Phil,
I think when I started building, I saw the following numbers for building an RV7-EH:
Empennage: 200 hr
Wings: 400 hr
Fuselage: 400 hr
FWF: 400 hr
Finish: 400 hr
-----------------
Total: 1800 hr
I think a lot of guys claim that these numbers are just about right, but I don't see very many websites where people show their hours, anymore.
When I did the empennage, I hit it exactly at 200 hrs, including fiberglass, but not including paint. The wings took 522 hours (no paint). The fuselage is currently at 545 hours and I am about 2/3 of the way through it. As you can see, things are starting to surpass the "standard" times by quite a bit. Yes, these times include the time I spent sitting in the factory, staring at plans. No, they do not include the time that I spent on special projects (LED nav lights, wingtip lights, annunciator panel, sewing test cushions, etc.).
A few years ago, at SWRFI, I commented to a builder that his RV-6 looked really nice, and that he must have spent about 3000 hours on it. He was insulted, because he had spent 5000 hours on it (it looked more like 3000 to me, it wasn't that nice).
Many builders who do a quickbuild claim that they finished in the 1200 hours that Van says it can be done in. Others seem to spend more like 1600-1800 hours (even more).
So, you can see that the time to build an RV is all over the map. You might be able to go with empennage = 10 percent and each of the other major tasks are 20 percent each, but that could change drastically, depending upon whether you did everything "standard" (i.e., by the book) or whether you did a lot of customization (for example, rolling your own alternative engine installation).
We are building experimental aircraft, so everyone's experience will be different.
Cheers,
Tracy.
