform their allowables by editing the transform column. This is done by clicking on the column next to the relevant resource and then filling in the appropriate mathematical functions. Comments can also be added by including them within square brackets within the transform column. Trimble Quest ignores everything in between square brackets, so it is not necessary to include them, but it does help with improving the readability of your calculations:

The transforming calculations (which can be seen in the Transform column above) work as follows:

In this example, one ton of building sand costs us $90 and we need 1.5 tons of sand per cubic yard (yd3) of mortar, which is why we multiply the sand allowable by 1.5. Other factors which can influence cost can also be applied here, which is why there is another multiplication by 1.05 in order to build in a 5% wastage factor into the cost of sand per yd3 of mortar. This gives us a per cubic yard allowable for sand of $141.75.

We use 560 pounds (lb) of cement per yd3 of mortar, so we multiply the allowable for the cement resource (which comes in 80 lb bags at a cost of $10.00 per bag) by 7 to get to 560, and again we then add in a 5% wastage factor by multiplying by 1.05. This gives us a per cube allowable for cement of $73.50.

Building water is bought in kilogallons at a cost of $0.30 per kilogallon. We only need 30 gallons per yd3 of mortar, so in this case, we divide the kgl cost by 1000 to get to the gallon cost and then we multiply it by 30 to get to the allowable for water per yd3 of mortar, which works out to an allowable of $0.01 for water per yd3 of mortar.

After applying these transform calculations, we end up with a correct allowable for mortar of $215.26 per cube.