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Cost Accounting and Financial
Management for Construction
Project Managers
Proper cost accounting and financial management are essential elements of any successful con-
struction job, and therefore make up essential skills for construction project managers and project
engineers. Many textbooks on the market focus on the theoretical principles of accounting and
finance required for head office staff like the chief financial officer (CFO) of a construction firm.
This book’s unique practical approach focuses on the activities of the construction management
team, including the project manager, superintendent, project engineer, and jobsite cost engineers
and cost accountants. In short, this book provides a seamless connection between cost account-
ing and construction project management from the construction management practitioner’s
perspective.
Following a complete accounting cycle, from the original estimate through cost controls to
financial close-out, the book makes use of one commercial construction project case study through-
out. It covers key topics like financial statements, ratios, cost control, earned value, equipment
depreciation, cash flow, and pay requests. But unlike other texts, this book also covers additional
financial responsibilities such as cost estimates, change orders, and project close-out.
Also included are more advanced accounting and financial topics such as supply chain man-
agement, activity-based accounting, lean construction techniques, taxes, and the developer’s pro
forma. Each chapter contains review questions and applied exercises and the book is supplemented
with an eResource with instructor manual, estimates and schedules, further cases and figures from
the book.
This textbook is ideal for use in all cost accounting and financial management classes on
both undergraduate and graduate level construction management or construction engineering
programs.
Len Holm is a senior lecturer in construction management at the University of Washington, USA,
and a construction professional with over 40 years’ experience in various roles, including supervi-
sion of project managers, estimators, and jobsite cost accountants. He runs his own construction
management firm, has developed and taught several new courses for construction management
students at the University of Washington, and is the author of numerous textbooks, including
Management of Construction Projects, second edition, with John Schaufelberger, and Introduction
to Construction Project Engineering, with Giovanni Migliaccio, also published by Routledge.
The following documents are available on the eResource for this book: www.routledge.com/
Cost-Accounting-and-Financial-Management-for-Construction-Project-Managers/Holm/p/book/
9781138550650
This first list is made available to students and instructors:
UÊ Expanded and alternate versions of some figures utilized within the book:
ƕ Figure 4.3Alt: Concrete QTO for concrete COP
ƕ Figure 4.4Alt: Concrete pricing recapitulation sheet for COP
ƕ Figure 4.4L: Detailed construction estimate
ƕ Figure 4.5Alt: Summary estimate
ƕ Figure 5.1L: Detailed construction schedule
ƕ Figure 5.2L: Detailed jobsite general conditions estimate
ƕ Figure 6.1L: Detailed home office general conditions estimate
ƕ Table 10.1Alt: Overhead spread by specialty
ƕ Table 13.1L: Monthly cost loaded schedule
ƕ Table 14.3BL: Blank live SOV continuation spreadsheet template
ƕ Figure 15.1Alt: Concrete change order proposal
ƕ Figure 19.2Live: Live Excel pro forma
UÊ Other documents referred to within the book:
ƕ Case study organization chart, reference Chapter 1 and others
ƕ AIA A102 contract instructions
ƕ Sample AIA A102 contract, reference Chapter 3 and others
ƕ Jobsite layout plan, reference Chapter 11
ƕ Expanded table of contents
ƕ Live Excel estimating forms utilized in Chapter 4 of this text and in Construction Cost
Estimating, Process and Practices, Pearson, 2005.
The following are also made available to instructors:
UÊ Instructor’s Manual, complete with answers to all of the review questions and many of the
exercises. A select group of case studies from Who Done It? 101 Case Studies in Construction
Management (Amazon/Create Space, 2017), which will be published in a new format under the
title 101 Case Studies in Construction Management by Routledge in 2019, are also included.
UÊ In addition to many exercise solutions included in the instructor’s manual, several separate
spreadsheet files are also provided, including: Exercises 1.2/3.6, 1.7/3.2, 2.9/10, 10.5, 12.7,
12.9, 13.8/9, 14.2, 15.4, 16.3, 18.2/3, 19.4, and others
UÊ PowerPoint lecture slides for all 19 chapters, 19 separate files, almost 680 slides in total.
Cost Accounting and
Financial Management
for Construction
Project Managers
Len Holm
Routledge
ROUTLEDGE
Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK

First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Len Holm
The right of Len Holm to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Holm, Len, author.
Title: Cost accounting and financial management for construction project
managers / Len Holm.
Description: Abington, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2018. |
Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018011969| ISBN 9781138550643 (hardback : alk.
paper) | ISBN 9781138550650 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315147307
(ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Building—Estimates. | Construction projects. | Cost
accounting. | Construction industry—Costs. | Project management.
Classification: LCC TH435 .H85 2018 | DDC 690.068/1—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018011969
ISBN: 978-1-138-55064-3 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-55065-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-14730-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Keystroke, Neville Lodge, Tettenhall, Wolverhampton
Visit the eResource: www.routledge.com/Cost-Accounting-and-

Financial-Management-for-Construction-Project-Managers/Holm/p/
book/9781138550650
Contents
List of figures xi
List of tables xiii
Preface xv
Abbreviations xvii
1 Introduction 1
Financial management overview 1
Accounting purposes 3
Introduction to the built environment 5
Accounting managers 6
Accounting cycle 6
Organization of the book 8
Case study 8
Review questions 9
Exercises 10
2 Accounting methods 11
Introduction 11
Uniqueness of the construction industry as it relates to accounting 11
Construction firm ownership structures 14
Construction accounting methods 16
Internal accounting controls 18
Summary 19
Review questions 19
Exercises 20
vi Contents
3 Introduction to construction management 21
Introduction 21
Delivery and procurement methods 22
Pricing 26
Construction contracts 27
Project management 29
General contractor organizations 31
Risk analysis 34
Summary 35
Review questions 36
Exercises 36
4 Introduction to estimating 38
Introduction 38
Work breakdown structure 41
Quantity take-off 43
Pricing 45
Estimate summary 49
Summary 51
Review questions 52
Exercises 52
5 Jobsite general conditions 53

Introduction 53
Elements of jobsite general conditions 54
Development of jobsite general conditions estimates 55
Strategies 59
Accounting of jobsite general conditions 61
Impact of change orders, claims, and delays on general conditions 62
Summary 63
Review questions 63
Exercises 63
6 Overhead and profit 65

Introduction 65
Creation of the general conditions estimate 66
Management of the home office general conditions budget 68
Breakeven analysis 70
Profits 72
Summary 77
Review questions 77
Exercises 78
Contents vii
7 Financial statements 80
Introduction 80
Balance sheet 80
Income statement 83
Financial ratios 84
Journal entries 87
Job cost financial reports 87
Summary 90
Review questions 90
Exercises 91
8 Cost control 92
Introduction 92
Cost control cycle and connection with accounting processes 93
Establishment of the cost base, including buyout 94
Foreman work packages 94
Direct labor and material and subcontract cost coding 99
Monthly project management forecasting to the home office 101
Summary 106
Review questions 106
Exercises 107
9 Earned value analysis 109

Introduction 109
Development of the third curve 109
Earned value as a cost control tool 110
Earned value indices 113
Earned value as a pay request tool 115
Summary 115
Exercises 116
10 Activity-based costing 117

Introduction 117
Foundation 118
Methodology of activity-based costing 120
Home office activity-based costing applications 122
Jobsite activity-based costing applications 126
The future 127
Summary 128
Exercises 129
viii Contents
11 Lean construction techniques 131
Introduction 131
Lean construction 132
Value engineering 137
Subcontractors and suppliers 139
Supply chain material management 140
Jobsite laydown and material handling 143
Summary 144
Exercises 145
12 Equipment use and depreciation 147

Introduction 147
Equipment types 148
Equipment ownership 150
Equipment operation 154
Equipment allocation to job cost 155
Maintenance expense allocations 157
Depreciation 157
Summary 162
Exercises 163
13 Cash flow 165

Introduction 165
Cash flow curve process 166
Jobsite expenditures 172
Jobsite revenue 176
Net cash flow and impacts to home office 177
Methods to improve cash flow 177
Summary 179
Exercises 180
14 Payment requests 182

Introduction 182
Contract types 183
Schedule of values 183
Payment request process 187
Retention 192
Lien management 193
Summary 195
Exercises 196
Contents ix
15 Accounting for change orders 198
Introduction 198
Change order proposal process 199
Change order proposal pricing 202
Negotiations and approvals 204
Incorporation into cost control and accounting control systems 205
Unresolved change orders 206
Summary 206
Exercises 207
16 Financial close-out of the construction project 208

Introduction 208
Construction close-out 209
Project management close-out 211
Financial close-out 212
As-built estimate development and database input 218
Summary 219
Exercises 220
17 Time value of money 222

Introduction 222
Present value 223
Future value 224
Interest 225
Inflation 228
Other value considerations 229
Summary 230
Exercises 231
18 Taxes and audits 233

Introduction 233
Income tax: Federal, state, and local 234
Business, property, and sales taxes 238
Labor taxes 239
Audits 242
Summary 244
Exercises 245
x Contents
19 Developer’s pro forma 247
Introduction 247
Real estate development as a business 247
The development process 249
Pro forma 251
Construction loan 253
Investment ratios 258
Summary 259
Exercises 260
Glossary 261
Index 274
Figures
1.1 Cost accounting cycle 7

3.1 Traditional organization chart 23
3.2 Agency construction management organization chart 23
3.3 Construction management at-risk organization chart 24
3.4 Design-build organization chart 25
3.5 Delivery options 28
3.6 Construction Document Cloud 30
3.7 Staff organization chart 32
3.8 Sole-source organization chart 32
4.1 Estimating Process 39
4.2 Work breakdown structure 42
4.3 Quantity take-off 44
4.4 Pricing recapitulation 46
4.5 Summary estimate 50
5.1 Summary schedule 56
5.2 Jobsite general conditions estimate 57
6.1 Home office general conditions budget 67
8.1 Cost control cycle 93
8.2 Whole project direct work labor curve 95
8.3 Foreman’s cost control work package 98
9.1 Earned value work package 111
9.2 Earned value work package 112
9.3 Earned value indices curve 114
10.1 Cost hierarchy 121
11.1 IPD organization chart 132
11.2 Pull planning schedule 137
xii List of figures
11.3 Organization chart 140
11.4 LEED plaque 142
12.1 Purchase order 152
13.1 Cash flow curve 171
13.2 Revenue and expenditure curves 176
14.1 Pay request summary 190
14.2 Lien release 194
15.1 Change order proposal 200
15.2 Contract change order 204
16.1 Final subcontract change order 213
19.1 Developer’s organization chart 251
19.2 Pro forma 252
19.3 Interest to principle ratio 254
Tables
6.1 Breakeven analysis 71

7.1 Balance sheet 82
7.2 Income statement 85
8.1 Forecasting options 103
8.2 Monthly forecast summary 105
9.1 Earned value performance matrix 110
10.1 Overhead spread on divisions and volume 123
11.1 Value engineering log 138
12.1 Rental equipment rates 153
12.2 Depreciation recovery periods 159
12.3 Straight-line depreciation options 161
13.1 Cost loaded schedule 168
13.2 Daily time sheet 173
14.1 Schedule of values worksheet 184
14.2 Summary schedule of values 186
14.3 Pay request schedule of values continuation sheet 188
16.1 Estimating database 219
17.1 Present value 224
17.2 Future value 225
17.3 Simple and compounding interest 227
17.4 United States historical annual inflation rates 228
18.1 Personal income tax 236
18.2 Labor burden 241
Taylor & Francis
http://taylorandfrancis.com
Preface
All of the construction cost accounting textbooks available are focused on the role of the chief
financial officer (CFO) and chief executive officer (CEO) and home office financial management
biased aspects. Very few construction management (CM) university graduates will become CFOs
or certified public accountants, and although some aspire to become CEOs, those opportunities
will only be available for a select few, and will occur many years after graduation. Many CM
students already have some practical construction internship experience and their exposure has
primarily been out on jobsites. After graduation most will begin their careers as jobsite project
engineers or in home office staff support roles such as assistant estimators. Many will achieve
their seven- to ten-year goal of becoming construction project managers (PM) and being placed
in charge of all operations at the jobsite, especially project financial management. These students
have a difficult time connecting with college textbooks focused solely on home office accounting.
It is because of their work experiences and the difficulty they have in connecting with traditional
cost accounting texts that I routinely have supplemented a standard accounting text with many
jobsite financial management topics borrowed from my other estimating, cost control, and project
management resources.
Construction project managers are not accountants, but most of what we do is accounting-
related. The focus of this book therefore is on the ‘Cost Accounting and Financial Management of
Construction Project Managers’ at the jobsite level and the relationship between jobsite financial
management and the home office accounting department. The PM is responsible to report to the
CFO and CEO for all financial affairs that happen at the jobsite, including estimating, cost control,
equipment charges, cash flow, pay requests, change orders, close-out, and many others. These
therefore are the financial management subjects this book couples with traditional construction
cost accounting topics.
The jobsite financial management team includes the project manager, superintendent, project
engineer, and if applicable, a cost engineer and/or jobsite accountant. The construction team
manages jobsite general conditions and the home office executive team, including the CFO and
xvi Preface
CEO, manages home office general conditions, and establishes profit goals for the company.
This book also connects with the cost accounting activities performed by the home office includ-
ing differences between alternative corporate structures, development of financial statements,
equipment depreciation, and taxes and audits. Advanced financial management aspects of earned
value, activity-based costing, lean construction techniques, value engineering, supply chain mate-
rial management, and time value of money are also introduced for the ambitious construction
cost accounting student. The pinnacle of this study concludes with a discussion of the real estate
developer, who is often the general contractor’s client; including the creation and management of
the developer’s cost pro forma model, of which construction cost is only one element.
To supplement typical academic coverage of construction cost accounting, this book includes a
practical construction perspective stemming not only from my 40 years of construction experience,
but from input of many construction professionals and friends. These practitioners have reviewed
chapter drafts and provided input to countless figures, tables, and exercises. Their experience is
very much appreciated, for without them this would just be another college textbook. It would be
difficult to list all of the people I need to thank, but I especially want to recognize:
UÊ Sara Angus, Account Executive and former University of Washington lecturer, Lease Crutcher
Lewis, commercial and custom residential general contractor (GC)
UÊ Jeff Foushée, Founder, retired, Foushée and Associates, commercial GC
UÊ Robert Guymer, Chief Operating Officer, Foushée and Associates, commercial GC
UÊ Mark Hanson, Certified Public Accountant, Smith and Dekay, PS
UÊ Bob Kendall, President, Star Rentals, Inc.
I would also like to thank Jane Holm, Suzanne Bailon-Schubert, and Sam Elliot for their
research and contributions to the book and the instructor’s manual. And last, and maybe most
important, to all of those University of Washington construction management students who used
drafts of this material in their construction cost accounting course as a trial run. Thank you and
I hope you enjoyed the process.
There is a complete instructor’s manual available on the eResource with answers to all of the
review questions and many of the exercises. The instructor’s manual also includes several case
studies borrowed from the third edition of Who Done It? 101 Case Studies in Construction
Management which will be re-published by Routledge in 2019 as 101 Case Studies in Construction
Management. This is an excellent economical companion book to many construction management
topics.
If you have any questions about the material, or recommendations for changes for future
editions, please feel free to contact the publisher, Routledge, or me direct at [email protected].
I hope you enjoy my connection of home office cost accounting operations to the construction
jobsite.
Len Holm
Abbreviations
ABC activity-based costing

ACWP actual cost of work performed
AGC Associated General Contractors of America
AHJ authority having jurisdiction, often city building department
AIA American Institute of Architects
APR annual percentage rate
APY annual percentage yield
AQWP actual quantity of work performed
ARM adjustable rate mortgage
B&O business and occupation tax (also known as excise tax)
BCAC budgeted cost at completion
BCWP budgeted cost of work performed
BCWS budgeted cost of work scheduled
BE built environment
BIM building information models or modeling
BOD board of directors (also Board)
BQAC budgeted quantity of work at completion
BQWP budgeted quantity of work performed
BQWS budgeted quantity of work scheduled
CAD computer-aided design
Cap capitalization (rate)
Carp carpenter
CCA construction change authorization
CCD construction change directive
CDs construction documents
CEO chief executive officer
xviii Abbreviations
CFMA Construction Financial Management Association
CFO chief financial officer
CIP cast-in-place (concrete)
CM construction manager or management
CM/GC construction manager/general contractor (also known as GC/CM)
CMBS commercial mortgage backed securities
CO change order
C of O certificate of occupancy
COO chief operations officer
COP change order proposal
CPA certified public accountant
CPFF cost plus fixed fee
CPI cost performance index
CPPF cost plus percentage fee (similar to T&M)
CSI Construction Specifications Institute
CV cost variance
CY cubic yard
DB or D-B design-build (delivery method)
DBO design, build, operate
DBOM design, build, operate, maintain
DBOMT design, build, operate, maintain, transfer
DCR debt coverage ratio, also design change request
DD design development (documents or phase)
DL direct labor (estimate or cost area)
DM direct material (estimate or cost area)
DRB dispute resolution board
EA each
ECC Evergreen Construction Company (fictitious case study contractor)
EMR experience modification rate
ENR Engineering News Record (publication)
EPS earnings per share
EV earned value
EVM earned value method
FE field engineer
FED Federal Reserve Bank
FHA Federal Housing Administration
FICA Federal Insurance Contributions Act (Social Security)
Fore foreman
FUTA Federal unemployment tax
FV future value
G&A general and administrative (overhead expenditures)
GC general conditions, also general contractor
GDP gross domestic product
GF general foreman (similar to an assistant superintendent)
GMP guaranteed maximum price, estimate or contract
Abbreviations xix
GWB gypsum wall board (also sheetrock or wall board or drywall)
GSF gross square footage (building area but not necessarily leasable)
HO home office
HOOH home office overhead
HR human resources, also hour
HVAC heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (mechanical system or contractor)
IDS income to debt service ratio
IPD integrated project delivery
IRR internal rate of return
IRS Internal Revenue Service
ITB instructions to bidders, also invitation to bid
JIT just-in-time (material deliveries)
JV joint venture
LDs liquidated damages
LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
LF linear feet
LLC limited liability company or corporation
LLP limited liability partnership
LS lump sum (cost estimate or contract)
LTV loan to value ratio
MACRS modified accelerated cost recovery system (depreciation)
MBF thousand board feet
MC mortgage constant ratio
MEP mechanical, electrical, and plumbing, systems or contractors
MH man-hour
Mil million
MOCP Management of Construction Projects, a Constructor’s Perspective (textbook)
MXD mixed-use development
NAHB National Association of Home Builders
NAIOP National Association of Industrial and Office Parks
NIC not-in-contract, also not included
NLRB National Labor Relations Board
NOI net operating income
NSF net square footage (building area available for lease)
NWR Northwest Resorts, LLC (fictitious case study project owner)
O&M operation and maintenance manual
OE owner’s equity, also operating engineer
OH overhead
OH&P overhead and profit (also known as fee)
OIC officer-in-charge
OM order-of-magnitude (cost estimate)
OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration
PE project engineer, also pay estimate
PM project manager or management
PO purchase order
xx Abbreviations
PPP or P3 public-private-partnership (delivery method)
psi pounds per square inch
PV present value
QC quality control
QTO quantity take-off
Qty quantity
Rebar concrete reinforcement steel
Recap cost recapitulation sheet (estimating)
REIT real estate investment trust
RFI request for information, or interpretation
RFP request for proposal
RFQ request for qualifications, also request for quotation
RII Resorts International, Inc. (fictitious case study holding company)
ROA return on assets
ROE return on equity
ROI return on investment
ROM rough-order-of-magnitude (cost estimate)
ROR rate of return
S&L savings and loan institutions (banks)
SD schematic design (documents or phase)
SF square foot
SFW square foot of wall
SIP structural insulated panels
SOG slab-on-grade (concrete)
SOV schedule of values (estimate or pay request)
Spec or specs specifications or speculation
SPI schedule performance index
SPM senior project manager
SUTA state unemployment tax
SV schedule variance
T&M time and materials (contract or billing)
TCO temporary certificate of occupancy
TI tenant improvement
TN or Ton tonnage (2,000 pounds)
TQM total quality management
TVD target value design
TVM time value of money
Typ typical
ULI Urban Land Institute (development association and publications)
UMH unit man-hours
UP unit price
USGBC United States Green Building Council
V volume
VA Veterans Affairs
VCT vinyl composition tile
Abbreviations xxi
VE value engineering
VP vice president
VPR variable payment rate
WA Washington State
WBS work breakdown structure
wks weeks
Taylor & Francis
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C HAP T E R
1
Introduction
Financial management overview

Project engineers (PEs) and project managers (PMs) are not typically known as accountants.
Their responsibilities as construction managers (CMs) generally revolve around the paperwork
documentation performed at the jobsite to support superintendents and subcontractors in the
construction of a building. And, although much of the financial management activities performed
at the jobsite are not thought of as ‘accounting’ per se they do fall under the cost accounting
umbrella, especially when we add and financial management in the title. In addition, everything
that is done at the jobsite is connected with the operations of the construction company in the
home office, and it is important that jobsite managers understand why they manage finances
and how management of finances relates to the operation of the home office accounting depart-
ment. This book is not meant to be a repeat of standard business-school accounting textbooks
or accounting courses, there are many good ones available, but the focus here is on the financial
operations of the construction jobsite team and how they interface with the accounting needs of
the home office.
There are many detailed studies on cost accounting, including construction cost accounting.
There are also many pure studies on project management, including construction project manage-
ment, but the glue that ties these two topics together is a broader study of construction financial
management. Financial management includes many CM topics, beyond just cost accounting,
including:
UÊ Estimating anticipated construction costs,

UÊ Cost control,
UÊ Cash flow projections and management,
UÊ Processing invoices from subcontractors and suppliers,
UÊ Processing pay requests to the project owner,
UÊ Managing change orders,
2 Introduction
UÊ Financially closing out the construction project, and
UÊ A variety of other advanced financial management topics such as activity-based costing, lean
construction techniques, time value of money, taxes and audits, and the developer’s pro forma.
Construction is a risky business. Construction failures are very high every year, especially with
smaller start-up contractors. There are many statistics and metrics regarding how many contrac-
tors fail each year, and maybe just focusing on one year is too specific, but generally approximately
70% of the contractors in business on the first of any year will fail within seven years. Because
construction is such a risky business, construction company owners or investors therefore expect
a very high rate of return (ROR) on their investment. If all they could get on their out-of-pocket
up-front investment in the company was 1–2%, then they would be better off putting their money
in the bank where it is insured by the Federal Government and earning a guaranteed interest
rate. In order to receive an acceptable ROR, contractors need to understand and manage their
accounting and financial risks and responsibilities.
There are many causes or warning signs that a contractor might be in jeopardy of failing finan-
cially. These signs are important for not only the internal ownership of the company to be aware
of, but also external strategic partners or stakeholders such as the contractor’s bank and bonding
companies, among others. The first and most common sign that financial difficulties may be bod-
ing is the lack of a good financial management plan or system. Some of the signs that a contractor
may be suffering financial difficulty include:
UÊ Inefficient financial management system,

UÊ Borrowed on their credit line to the limit,
UÊ Poor estimating processes and/or results,
UÊ Poor project management systems and personnel,
UÊ An adequate business plan is not in place,
UÊ Internal and external communication problems, among others.
Often contractors think an increase in volume or total revenue will solve all of their financial
problems. This is not necessarily the best solution. There are many reasons a contractor will choose
to pursue construction work or feel they have the resources to do so. Some of the reasons they may
choose to either bid or propose on a new construction project, or not to bid, include the following:
UÊ Although contractors are not expected to provide the construction loan, as will be discussed
later, they still must have a sufficient positive cash flow, especially early in the project;
UÊ The contractor has sufficient bonding capacity which is especially important on a public bid
project;
UÊ Qualified and available employees are already on the payroll and ready to start a new project;
UÊ The contractor has the necessary construction equipment, or immediate access to equipment;
UÊ The home office overhead is staffed adequately with specialists to support the project team
including estimators, schedulers, and cost accountants;
UÊ They see a potential to make a reasonable fee;
UÊ The contractor already has a positive history with the client, or is interested in a future rela-
tionship with the client, and/or they have a positive history with the architect or engineer, or
are interested in a future relationship with those firms;
Introduction 3
UÊ This type of work is already a specialty of the contractor; and/or
UÊ The contractor could use additional backlog.
The contractor’s answers to all of these issues affecting their decision to pursue a project also
impact the company’s finances and approach to accounting both in the home office and at the
jobsite.
Accounting purposes
There are several reasons a contractor should establish a formal cost accounting system, both at
the home office and at the jobsite. Four of the more prominent ones include:
UÊ Prepare financial statements for internal and external use;

