Mercer Asbestos Removal Company removes potentially toxic asbestos insulation and related products from buildings. There has been a long-simmering dispute between the company's estimator and the work supervisors. The onsite supervisors claim that the estimators do not adequately distinguish between routine work, such as removal of 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 that nonroutine work is far more expensive than routine work and should bear higher customer charges. The estimator sums up his position in this way: "Myjob is to measure the area to be cleared of asbestos. As directed by top management, I simply multiply the square footage by $3.20 to determine the bid price. Since our average cost is only $2.805 per square foot, that leaves enough cushion to take care of the additional costs of nonroutine work that shows up. 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 initiated an activity-based costing study of all of its costs. Data from the activity-based costing system follow: Activity Cost Pool Activity Measure Total Activity Removing asbestos Thousands of square feet 850 thousand square feet Estimating and job setup Number of jobs 400 jobs Working on nonroutine jobs Number of nonroutine jobs 100 nonroutine jobs other (organization-sustaining costs and idle capacity costs) None Note: The 100 nonroutine jobs are included in the total of 400 jobs. Both nonroutine jobs and routine jobs require estimating and setup. Costs for the Year Wages and salaries $ 440,000 Disposal fees 824,000 Equipment depreciation 108,000 On-site supplies 64,000 Office expenses 340,000 Licensing and insurance 540,000 Total cost $ 2,316,000 Distribution of Resource Consumption Across Activities Estimating Working on Removing and Job Nonroutine Asbestos Setup Jobs other Total Wages and salaries 50% 10% 30% 10% 100% Disposal fees 70% 0% 30% 0% 100% Equipment depreciation 40% 5% 20% 35% 100% On-site supplies 60% 30% 10% 0% 100% Office expenses 15% 35% 20% 30% 100% Licensing and insurance 30% 0% 60% 10% 100% Compute the activity rates for the activity cost pools. Activity Cost Pool Activity Rate Removing asbestos per thousand square feet Estimating and job setup per job Working on nonroutine jobs per nonroutine job