Construction activities

Hi Inder, While demolition services do correspond to a NAICS code, the Census spending patterns used in IMPLAN for construction are designed to reflect positive construction and thus the purchases of materials. Since demolition clearly doesn't involve material purchases, our suggestion would be to import the spending pattern for sector 34 and modify it to remove most purchased materials (concrete, stone, etc.), leaving only operating machinery and services. You would then normalize the spending pattern and set the Activity Level to the amount spent on demolition. [url=implan.com/V4/index.php?option=com_multi...18:618&Itemid=71]See this article for more on using Industry Spending Patterns.[/url] We apologize that there is not a clearer answer for this problem.

Thanks! Two questions: 1. I was able to import the spending pattern for sector 34 but I am not sure how to modify it to remove most of the meterials (concrete , stone etc) leaving only machinery and services. 2. Can I use the modified sector 34 to handle site improvement also? Thank you so much. You have been very helpful. Indeed this kind of service has encouraged us to order the new version of the IMPLAN.

Hi Inder, Once you have imported the spending pattern you can modify it by highlighting Event lines that need to be removed (clicking in the far left-hand box will highlight the Event and make the Event blue as an indication). Once an Event is highlighted, the delete button will activate. You can use this method to delete out all the line items for purchases that are not desirable. Once you have removed all the purchases you don't want to make, you can normalize the remaining Events in the spending pattern by going to the Event Option>Change All>Normalize functions. This will make the Event lines sum to 1.00. You will then want to use the Edit Activity function in the upper portion of the screen to edit the Activity Level to your budget value (Output less Value Added) and we would recommend editing the name to demolition. Once you have done this, you can use the same procedure for the site preparation. Setting the Activity Level and renaming appropriately for this Activity. Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

Thanks! I am however stuck: I have made all the changes as suggested by you. My top activity screen shows two items: Acitivity 1(which has all the events I have added) and demoliton(the new name for all the items I kept after deleting the other from the construction). I need to bring the modified construction spending which I call demolition into the activity 1 as a new event. I have tried to highlight it and import it as a new item, but it does not work. What needs to be done?

Hi Inder, You cannot create the demolition Activity as an Event of your overall construction impact. You can however, run both the demolition Activity and the other Activities in the same Scenario. This will sum the Indirect and Induced results of both Activities into a single result set for you. You will then just need to go back and in the Direct information for the demolition work and then re-sum your totals. The reason you will need to add these back in, is because the Industry Spending Pattern Activity does not report any Direct Effects. You can demonstrate this by running a test Scenario with just the demolition Activity. Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

Thanks! I seek clarification on the last statement of your response, "You will then want to use the Edit Activity function in the upper portion of the screen to edit the Activity Level to your budget value (Output less Value Added) and we would recommend editing the name to demolition". er In the case study, Using an imported Spending Patterns, the last paragraph states," rememember that we will still need to add in the effect of the actual construction output and employment. In this instance if Washington county did not provide us any employment number, we could estimate the direct impact by entering $8,000,000 into the sector 36 and using implan". I have two questions: 1. Should we add the output less value added (as suggested in paragraph 1) or total budget (as suggested in paragraph 2? 2. Which sector are adding the the direct effect to: the industry spending pattern after adjustment or the construction sector 36 as stated in paragraph 2.

Hi Inder, This is confusing because it varies between what the Sum of Event Values reflects. In the case of the demolition Activity you are creating, we instructed you to normalize the pattern, after you had removed the Event lines that were not appropriate for demolition. This forces the Sum of Event Values to equal 1.00. In this case, then, you only want the Activity Level to reflect the goods and services budget because 100% (Sum of Event Values =1.00)of the Activity Level will be spent through the spending pattern. In the case study they are using an unadjusted spending pattern for Sector 36, thus the Sum of Event Values is less than 1.00. You can verify this by importing a new Sector 36 spending pattern. So for example if you spending pattern for Sector 36 summed to .46 only 46% of the Activity Level will be spent on the spending pattern. This is the reason, those instructions vary from what we have described to you. Since the Direct Effect, if we are understanding your question correctly, is the cost of demolition, you will want to add it the results of the demolition Scenario. Hopefully this helps. Please let us know if you need any additional assistance.

Thanks! I have estimated the indirect and induced effects of demolition but I am not sure how to add back the direct effect of demoliton.

Hi Inder, Presumably to be able to do the rest of the analysis, you have some idea of the labor costs and of the Output or sales value of the demolition project. If you don't have additional information for filling out the Direct impact you can use the regional ratios for Sector 36 to help you proxy missing elements of the Direct. This information can be found in the Explore> Social Accounts> Balance Sheet (Tab), and select View By: Industry Balance Sheet and the Commodity Demand tab and Value Added tab. These tabs will display the percentages of Intermediate Expenditures to Value Added and the rates of the different Value Added factors to each other (Employment Compensation: Proprietor Income: Other Property Type Income: Taxes on Production). Please let me know if this addresses your concern or if you have any additional questions.

Hi Inder, Presumably to be able to do the rest of the analysis, you have some idea of the labor costs and of the Output or sales value of the demolition project. If you don't have additional information for filling out the Direct impact you can use the regional ratios for Sector 36 to help you proxy missing elements of the Direct. This information can be found in the Explore> Social Accounts> Balance Sheet (Tab), and select View By: Industry Balance Sheet and the Commodity Demand tab and Value Added tab. These tabs will display the percentages of Intermediate Expenditures to Value Added and the rates of the different Value Added factors to each other (Employment Compensation: Proprietor Income: Other Property Type Income: Taxes on Production). Please let me know if this addresses your concern or if you have any additional questions