UÊ Process cash-in (revenue) and cash-out (expenditures);
UÊ Prepare and file taxes as required by the Federal Government as well as some state and local
jurisdictions;
UÊ Manage the internal financial affairs of the company:
ƕ Are we making money?
ƕ Are we returning an adequate return on equity (ROE) to our investors?
ƕ Are we focusing on the proper type of work? Is our company operating in the proper
market?
ƕ How are our people performing?
Consistency is important for cost accounting and financial management for contractors. Their
financial reporting tools must be consistent from year to year, from project to project, and from
month to month within each project. In order to report costs and projected profits consistently,
contractors must have reliable financial management systems in place, particularly as it relates to
cost control.
Cost control in construction is an important topic and is discussed in detail in several chapters
of this book. It is important to distinguish between cost reporting and cost control, especially as
it relates to jobsite cost accounting. The foremost question to ask is: Can the jobsite team really
control costs or are they simply just reporting costs? And can they really ‘control’ the operations
of the construction craftsmen in the field, or are they doing their best to ‘manage’ the process so
that the craftsmen can achieve the estimate? Most construction management and cost accounting
textbooks focus their cost control discussion simply on cost reporting. But if timely modifications
and corrections are not made to the processes, the jobsite management team is not properly man-
aging costs and cannot achieve the bottom-line fee, let alone improve it. To have an effective cost
control system the construction project team must follow some basic rules:
UÊ Cost reporting data has to be timely and accurate. If actual cost data was not input to the
accounting system accurately, then the results will be of no value to the jobsite team.
UÊ Eighty percent of the costs and risk on a project fall within 20% of the construction activi-
ties – this is known as the Pareto 80-20 rule. The jobsite team should focus on the riskiest
activities. The 80-20 rule is expanded on throughout this discussion of financial management.
4 Introduction
UÊ The original estimate and schedule should be shared with the contractor’s field supervision,
including superintendents and foremen. In order for them to plan and implement the work
they need to have been given the complete picture.
There are many bad examples of construction cost accounting, especially as it relates to cost
control. We will be sharing some of these throughout the text. There are a few good ones sprinkled
in as well. Here are a couple of examples to get you started:
Example One: This very large international contractor was constructing power plants in
the 1980s that cost billions of dollars. There were 1,000 engineers in the office producing
design for the 5,000 craftsmen in the field. Design changes and building code changes were
occurring so often that it was easy to lose track of the original or current budget. Only two
years out of college, this 24-year-old cost engineer was promoted to chief estimator on a $5
billion construction project, and although completely unqualified for the position, he gladly
accepted it. At that time, the way the contractor forecasted next year’s expenditures was to
take last year’s expenditures, regardless of where they were spent, and simply add 10% to it.
It is no wonder these projects cost so much money. The proper way to create a cost forecast
is explained later in this book.
Example Two: In April, six months after this large aerospace manufacturing facility was suc-
cessfully completed, the owner of the drywall subcontractor called the general contactor’s
(GC) project manager and indicated that he was owed an extra $1 million, even though his
contract had been closed out with proper lien releases. The subcontractor could not show
why he was owed money other than it was tax time and he was preparing his books and
realized the company lost money the previous year and this had been their largest project.
He had not been using independent job numbers, let alone cost codes. Contract close-out
and lien management are important financial responsibilities of the project team and will be
covered in detail in this book.
Example Three: This superintendent wanted to teach the home office staff estimator a les-
son on this out-of-town electronics facility construction project. He felt the estimator never
included enough money for safety, so he charged $50,000 of concrete formwork to the safety
cost code to make his point and completely blew the safety cost code out of the water. The
proper way to create historical databases will be explained in several chapters in this book.
Introduction 5
Introduction to the built environment

There are three major participants in all built environment projects. Chapter 3, ‘Introduction
to construction management,’ will explain how these different firms might arrange themselves
and contract with each other to deliver construction projects on different occasions. Every pro-
ject has: clients, which will also be referred to as project owners or simply owners; designers,
including architects and many different types of engineers; and construction managers and/or
general contractors. There are also many consultants and subcontractors which will contract
through or report to these three primary participants. One type of consultant that connects
on many levels of cost accounting is the certified public accountant who may help all built
environment (BE) participants prepare their books, especially for taxes and audits.
Construction types/industry sectors

Construction projects can be categorized into different sectors along the lines of type of building or
how the facility is utilized. The following are examples of some broad construction industry sectors:
UÊ Commercial, which includes retail, office, schools, fire stations, churches, and others.
Entertainment and hospitality are subsets of commercial and includes movie theaters, bowl-
ing alleys, and restaurants.
UÊ Residential including individual spec home and custom home construction. Residential also
includes apartments, condominiums, senior housing, and hotels – especially if wood-framed
as they include materials and methods similar to apartments.
UÊ Heavy civil projects include bridges, roads, and utility projects.
UÊ Industrial projects are very specialized including power plants, utility treatment plants, refin-
eries, and others.
UÊ Hybrids or mixed-use developments (MXD) will include two or three different uses, such as
a downtown hi-rise hotel with underground parking, a restaurant, retail space, and luxury
condominiums on the top floors.
Many construction companies are specialized in one of these industries, in that they clas-
sify themselves as commercial, residential, civil, or industrial contractors. Some contractors may
overlap into a second industry or cover two different industries. For example:
UÊ Commercial contractors may also build hi-rise residential apartments or hotels, as the materi-
als and processes are similar to constructing an office building.
UÊ Some commercial contractors may also have a high-end custom home division.
UÊ Commercial contractors may also have a real estate development arm, and therefore contract
work internally.
UÊ Some speculative residential home builders also build custom homes and custom home build-
ers may build spec homes.
UÊ Larger home builders may also have real estate development arms and develop and design
and build large tracts of homes on speculation for sale.
UÊ Some larger residential contractors may also construct smaller commercial projects.
6 Introduction
UÊ Civil construction companies may also have a commercial division, but very few civil contrac-
tors would build residential projects.
UÊ Specialty contractors are subcontractors which specialize in one or more facet of work, such
as a roofing subcontractor or a landscape subcontractor. Specialty contractors work within
all of these sectors and may specialize in one or more sector similar to general contractors.
Many of these sectors, and/or industry types, each have potentially different cost accounting and
financial management applications. Those differences will be highlighted throughout this book.
Accounting managers
Chapter 3, ‘Introduction to construction management,’ will expand on the various BE firms and
construction-company personnel. Roles of these people are defined throughout the book and
clarify whether they are primarily located in the home office or at the jobsite. As it relates to cost
accounting and financial management, the home office team includes the chief executive officer
(CEO), the chief financial officer (CFO), and his or her supporting accounting department. Some
of the accounting personnel may include positions such as the controller or comptroller, book-
keeper, payroll clerk, accounts payable clerk, accounts receivable clerk, and others. The jobsite
team is headed up by the project manager and the site superintendent. Foremen and project
engineers, who may also be known as the jobsite cost accountant or cost engineer, work for the
superintendent and PM respectively. Contractual terms will have an impact as to who is located
at the home office or the field and potentially what their titles might be on any particular project.
Accounting cycle
The cost accounting cycle includes many different steps and functions which overlap and interplay
with phases of construction and cost control steps; all of these will be discussed in subsequent
chapters. See Figure 1.1. Note that there are many dependencies between the home office account-
ing operation and the cost engineering conducted at the jobsite. Some of the cost accounting steps,
which form the basis for the following chapters, include:
UÊ Estimate database maintenance;

UÊ Estimate preparation;
UÊ Construction award and assignment of a job number by the accounting department;
UÊ Buyout of subcontractors and estimate adjustment and assignment of cost codes;
UÊ Development and implementation of foreman work packages;
UÊ Expenditures realized in the field and reported to the home office and cost-coded;
UÊ Pay request process including payments received from the client and payments made to sub-
contractors and suppliers;
UÊ Incorporation of change orders into the project plan and the cost control system;
UÊ Modifications to the cost control system if there are problems;
UÊ Home office reporting by the PM including monthly fee forecasts;
UÊ Financial close-out, including lien releases and retention; and
UÊ As-built estimate and database update.
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
Clanranald, and was possessed of very superior abilities in his way.
He was active, brave, and ambitious, to which were added much
address and shrewdness. Having always resided in Moidart, where
he associated with the people, and had rendered himself very
popular, he had acquired the appellation of Ian Muidartich, or John
of Moidart,—a much more endearing distinction than Gaulta.
The remark Ranald had made as to the extravagance of his people
gave great offence; and the preference he gave to a fowl was
conceived to indicate a sordid disposition, unbecoming the
representative of so great a family. John Muidartich and his friends
encouraged these ideas, and Ranald was soon known by the yet more
contemptuous appellation of “Ranald of the Hens.” He soon left
Moidart, and returned to his grandfather’s house. His brother (and
now his opponent) remained in that country, and he used all the
means in his power to strengthen his interest. He married the
daughter of Macdonald of Ardnamurchan, the head of a numerous
and turbulent tribe, whose estate bordered on Moidart, and his
intention to oppose Ranald became daily more evident. Several
attempts were made by mutual friends to effect a compromise,
without any permanent result. At length a conference between the
brothers was appointed at Inverlochy, where Ranald attended,
accompanied by old Lovat and a considerable body of his clan; but
especially a very large portion of the principal gentlemen of his name
were present. John also appeared, and, to prevent any suspicion of
violence, the number of his attendants was but small, and his
demeanour was pacific and unassuming.
Lovat made proposals on the part of his grandson, and with very
little hesitation they were acceded to by John and his friends. All
parties appeared to be highly pleased, and they separated,—John and
his small party directing their course homeward, whilst Ranald
accompanied his aged relation to his own country, which was much
more distant.
John of Moidart, however, was all along playing a deep game: he
ordered a strong body of his father-in-law’s people to lie in ambush
in a certain spot near the path by which Lovat and his men must
necessarily pass on their return home; and he took care to join them
himself, by travelling all night across the mountains.
The Frasers and young Clanranald appeared, and they were
attacked by their wily foe. The combat was fearfully bloody and fatal.
It is said that no more than six of Lovat’s party escaped, and not
triple that number of their enemies—Ranald, unquestionably the
lawful representative of the family, fell covered with wounds, after
having given proof that he was possessed of the greatest bravery; and
his memory is to this day respected even among the descendants of
those who destroyed him. John of Moidart obtained possession of
the whole estate, and led a very turbulent life. Tradition says that he
compromised the claims of Macdonald of Morar for a third part of
his lands, which he yielded up to him on relinquishing further right.
The conflict is distinguished by the designation of Blar Leine, or
the Battle of the Shirts, the combatants having stripped themselves
during the action. It was fought at the eastern end of Loch Lochy,
near the line of the Caledonian Canal, in July 1554.—Literary
Gazette.
THE FRENCH SPY.
By John Galt.
One day—in the month of August it was—I had gone on some

