Activity-based costing in a nonmanufacturing environment. Crystal Clear, Inc., is a
pool service. The company originally specialized in serving residential clients but has
recently started contracting for work with larger commercial clients, like hotels. Dudley
Waters, the owner, is considering reducing residential services and increasing
commercial pool service. Five field employees worked a total of 15,000 hours last
year-10,000 on residential jobs and 5,000 on commercial jobs. Wages were $8 per hour
for all work done. Direct materials used were minimal and are included in overhead. All
overhead is allocated on the basis of labor hours worked, which is also the basis for
customer charges. Because of greater competition for commercial accounts, Mr. Waters
can charge $20 per hour for residential work, but only $17 per hour for commercial
work.
Required:
a. If overhead for the year was $75,000, what were the profits of commercial and
residential service using labor hours as the allocation base?
b. Overhead consists of office supplies, garden supplies, and depreciation and
maintenance on equipment. These costs can be traced to the following activities: