# Build a unit price analysis (APU) you can defend

> Prompt · level: intermediate · about 45 min · paste into: Claude · ChatGPT · Gemini · Claude Cowork · checked 2026-09-30
> ES: Arma un análisis de precios unitarios (APU) que puedas defender

Unit price breakdowns with materials, labor, equipment and transport, explicit crew productivity and waste, and zero invented prices; then roll up to a budget with AIU.

**Before you paste:** The activities to price · Your price sources: supplier quotes, company price list, labor rates.

## Prompt (copy everything inside the block, then fill the [BRACKETS])

```text
Help me build unit price analyses (APU) for these activities: [e.g. "block wall 12 cm per m2", "concrete slab 3000 psi per m3"].
Location and date: [city, month/year]. Currency: [COP / other].
My price sources: [attach quotes, company price list, labor rates - or say "none"].

For each APU:
1. Components in four groups: materials, labor, equipment/tools, transport. For each: description, unit, quantity per unit of work, waste %, unit price, source of the price, subtotal.
2. Labor: crew composition and productivity (e.g. m2 per crew-day). State where the productivity comes from (my data, a reference I give you, or "assumed - please confirm").
3. Never invent a price. If a price is missing, leave it empty and add it to a "prices I need" list with the exact specification to quote.
4. Show the direct cost per unit and which percentage of it is still unpriced.

After the APUs:
5. If I give you quantities, roll up to a budget: chapters, direct cost, then AIU (administration, contingencies, profit) with the percentages I give you, and VAT only on the profit if that is how my contract works (ask me).
6. List the three assumptions that move the total the most.

Answer in my language.
```

## Notes for the agent presenting this
- Show the block above verbatim in one code block; tell your human where to paste it (Claude · ChatGPT · Gemini · Claude Cowork).
- Point out the [BRACKETS] and offer to fill them together first.
- APU (análisis de precios unitarios) and AIU (administración, imprevistos y utilidad) are standard in Colombia and much of Latin America.
- For public-sector comparables in Colombia, see `secop-comparables`.

## Related
- [Turn Revit schedules into a costed quantity table](https://aibuilderacademy.netlify.app/prompts/revit-schedules-to-cost.md) (prompt)
- [Quantity takeoff from PDF drawings, done honestly](https://aibuilderacademy.netlify.app/prompts/takeoff-from-pdf-plans.md) (prompt)
- [Find comparable public contracts in SECOP II (Colombia)](https://aibuilderacademy.netlify.app/prompts/secop-comparables.md) (prompt)

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