private concernment of my own to Kilmarnock, and Mr Booble, who
was then oldest bailie, naturally officiated as chief magistrate in my
stead.
There had been, as the world knows, a disposition, on the part of
the grand monarque of that time, to invade and conquer this
country, the which made it a duty incumbent on all magistrates to
keep a vigilant eye on the incomings and outgoings of aliens and
other suspectable persons. On the said day, and during my absence, a
Frenchman, that could speak no manner of English, somehow was
discovered in the Cross Key Inn. What he was, or where he came
from, nobody at the time could tell, as I was informed; but there he
was, having come into the house at the door, with a bundle in his
hand, and a portmanteau on his shoulder, like a traveller out of some
vehicle of conveyance. Mrs Drammer, the landlady, did not like his
looks; for he had toozy black whiskers, was lank and wan, and
moreover deformed beyond human nature, as she said, with a parrot
nose, and had no cravat, but only a bit black riband drawn through
two button-holes, fastening his ill-coloured sark-neck, which gave
him altogether something of an unwholesome, outlandish
appearance.
Finding he was a foreigner, and understanding that strict
injunctions were laid on the magistrates by the king and government
anent the egressing of such persons, she thought, for the credit of her
house, and the safety of the community at large, that it behoved her
to send word to me, then provost, of this man’s visibility among us;
but as I was not at home, Mrs Pawkie, my wife, directed the
messenger to Bailie Booble’s. The bailie was, at all times, overly
ready to claught at an alarm; and when he heard the news, he went
straight to the council-room, and sending for the rest of the council,
ordered the alien enemy, as he called the forlorn Frenchman, to be
brought before him. By this time the suspicion of a spy in the town
had spread far and wide; and Mrs Pawkie told me, that there was a
pallid consternation in every countenance when the black and yellow
man—for he had not the looks of the honest folks of this country—
was brought up the street between two of the town officers, to stand
an examine before Bailie Booble.
Neither the bailie, nor those that were then sitting with him, could
speak any French language, and “the alien enemy” was as little
master of our tongue. I have often wondered how the bailie did not
jalouse that he could be no spy, seeing how, in that respect, he
wanted the main faculty. But he was under the enchantment of a
panic, partly thinking also, perhaps, that he was to do a great exploit
for the government in my absence.
However, the man was brought before him, and there was he, and
them all, speaking loud out to one another as if they had been hard of
hearing, when I, on coming home from Kilmarnock, went to see what
was going on in the council. Considering that the procedure had been
in hand some time before my arrival, I thought it judicious to leave
the whole business with those present, and to sit still as a spectator;
and really it was very comical to observe how the bailie was driven to
his wits’-end by the poor lean and yellow Frenchman, and in what a
pucker of passion the panel put himself at every new interlocutor,
none of which he could understand. At last, the bailie getting no
satisfaction—how could he?—he directed the man’s portmanteau and
bundle to be opened; and in the bottom of the forementioned
package, there, to be sure, was found many a mystical and suspicious
paper, which no one could read; among others, there was a strange
map, as it then seemed to all present.
“I’ gude faith,” cried the bailie, with a keckle of exultation, “here’s
proof enough now. This is a plain map o’ the Frith o’ Clyde, all the
way to the Tail of the Bank at Greenock. This muckle place is Arran;
that round ane is the Craig of Ailsa; the wee ane between is Pladda.
Gentlemen, gentlemen, this is a sore discovery; there will be hanging
and quartering on this.” So he ordered the man to be forthwith
committed as a king’s prisoner to the tolbooth; and turning to me
said—“My Lord Provost, as ye have not been present throughout the
whole of this troublesome affair, I’ll e’en gie an account mysel to the
Lord Advocate of what we have done.” I thought, at the time, there
was something fey and overly forward in this, but I assented; for I
know not what it was that seemed to me as if there was something
neither right nor regular; indeed, to say the truth, I was no ill pleased
that the bailie took on him what he did; so I allowed him to write
himself to the Lord Advocate; and, as the sequel showed, it was a
blessed prudence on my part that I did so. For no sooner did his
lordship receive the bailie’s terrifying letter, than a special king’s
messenger was sent to take the spy into Edinburgh Castle; and
nothing could surpass the great importance that Bailie Booble made
of himself on the occasion, on getting the man into a coach, and two
dragoons to guard him into Glasgow.
But oh! what a dejected man was the miserable Bailie Booble, and
what a laugh rose from shop and chamber, when the tidings came
out from Edinburgh that “the alien enemy” was but a French cook
coming over from Dublin, with the intent to take up the trade of a
confectioner in Glasgow, and that the map of the Clyde was nothing
but a plan for the outset of a fashionable table—the bailie’s island of
Arran being the roast beef, and the Craig of Ailsa the plum-pudding,
and Pladda a butterboat. Nobody enjoyed the jocularity of the
business more than myself; but I trembled when I thought of the
escape that my honour and character had with the Lord Advocate. I
trow, Bailie Booble never set himself so forward from that day to
this.—“The Provost.”
THE MINISTER’S BEAT.
A man he was to all the country dear.
· · · · ·
Even children followed with endearing wile,

