ercer Asbestos Removal Company removes potentially toxic asbestos insulation from buildings. There has been a long$-$simmering dispute between the company$$s estimator and the work supervisors. The on$-$site supervisors claim the estimators do not adequately distinguish between routine work, such as removing asbestos insulation around heating pipes in older homes, and nonroutine work, such as removing asbestos$-$contaminated ceiling plaster in industrial buildings. The on$-$site supervisors believe nonroutine work is far more expensive than routine work and should bear higher customer charges. The estimator sums up his position in this way: $$My job is to measure the area to be cleared of asbestos. As directed by top management, I simply multiply the square footage by $$2\mathrm{.}50$ to determine the bid price. Because our average cost is only $$2\mathrm{.}155$ per square foot, that leaves enough cushion to take care of the additional costs of nonroutine work. Besides, it is difficult to know what is routine or not routine until you actually start tearing things apart.$$

To shed light on this controversy, the company gathered the following activity$-$based costing data: