Qunatification & Costing

Question 1

What is NRM?

Answer 1

RICS Practice Information called New Rules of Measurement which gives guidance on costing

Question 2

What are NRM 1, 2 & 3?

Answer 2

NRM1 - Order of cost estimating and cost planing for capital building works
NRM2 - Detailed measurement for building works
NRM3 - Order of cost estimating and cost planning for maintenance works

Question 3

What is an alternative to NRM2?

Answer 3

SMM7

Question 4

What’s the difference between NRM2 and SMM7?

Answer 4

They both categorise each element of works differently eg SMM7 has groundwork’s whereas NRM2 has excavation and filing / ground remediation / piling as separate chapters

Question 5

Why is NRM2 used?

Answer 5

To form a standardised basis on which building elements can be measured and costed for procurement and variation purposes

Question 6

Give 3 examples of how you might go about costing a variation?

Answer 6

1. Quoted works from S/C with OH&P %
2. Use rates within the BoQ
3. Use first principles of labour, plant and materials

Question 7

What is a project feasibility report?

Answer 7

A project feasibility report is a preliminary cost and programme assessment of a project based on limited information usually RIBA stage 1 or 2 to give the client a rough budget to see if the scheme is viable.

Question 8

What is the BCIS?

Answer 8

Building Cost Information Service

Question 9

How might you use the BCIS?

Answer 9

The BCIS can be used to gather constriction data to be used to analyse industry prices per sector and location, can provide average costing data for types of projects to be used as a check for estimates.

Question 10

How did you go about procuring the fire stopping package for your Eastbrook studios project?

Answer 10

1. Understand the scope of what was required
2. Gathered the project information that would be required, spec, drawings, project info
3. Produced a BoQ in accordance with NRM2

Question 11

How did you create the BoQ for the fire stopping and cavity barriers at Eastbrook Studios?

Answer 11

1. BoQ template with description / qty / unit / rate / total
2. Use NRM2 work section 31 insulation fire stopping and fire protection
3. Measured the cavity barriers (m2, thickness, type (batt), internal
4. Measured the fire stopping (nr, dimension, fire rating, vertical/horizontal, batt and mastic

Question 12

How do you measure cavity barriers?

Answer 12

Unit - Area (m2)
Thickness of cavity
Type (batt),
Location - internal/external

Question 13

How do you measure fire stopping?

Answer 13

1. Nr
2. Dimension of hole
3. Fire rating of wall (60m etc),
4. Location vertical/horizontal,
5. Material - batt and mastic

Question 14

What’s the difference between a remeasurable contract and lump sum when it comes to assessing variations?

Answer 14

Remeasurable contracts have a BoQ where the whole works are remeasured based on their rates in the BoQ
Lump sum only variations are measured based on the rates, the rest of the works are fixed costs

Question 15

What are day works?

Answer 15

Day works are a method of valuing variations by agreement when there is no other way to assess the variation using hourly rates signed off once the works are complete

Question 16

What are day works?

Answer 16

Day works are a method of valuing variations by agreement when there is no other way to assess the variation using hourly rates signed off once the works are complete

Question 17

Give an example of value engineering

Answer 17

On my Eastbrook studios project I priced a value engineering proposal to the client to reduce the tiling in the bathrooms to half height and replace with painting

Question 18

What is value engineering?

Answer 18

Value engineering is a method of altering the design or spec to improve the value or produce a saving for the client

Question 19

How did you produce a project feasibility analysis for the London Road, Bagshot project?

Answer 19

Similarly to how we would price an estimate we priced the works, spoke to the operational team to assess a programme and prelims and allocated the appropriate risk/contingencies for elements that are unknown

Question 20

How did you advise the client on London Road Bagshot?

Answer 20

I advised the client through the London Road Bagshot construction build budget and programme so they knew what the land was worth and if the scheme was viable

Question 21

What were some of the risk items that you priced and how did you value them on the London Road Bagshot project feasibility budget?

Answer 21

The site contained a house so there was some risk of asbestos, no survey was completed but we did inspect the site and no dangerous items were identified but a budget of 15k was put in and ground contamination 90k risk plus general contingency of 75k 5.4m total

Question 22

What is the purpose of a bill of quanitities?

Answer 22

A bill of quantities is the format for which tenderers can price specific items of work to be assessed for a like for like basis

Question 23

What sources of cost data do you use?

Answer 23

1. In house data built up from previous projects
2. Quoted packages
3. BCIS

Question 24

What is the difference between GIA and NIA?

Answer 24

Net internal area refers to the useable space within the building

Question 25

What software do you use for quantification?

Answer 25

Blue beam and AutoCad

Question 26

What checks do you have in place to ensure your measurement is accurate?

Answer 26

1. Double check measurement 2. Rough measurements 3. Comparison against package budget

Question 27

How do you deal with discrepancies between drawings and spec?

Answer 27

1. Raise and RFI to the client 2. Clarify with the relavant designer 3. Speak to the subcontractors on the best option and communicate to all tenders to price one way 4. Clarify the order or precedence with documents