And plucked his gown, to share the good man’s smile.—Goldsmith.
Chapter I.
“I am just about to make a round of friendly visits,” said the
minister; “and as far as our roads lie together, you will perhaps go
with me. You are a bad visitor, I know, Mr Frank; but most of my
calls will be where forms are unknown, and etiquette dispensed
with.”
I am indeed a bad visitor, which, in the ordinary acceptation of the
term, means no visitor at all; but I own the temptation of seeing my
worthy friend’s reception, and the hope of coming in for a share of
the cordial welcome he was sure to call forth, overcame my scruples;
especially as in cottages and farm-steadings there is generally
something to be learned even during a morning call;—some trait of
unsophisticated nature to be smiled at, or some sturdy lesson of
practical wisdom to be treasured for future use.
We had not ridden far when my companion, turning up a pretty
rough cart-road leading to a large farmhouse on the right, said, with
an arch smile,—“I love what our superstitious forefathers would
esteem a lucky beginning even to a morning’s ride, and am glad ours
commences with a wedding visit. Peter Bandster has taken a wife in
my absence, and I must go and call him to account for defrauding me
of the ploy. Have you heard anything, Mr Francis, about the bride?”
More than I could wish, thinks I to myself; for my old duenna, who
indemnifies herself for my lack of hospitality by assiduous
frequentation of all marriages, christenings, and gossipings abroad,
had deaved me for the last three weeks with philippics about this
unlucky wedding. The folly of Peter in marrying above his own line;
the ignorance of the bride, who scarce knew lint-yarn from tow, or
bere from barley; her unpardonable accomplishments of netting
purses and playing on the spinnet; above all, her plated candlesticks,
flounced gown, and fashionable bonnet, had furnished Hannah with
inexhaustible matter for that exercise of the tongue, which the Scots
call “rhyming,” and the English “ringing the changes;” to which, as to
all other noises, custom can alone render one insensible.
I had no mind to damp the minister’s benevolent feelings towards
the couple, and contented myself with answering, that I heard the
bride was both bonnie and braw. The good man shook his head. “We
have an old proverb, and a true one,” said he, “‘a bonnie bride is sune
buskit;’ but I have known gawdy butterflies cast their painted wings,
and become excellent housewives in the end.”
“But there stands Peter—no very blithe bridegroom, methinks!”
said I, as my eye rested on the tall and usually jolly young farmer,
musing disconsolately in his cattle-yard over what appeared to be the
body of a dead cow. He started on seeing the minister, as if ashamed
of his sorrow or its cause, and came forward to meet us, struggling to
adapt his countenance a little better to his circumstances.
“Well, Peter,” said the minister, frankly extending his hand, “and
so I am to wish you joy! I thought when I gave you your name, five-
and-twenty years ago, if it pleased God to spare me, to have given
you your helpmate also; but what signifies it by whom the knot is
tied, if true love and the blessing of God go with it? Nay, never hang
your head, Peter; but tell me, before we beat up the young gudewife’s
quarters, what you were leaning over so wae-like when we rode
forward.”
“’Od, sir,” cried Peter, reddening up, “it wasna the value o’ the
beast, though she was the best cow in my mother’s byre, but the way
I lost her, that pat me a wee out o’ tune. My Jessie (for I maunna ca’
her gudewife, it seems, nor mistress neither) is an ill guide o’ kye, ay,
and what’s waur, o’ lasses. We had a tea-drinking last night, nae
doubt, as new-married folk should; and what for no?—I’se warrant
my mither had them too in her daft days. But she didna keep the
house asteer the hale night wi’ fiddles and dancin’, and it neither
New Year nor Hansel Monday; nor she didna lie in her bed till aught
or nine o’clock, as my Jess does; na, nor yet”——
“But what has all this to do with the loss of your cow, Peter?”
“Ower muckle, sir; ower muckle. The lasses and lads liket reels as
weel as their mistress, and whisky a hantle better. They a’ sleepit in,
and mysel among the lave. Nae mortal ever lookit the airt that puir
Blue Bell was in, and her at the very calving; and this morning, when
the byre-door was opened, she was lying stiff and stark, wi’ a dead
calf beside her. It’s no the cow, sir (though it was but the last market
I had the offer o’ fifteen pund for her), it’s the thought that she was
sae sair neglected amang me, and my Jess, and her tawpies o’ lasses.”
“Come, come, Peter,” said the good minister, “you seem to have
been as much to blame as the rest; and as for your young town bride,
she maun creep, as the auld wives say, before she can gang. Country
thrift can no more be learnt in a day than town breeding; and of that
your wife, they say, has her share.”
“Ower muckle, may be,” was the half-muttered reply, as he
marshalled us into the house. The “ben” end of the old-fashioned
farm-house, which, during the primitive sway of Peter’s mother, had
exhibited the usual decorations of an aumrie, a clock, and a pair of
press-beds, with a clean swept ingle, and carefully sanded floor, had
undergone a metamorphosis not less violent than some of Ovid’s or
Harlequin’s. The “aumrie” had given place to a satin-wood work-
table, the clock to a mirror, and the press-beds (whose removal no
one could regret) to that object of Hannah’s direst vituperations—the
pianoforte; while the fire-place revelled in all the summer luxury of
elaborately twisted shavings, and the once sanded floor was covered
with an already soiled and faded carpet, to whose delicate colours
Peter, fresh from the clay furrows, and his two sheep-dogs dripping
from the pond, had nearly proved equally fatal.
In this sanctum sanctorum sat the really pretty bride, in all the
dignity of outraged feeling which ignorance of life and a lavish
perusal of romances could inspire, on witnessing the first cloud on
her usually good-natured husband’s brow. She hastily cleared up her
ruffled looks, gave the minister a cordial, though somewhat affected
welcome, and dropped me a curtsey which twenty years’ rustication
enabled me very inadequately to return.
The good pastor bent on this new lamb of his fold a benignant yet
searching glance, and seemed watching where, amid the fluent small
talk which succeeded, he might edge in a word of playful yet serious
import to the happiness of the youthful pair. The bride was
stretching forth her hand with all the dignity of her new station, to
ring the bell for cake and wine, when Peter (whose spleen was
evidently waiting for a vent), hastily starting up, cried out, “Mistress!
if ye’re ower grand to serve the minister yoursel, there’s ane ’ill be
proud to do’t. There shall nae quean fill a glass for him in this house
while it ca’s me master. My mither wad hae served him on her
bended knees, gin he wad hae let her; and ye think it ower muckle to
bring ben the bridal bread to him! Oh, Jess, Jess! I canna awa wi’
your town ways and town airs.”
The bride coloured and pouted; but there gathered a large drop in
her eye, and the pastor hailed it as an earnest of future concession.
He took her hand kindly, and put it into Peter’s not reluctant one.
“‘Spring showers make May flowers,’ my dear lassie, says the old
proverb, and I trust out o’ these little clouds will spring your future
happiness. You, Jessy, have chosen an honest, worthy, kind-hearted,
country husband, whose love will be well worth the sacrifice of a few
second-hand graces. And you, Peter, have taken, for better and for
worse, a lassie, in whose eye, in spite of foreign airs, I read a heart to
be won by kindness. Bear and forbear, my dear bairns—let each be
apter to yield than the other to exact. You are both travelling to a
better country; see that ye fall not out by the way.”
The bride by this time was sobbing, and Peter’s heart evidently
softened. So leaving the pair to seal their reconciliation in this
favourable mood, the good minister and I mounted our horses, and
rode off without further parley.
We were just turning the corner of the loan to regain the high road,
when a woman from a cottage in an adjoining field came running to
intercept us. There was in her look a wildness bordering on
distraction, but it was evidently of no painful kind. She seemed like
one not recovered from the first shock of some delightful surprise,
too much for the frail fabric of mortality to bear without tottering to
its very foundations. The minister checked his horse, whose bridle
she grasped convulsively, panting partly from fatigue and more from
emotion, endeavouring, but vainly, to give utterance to the tidings
with which her bosom laboured. Twice she looked up, shook her
head, and was silent; then with a strong effort faltered out,—
“He’s come back!—the Lord be praised for it!”
“Who is come back, Jenny?” said the pastor, in the deepest tone of
sympathy,—“Is it little Andrew, ye mean?”
“Andrew!” echoed the matron, with an expression of contempt,
which at any other time this favourite grandchild would have been
very far from calling forth—“Andrew!—Andrew’s father, I mean my
ain first-born son Jamie, that I wore mournings for till they would
wear nae langer, and thought lying fifty fathoms down in solid ice, in
yon wild place Greenland, or torn to pieces wi’ savage bears, like the
mocking bairns in Scripture,—he’s yonder!” said she, wildly pointing
to the house; “he’s yonder, living, and living like; and oh, gin ye wad
come, and maybe speak a word in season to us, we might be better
able to praise the Lord, as is His due.”
We turned our horses’ heads, and followed her as she ran, or
rather flew, towards the cottage with the instinct of some animal long
separated from its offspring. The little boy before mentioned ran out
to hold our horses, and whispered as the minister stooped to stroke
his head, “Daddy’s come hame frae the sea.”
The scene within the cottage baffles description. The old mother,
exhausted with her exertion, had sunk down beside her son on the
edge of the bed on which he was sitting, where his blind and bed-rid
father lay, and clasped his withered hands in speechless prayer. His
lips continued to move, unconscious of our presence, and ever and
anon he stretched forth a feeble arm to ascertain the actual vicinity of
his long-mourned son. On a low stool, before the once gay and
handsome, but now frost-nipt and hunger-worn mariner, sat his
young wife, her hand firmly clasped in his, her fixed eye riveted on
his countenance, giving no other sign of life than a convulsive
pressure of the former, or a big drop descending unwiped from the
