Texas Contractor Exam — All Questions

What is the best practice while performing a quantity takeoff from a set of drawings?

• a.Estimate from memory of a similar project, which saves time on all the measuring
• b.Round every quantity up generously so that no material can ever come up short
• c.Count only what appears on the floor plans, since the elevations repeat that data
• d.Measure in a consistent order and mark each item on the drawing as it is counted✓

A disciplined takeoff follows the same sequence every time and marks or highlights each item as it is measured, which is what prevents both double-counting and omissions on a busy sheet. Quantities are recorded in the units the work is bought in, and dimensions are read from the figured dimensions rather than scaled where figures are given. Padding every line hides the real quantity and inflates the bid, and skipping the elevations and sections misses work the plans never show.

A wall 60 feet long and 10 feet high is built of 8 x 8 x 16 concrete block, which lays up at 1.125 blocks per square foot of wall. Ignoring waste and openings, how many blocks are needed?

• a.600
• b.540
• c.675✓
• d.750

The wall is 60 x 10 = 600 square feet, and 600 x 1.125 = 675 blocks. 600 is the square footage mistaken for a block count, which happens whenever the coverage factor is skipped. 540 comes from multiplying by 0.9 instead of 1.125, and 750 comes from using 1.25 blocks per square foot, a rate that matches no standard block size.

A parking lot 100 feet by 30 feet receives 3 inches of compacted asphalt weighing 145 pounds per cubic foot. How many tons should be ordered, before waste?

• a.About 18.1 tons
• b.About 108.8 tons
• c.About 27.2 tons
• d.About 54.4 tons✓

Three inches is 0.25 feet, so 100 x 30 x 0.25 = 750 cubic feet; 750 x 145 = 108,750 pounds; and 108,750 divided by 2,000 pounds per ton is 54.4 tons. 108.8 tons comes from dividing by 1,000 instead of 2,000. 18.1 tons uses 1 inch of thickness instead of 3, and 27.2 tons halves the correct answer.

A room measures 18 feet by 24 feet. Carpet is sold by the square yard. How many square yards cover the floor, before waste?

• a.48✓
• b.144
• c.432
• d.54

The floor is 18 x 24 = 432 square feet, and there are 9 square feet in a square yard, so 432 divided by 9 is 48 square yards. 432 is the area left in square feet. 144 divides by 3, which is the linear conversion rather than the area conversion. 54 would be correct for a 486-square-foot room, not for this one.

A trench is 120 feet long, 3 feet wide and 4 feet deep. How many cubic yards of soil come out of it, measured in place?

• a.1,440
• b.53.3✓
• c.160
• d.40

120 x 3 x 4 = 1,440 cubic feet, and 1,440 divided by 27 cubic feet per cubic yard is 53.3 cubic yards. 1,440 is the volume left in cubic feet. 160 divides by 9, which converts square feet rather than cubic feet, and 40 divides by 36, which converts nothing at all. Swell would be added on top of this figure if the question asked about hauling.

A contractor wants a 30 percent gross profit margin on the selling price. What markup must be added to direct cost to get there?

• a.30.0 percent
• b.42.9 percent✓
• c.70.0 percent
• d.23.1 percent

If profit is 30 percent of the price, cost is 70 percent of it, so price equals cost divided by 0.70, or cost times 1.4286, which is a markup of about 42.9 percent. Adding 30 percent to cost produces only a 23.1 percent margin, which is why the two numbers are never interchangeable. 70 percent is the cost's share of the price rather than the markup, and 23.1 percent is the margin that a 30 percent markup actually delivers.

A unit-price bid item is 2,400 linear feet of storm pipe at $18.50 per foot. The field measures 2,650 linear feet actually installed. What is the contractor paid for that item?

• a.$49,025✓
• b.$44,400
• c.$4,625
• d.$46,712.50

Unit-price items pay for the quantity actually installed: 2,650 x $18.50 = $49,025. $44,400 is 2,400 feet at the unit price, which was only the bid amount and not the payment. $4,625 prices the 250-foot overrun by itself and omits the base quantity, and $46,712.50 averages the two quantities, which no unit-price clause calls for.

An excavator costs $96,000, will be worth $12,000 after 6,000 working hours, and costs $22 an hour to fuel, service and repair. What hourly rate should the estimator carry?

• a.$16
• b.$22
• c.$38
• d.$36✓

Ownership cost is ($96,000 minus $12,000) divided by 6,000 hours, which is $14 per hour; adding the $22 of operating cost gives $36 per hour. $16 spreads the full purchase price over the hours with no credit for salvage and ignores operating cost altogether, and $38 adds operating cost to that same uncredited figure. $22 is the operating cost alone, which charges the job nothing for consuming the machine.

Bids are opened and yours is 18 percent below the next lowest of five bidders, who are clustered within 4 percent of one another. What is the right first move?

• a.Sign the contract quickly, before the owner reconsiders the award
• b.Ask the owner to raise the price to match the other four bidders
• c.Recheck the takeoff and the quotes for an omission✓
• d.Withdraw the bid at once

Four competitors clustered together with one distant outlier almost always means the outlier missed a scope, dropped a quote or transposed a figure. Finding the error first tells you whether the job can be performed and whether a withdrawal is justified. Signing quickly is how a firm buys a loss it cannot finance. Owners do not raise a bid price after opening, and withdrawing before you know whether there is an error can forfeit the bid bond for nothing.

A three-person crew installs 240 square feet of tile per day. A job has 4,320 square feet of tile. How many crew-days should the estimator carry?

• a.6
• b.18✓
• c.54
• d.14.4

4,320 divided by 240 is 18 crew-days, because the crew size is already built into the daily production rate. Multiplying or dividing by the three workers is the standard error: 54 is 18 x 3 and 6 is 18 divided by 3, and neither one is a crew-day. 14.4 comes from using 300 square feet per day instead of the stated 240.

A 20-foot by 30-foot room gets a suspended ceiling using 2-foot by 4-foot lay-in tiles. How many full tiles does the field require, ignoring cut pieces at the walls?

• a.150
• b.60
• c.75✓
• d.37

The room is 600 square feet and each tile covers 8 square feet, so 600 divided by 8 is 75 tiles. 150 divides by 4, which would be right for a 2-by-2 tile. 37 divides by 16, a tile size that does not exist in the standard grid, and 60 comes from a 2-by-5 tile that is not made.

A company carries $180,000 of annual overhead and expects 12,000 direct labor hours this year. A job is estimated at 900 labor hours. How much overhead should the estimate carry for that job?

• a.$13,500✓
• b.$15,000
• c.$16,200
• d.$900

Overhead per labor hour is $180,000 divided by 12,000, or $15, and 900 hours x $15 = $13,500. $15,000 is one month of overhead, which has nothing to do with this job's share. $16,200 applies a 9 percent rate to the overhead total rather than allocating it by hours, and $900 is simply the hour count with a dollar sign attached.

Why does a careful proposal list the work that is specifically excluded from the price?

• a.Because owners are required by law to accept the lowest responsive bid
• b.Because listing exclusions raises the amount the owner will be charged
• c.Because the building department reviews proposals for completeness
• d.Because the price only means something alongside what it excludes✓

Written exclusions, such as permit fees, rock excavation, temporary heat or finish hardware, turn a silent assumption into a term of the deal, and they are where most change-order fights are won or lost. Exclusions do not by themselves change the price; they define what the price bought. Private owners are free to accept any bid or none at all, and building departments review construction documents rather than proposals.