latter; while her unemployed hand was plucking quite mechanically
the badge of widowhood from her duffle cloak, which (having just
reached home as her husband knocked at his father’s door) was yet
lying across her knee.
The poor sailor gazed on all around him with somewhat of a
bewildered air, but most of all upon a rosy creature between his
knees, of about a year and a half old, born just after his departure,
and who had only learned the sad word “Daddy,” from the childish
prattle of his older brother Andrew, and his sisters. Of these, one had
been summoned, wild and barelegged, from the herding, the other,
meek and modest, from the village school. The former, idle and
intractable, half shrunk in fear of her returned parent’s well-
remembered strictness; the other, too young not to have forgotten
his person, only wondered whether this was the Father in heaven of
whom she had heard so often. She did not think it could be so, for
there was no grief or trouble there, and this father looked as if he had
seen much of both.
Such was the group to whose emotions, almost too much for
human nature, our entrance gave a turn.
“Jamie,” said the good pastor (gently pressing the still united
hands of the mariner and his faithful Annie), “you are welcome back
from the gates of death and the perils of the deep. Well is it said, that
they who go down to the sea in ships see more of the wonders of the
Lord than other men; but it was not from storm and tempests alone
that you have been delivered,—cold and famine, want and nakedness
—wild beasts to devour, and darkness to dismay;—these have been
around your dreary path—but He that was with you was mightier
than all that were against you; and you are returned a living man to
tell the wondrous tale. Let us praise the Lord, my friends, for His
goodness, and His wonderful works to the children of men.” We all
knelt down and joined in the brief but fervent prayer that followed.
The stranger’s heartfelt sigh of sympathy mingled with the pastor’s
pious orisons, with the feeble accents of decrepitude, the lisp of
wondering childhood, the soul-felt piety of rescued manhood, and
the deep, unutterable gratitude of a wife and mother’s heart!
For such high-wrought emotions prayer is the only adequate
channel. They found vent in it, and were calmed and subdued to the
level of ordinary intercourse. The minister kindly addressed Jamie,
and drew forth, by his judicious questions, the leading features of
that marvellous history of peril and privations, endured by the crew
of a Greenland ship detained a winter in the ice, with which all are
now familiar, but of which a Parry or a Franklin can perhaps alone
appreciate the horrors. They were related with a simplicity that did
them ample justice.
“I never despaired, sir,” said the hardy mariner; “we were young
and stout. Providence, aye when at the warst, did us some gude turn,
and this kept up our hearts. We had mostly a’ wives or mithers at
hame, and kent that prayers wadna be wanting for our safety; and
little as men may think o’ them on land, or even at sea on a
prosperous voyage,—a winter at the Pole makes prayers precious. We
had little to do but sleep; and oh, the nights were lang! I was aye a
great dreamer; and, ye maunna be angry, sir (to the minister), the
seeing Annie and the bairns amaist ilka time I lay down, and aye
braw and buskit, did mair to keep up my hopes than a’ the rest. I
never could see wee Jamie, though,” said he, smiling, and kissing the
child on his knee; “I saw a cradle weel enough, but the face o’ the bit
creature in’t I never could mak out, and it vexed me; for whiles I
thought my babe was dead, and whiles I feared it had never been
born; but God be praised he’s here, and no that unlike mysel
neither.”
“Annie!” said the minister, gently loosing her renewed grasp of
Jamie’s hand, “you are forgetting your duty as a gudewife—we maun
drink to Jamie’s health and happiness ere we go—we’ll steal a glass
or two out of old Andrew’s cordial bottle; a drop of this day’s joy will
be better to him than it a’.”
“Atweel, that’s true,” said the old father, with a distinctness of
utterance, and acuteness of hearing, he had not manifested for many
months. The bottle was brought, the health of the day went round; I
shook the weather-beaten sailor warmly by the hand, and begging
leave to come and hear more of his story at a fitter season, followed
the minister to the door.
“Andrew,” said he, giving the little patient equerry a bright new
sixpence, “tell your daddy I gave you this for being a dutiful son to
your mother when he was at the sea.”
The child’s eye glistened as he ran into the cottage to execute the
welcome command, and we rode off, our hearts too full for much
communication.
Chapter II.
The day was advancing. These two scenes had encroached deeply
on the privileged hours for visiting, and the minister, partly to turn
the account of our thoughts into a less agitating channel, partly to
balance the delights of the last hour with their due counterpoise of
alloy, suggested the propriety of going next to pay, at the house of his
patron, the laird of the parish, the visit of duty and ceremony, which
his late return, and a domestic affliction in the family, rendered
indispensable. There were reasons which made my going equally
proper and disagreeable; and formal calls being among the many
evils which are lightened by participation, I gladly availed myself of
the shelter of the minister’s name and company.
Mr Morison, of Castle Morison, was one of those spoiled children
of fortune, whom in her cruel kindness she renders miserable. He
had never known contradiction, and a straw across his path made
him chafe like a resisted torrent; he had never known sorrow, and
was, consequently, but half acquainted with joy; he was a stranger to
compassion, and consequently himself an object of pity to all who
could allow for the force of early education in searing and hardening
the human heart. He had, as a boy, made his mother tremble; it is
little to be wondered that in manhood he was the tyrant of his wife
and children. Mrs Morison’s spirit, originally gentle, was soon
broken; and if her heart was not equally so, it was because she
learned reluctantly to despise her tyrant, and found compensation in
the double portion of affection bestowed on her by her son and
daughters. For the latter, Mr Morison manifested only contempt.
There was not a horse in his stable, nor a dog in his kennel, which
did not engross more of his attention; but like the foxes and hares
which it was the business of these favourite animals to hunt down,
girls could be made to afford no bad sport in a rainy day. It was no
wonder, that with them fear usurped the place of reverence for such
a parent. If they did not hate him, they were indebted to their
mother’s piety and their own sweet dispositions; and if they neither
hated nor envied their only brother, it was not the fault of him, who,
by injudicious distinctions and blind indulgence, laid the foundation
for envy and all uncharitableness in their youthful bosoms. In that of
his favourite, they had the usual effect of generating self-will and
rebellion; and while Jane and Agnes, well knowing nothing they did
would be thought right, rarely erred from the path of duty, Edmund,
aware that he could scarce do wrong, took care his privileges should
not rust for want of exercise.
But though suffered in all minor matters to follow the dictates of
caprice, to laugh at his tutor, lame the horse, and break rules (to all
others those of the Medes and Persians), with impunity, he found
himself suddenly reined up in his headlong career by an equally
capricious parent, precisely at the period when restraint was nearly
forgotten, and peculiarly irksome. It was tacitly agreed by both
parties, that the heir of Castle Morison could only go into the army;
but while the guards or a dragoon regiment was the natural enough
ambition of Edmund, Morison was suddenly seized with a fit of
contradiction, which he chose to style economy, and talked of a
marching regiment, with, perhaps an extra £100 per annum to the
undoubted heir of nearly ten thousand a-year. Neither would yield—
the one had taught, the other learned, stubbornness; and Edmund,
backed by the sympathy of the world, and the clamours of his
companions, told his father he had changed his mind, and was going
to India with a near relation, about to proceed to Bombay in a high
official character.
Morison had a peculiar prejudice against the East, and a personal
pique towards the cousin to whose patronage Edmund had betaken
himself. His rage was as boundless as his former partiality, and the
only consolation his poor wife felt when her darling son left his
father’s house, alike impenitent and unblest, was, that her boy’s
disposition was originally good, and would probably recover the
ascendant; and that it was out of the power of her husband to make
his son a beggar as well as an exile. The estate was strictly entailed,
and the knowledge of this, while it embittered Morison’s sense of his
son’s disobedience, no doubt strengthened the feeling of
independence so natural to headstrong youth.
While Morison was perverting legal ingenuity, in vain hopes of
being able to disinherit his refractory heir, his unnatural schemes
were anticipated by a mightier agent. An epidemic fever carried off,
in one short month (about two years after his quitting England), the
unreconciled, but no longer unconciliatory exile, and his young and
beautiful bride, the daughter of his patron, his union with whom had
been construed, by the causeless antipathy of his father, into a fresh
cause of indignation. Death, whose cold hand loosens this world’s
grasp, and whose deep voice stills this world’s strife, only tightens
the bonds of nature, and teaches the stormiest spirits to “part in
peace.” Edmund lived to write to his father a few lines of
undissembled and unconditional penitence; to own, that if the path
of duty had been rugged, he had in vain sought happiness beyond it,
and to entreat that the place he had forfeited in his father’s favour
might be transferred to his unoffending child.
All this had been conveyed to Mr Monteith and myself by the voice
of rumour some days before, and we had been more shocked than
surprised to learn that Morison’s resentment had survived its object,
and that he disclaimed all intention of ever seeing or receiving the
infant boy who, it was gall to him to reflect, must inherit his estate.
Mrs Morison had exerted, to soften his hard heart, all the little
influence she now possessed. Her tender soul yearned towards her
Edmund’s child; and sometimes the thought of seeking a separation,
and devoting herself to rear it, crossed her despairing mind. But her
daughters were a tie still more powerful to her unhappy home. She
could neither leave them, unprotected, to its discomforts, nor
conscientiously advise their desertion of a parent, however
unworthy; so she wandered, a paler and sadder inmate than before of
her cold and stately mansion; and her fair, subdued-looking
daughters shuddered as they passed the long-locked doors of their
brother’s nursery and schoolroom.
The accounts of young Morison’s death had arrived since the good
pastor’s departure, and it was with feelings of equal sympathy
towards the female part of the family, and sorrow for the unchristian
frame of its head, that he prepared for our present visit. As we rode
up the old straight avenue, I perceived a postchaise at the door, and
instead of shrinking from this probable accession of strangers, felt
that any addition to the usually constrained and gloomy family circle
must be a relief. On reaching the door, we were struck with a very
unusual appendage to the dusty and travel-stained vehicle, in the
shape of an ancient, venerable-looking Asiatic, in the dress of his
country, beneath whose ample muslin folds he might easily have
been mistaken for an old female nurse, a character which, in all its
skill and tenderness, was amply sustained by this faithful and
attached Oriental. His broken English and passionate gestures
excited our attention, already awakened by the singularity of his
costume and appearance; and as we got close to him, the big tears
which rolled over his sallow and furrowed cheeks, powerfully called
forth our sympathy, and told, better than words, his forcible
exclusion from the splendid mansion which had reluctantly admitted
within its precincts the child dearer to him than country and
kindred!
Our visit (had it borne less of a pastoral character) had all the
appearance of being very ill-timed. There were servants running to
and fro in the hall, and loud voices in the dining-room; and from a
little parlour on one side the front door, issued female sobs, mingled
with infant wailings in an unknown dialect.
“Thank God!” whispered the minister, “the bairn is fairly in the
house. Providence and nature will surely do the rest.”
It was not a time to intrude abruptly, so we sent in our names to
Mr Morison, and during our pretty long detention on horseback,
could not avoid seeing in at the open window of the parlour before-
mentioned, a scene which it grieved us to think was only witnessed
by ourselves.
Mrs Morison was sitting in a chair (on which she had evidently
sunk down powerless), with her son’s orphan boy on her knee, the
bright dark eyes of the little wild unearthly-looking creature fixed in
steadfast gaze on her pale matronly countenance. “No cry, Mama
Englise,” said the child, as her big tears rolled unheeded on his
bosom—“Billy Edmund will be welly welly good.” His youngest aunt,
whose keen and long-repressed feelings found vent in sobs of
mingled joy and agony, was covering his little hands with showers of
kisses, while the elder (his father’s favourite sister) was comparing
behind him the rich dark locks that clustered on his neck with the
locket which, since Edmund’s departure, had dwelt next her heart.
A message from the laird summoned us from this affecting sight,
and, amid the pathetic entreaties of the old Oriental, that we would
restore his nursling, we proceeded to the dining-room, made aware
of our approach to it by the still-storming, though half-suppressed
imprecations of its hard-hearted master. He was pacing in stern and
moody agitation through the spacious apartment. His welcome was
evidently extorted, and his face (to use a strong Scripture expression)
set as a flint against the voice of remonstrance and exhortation, for
which he was evidently prepared. My skilful coadjutor went quite
another way to work.
“Mr Morison,” said he, apparently unconscious of the poor man’s
pitiable state of mind, “I came to condole, but I find it is my lot to
congratulate. The Lord hath taken away with the one hand, but it has
been to give with the other. His blessing be with you and your son’s
son, whom He hath sent to be the staff and comfort of your age!”
This was said with his usual benign frankness, and the hard heart,
which would have silenced admonition, and scorned reproof, scarce
knew how to repulse the voice of Christian congratulation. He
walked about, muttering to himself—“No son of mine—bad breed!
Let him go to those who taught his father disobedience, and his
mother artifice!—anywhere they please; there is no room for him
here.”
“Have you seen your grandchild yet, Mr Morison?” resumed the
minister, nothing daunted by the continued obduracy of the proud
laird. “Let me have the joy of putting him into your arms. You must
expect to be a good deal overcome; sweet little fellow, there is a
strong likeness!”
A shudder passed across the father’s hard frame, and he recoiled
as from an adder, when worthy Mr Monteith, gently grasping his
arm, sought to draw him, still sullen, though more faintly resisting,
towards the other room. A shrill cry of infant agony rose from the
parlour as we crossed the hall, and nature never perhaps exhibited a
stronger contrast than presented itself between the cruel old man,
struggling to escape from the presence of his grandchild, and the
faithful ancient domestic shrieking wildly to be admitted into it.
As I threw open the door for the entrance of the former, little
Edmund, whose infant promises of good behaviour had soon given
way before the continued society of strangers, was stamping in all the
impotence of baby rage (and in this unhallowed mood too faithful a
miniature of both father and grandfather), and calling loudly for the
old Oriental. With the first glance at the door his exclamations
redoubled. We began to fear the worst effect from this abrupt
introduction; but no sooner had the beautiful boy (beautiful even in
passion) cast a second bewildered glance on his still erect and
handsome grandfather, than, clapping his little hands, and calling
out, “My Bombay papa!” he flew into his arms!
The servants, concluding the interdict removed by their master’s
entrance into the apartment, had ceased to obstruct the efforts of the
old Hindoo to fly to his precious charge; and while the astonished
and fairly overwhelmed Morison’s neck was encircled by the infant
grasp of his son’s orphan boy, his knees were suddenly embraced by
that son’s devoted and gray-haired domestic.
One arm of little Edmund was instantly loosened from his
grandfather’s shoulder, and passed round the neck of the faithful old
Oriental, who kissed alternately the little cherub hand of his
nursling, and the hitherto iron one of the proud laird. It softened,
and the hard heart with it! It was long since love—pure
unsophisticated love, and spontaneous reverence—had been
Morison’s portion, and they were proportionally sweet. He buried his
face in his grandson’s clustering ringlets. We heard a groan deep as
when rocks are rending, and the earth heaves with long pent-up fires.
It was wildly mingling with childish laughter and hysteric bursts of
female tenderness, as, stealing cautiously and unheeded from the
spot, we mounted our horses and rode away.
“God be praised!” said the minister, with a deep-drawn sigh, when,
emerging from the gloomy avenue, we regained the cheerful beaten
track. “This has been a day of strange dispensations, Mr Francis—we
have seen much together to make us wonder at the ways of
Providence, to soften, and, I hope, improve our hearts. But, after
such solemn scenes, mine (and yours, I doubt not, also) requires
something to cheer and lighten it; and I am bound where, if the sight
of virtuous happiness can do it, I am sure to succeed. Do let me
persuade you to be my companion a little longer, and close this day’s
visitation at the humble board of, I’ll venture to say, the happiest
couple in Scotland. I am engaged to christen the first-born of honest
Willie Meldrum and his bonnie Helen, and to dine, of course, after
the ceremony. Mrs Monteith and the bairns will be there to meet me;
and, as my friend, you’ll be ‘welcome as the flowers in May.’”
After some slight scruples about intruding on this scene of
domestic enjoyment, easily overruled by the hearty assurances of the
divine, and my own natural relish for humble life, we marched
towards the farmhouse of Blinkbonnie; and during our short ride the
minister gave me, in a few words, the history of its inmates.
Chapter III.
“I don’t know, Mr Francis, if you remember a bonny orphan lassie,
called Helen Ormiston, whom my wife took some years back into the
family to assist her in the care of the bairns. Helen was come of no
ungentle kin; but poverty had sat down heavily on her father and
mother, and sunk them into an early grave; and it was a godsend to
poor Helen to get service in a house where poverty would be held no
reproach to her. If ye ever saw the creature, ye wadna easily forget
her. Many bonnier, blither lassies are to be seen daily; but such a
look of settled serenity and downcast modesty ye might go far to
find. It quite won my wife’s heart and mine, and more hearts than
ours, as I shall tell you presently. As for the bairns, they just doated
on Helen, and she on them; and my poor youngest, that is now with
God, during all her long, long decline, was little if ever off her knee.
No wonder, then, that Helen grew pale and thin, ate little, and slept
less. I first set it down to anxiety, and, when the innocent bairn was
released, to grief; and from these, no doubt, it partly arose. But when
all was over, and when weeks had passed away, when even my poor
wife dried her mother’s tears, and I could say, ‘God’s will be done,’
still Helen grew paler and thinner, and refused to be comforted; so I
saw there was more in it than appeared, and I bade her open her
heart to me; and open it she did, with a flood of tears that would have
melted a stone.
“‘Sir,’ said she, ‘I maun go away. I think it will kill me to leave you
and Mrs Monteith, and the dear bairns in the nursery, and wee
Jeanie’s grave in the kirkyard; but stay I canna, and I will tell you
why. It is months, ay, amaist years, since Willie Meldrum, auld
Blinkbonnie’s son, fell in fancy wi’ me, and a sair sair heart, I may
say, I have had ever sin syne. His auld hard father, they tell me,
swears (wi’ sic oaths as wad gar ye grue to hear them) that he will cut
him off wi’ a shilling if ever he thinks o’ me; and oh! it wad be a puir
return for the lad’s kindness to do him sic an ill turn! so I maun awa
out of the country till the auld man dies, or Willie taks a wife to his
mind, for I’ve seen ower muckle o’ poverty, Mr Monteith, to be the
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