Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Module No : QS 503
Handed Over on 17th January 2017 Due Date 24th February 2017
Initial Assessor
2nd Assessor
Comments
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Finally, I would like to thank everyone who helped me in various ways to convert this
report into a successful one.
Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... i
Table of Content ........................................................................................................................ii
Table of Figures ....................................................................................................................... iii
1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1
2. Task 01 ............................................................................................................................... 2
2.1 Importance of Standard Method of Measurement....................................................... 2
2.2 Standard Methods of Measurement Used in Construction Works .............................. 3
3. Task 02 ............................................................................................................................... 9
3.1 Bill of Quantities ......................................................................................................... 9
3.2 Production of Bill Of Quantities ............................................................................... 10
3.3 Format of Standard TDS Sheet ................................................................................. 11
3.4 Format of Standard Query Sheet ............................................................................... 13
3.5 Format of Bill of Quantities ...................................................................................... 14
4. Task 03 ............................................................................................................................. 18
4.1 Computer Based Tools And Applications in Measurements .................................... 18
4.2 Future of Quantity Surveying Practice With Advance IT Application ..................... 21
5. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 24
6. References ........................................................................................................................ 25
Values made meaningful by counting into specific units. Measurements perform as labels
which make those values more useful in terms of details.
Measurements are so often taken for granted we sometimes do not appreciate the grand
importance measurements play in our lives. On a baseline level, measurements fall into the
categories of weight, area, volume, length and even temperature. Lets take look at some day
to day activities to have idea about the importance of measurement,
Taking Medicine, if u r ill (Serious or minor) you need to take your medicine in
proper amounts or should be given in proper amount. What would be the result if
its given in the doze of nurses thought?
Purchasing clothes, now just imagine an overweight person in a small tee shirt. How
would it look?
Making estimations, just think if a pilot doesnt have proper idea of the fuel levels
in his plane and hes flying long distance, how catastrophic would be the situation.
Like these examples and which can be brought forward in hundreds or thousands,
measurement is everywhere in our lives. We may not know were doing it but its happening
everywhere in its own form. Taking a closer look, some of these measurements have units, as
much as measurements are important, units are important too.
With the fact that building construction involves works that are very large in scale and cost,
following standards of measurement act as a guide in tender costing and valuation when bills
are prepared, hence preventing anomalies and differences in interpretation of works.
Introduction of various levels of works and follow up guidance made the compilation BOQs
more effective and greater consistency in details. Thus another advantage of establishing of
standards made possible to compare and contrast different projects in same nature to have rough
estimates and made possible for contractors to rate the works more easily and value the
variations for similar projects.
There are number of methods implemented by various recognized bodies and institutes
in the construction industry and also number of governments have published their own methods
of measurements for the works within the country as they see fit to their country eg: Australia
having their own measurement for road works, Hong Kong government published their own
etc. due to the various conditions that differs from place to place in works and the widely
accepted method may not suit in particular place. But mainly following are some of main
standard documentations thats being used in the construction industry as standard methods of
measurements.
As a result and the effort of many professionals and bodies, in 1922, Standard Method
of Measurement (SMM) is published by the Royal Institute of Charted Surveyors (RICS)
superseding a Scottish Standard Method of Measurement published in 1915. SMM is now in
its seventh edition (SMM7), which was first published in 1988 and revised in 1998.
SMM is considered as one of the foremost standard that is widely accepted all around
the world for building works. Work sections within SMM7 are classified according to the
Common Arrangement of Work Sections (CAWS). CAWS creates a consistent arrangement of
work sections for specifications and bills of quantities.
SMM7 provides detailed descriptions for the works and classification tables for varying
works conditions within same work category and rules for measuring of building works. SMM7
is typically used in the preparation of bills of quantities, documents that provide measured
quantities of the items of work identified by the drawings and specifications in tender
documentation. (RICS, 1998) (Wiki, 2016)
The measurement initiative steering group was set up by the RICS quantity surveying
and construction professional group to research the problems associated with measurement of
building works at all stages of the construction and they came to a decision that significance
improvement is required on current standard and hence the came forth the NRM2.
The New Rules of Measurement are published by the Royal Institute of Charted
Surveyors (RICS) to provide a standard set of measurement rules for estimating, cost planning,
procurement and whole-life costing for construction projects. Adopting a standard
methodology such as NRM facilitates consistency and benchmarking and helps avoid disputes.
NRM1: Order of cost estimating and cost planning for capital building works.
NRM2: Detailed measurement for building works (replacing the Standard
Method of Measurement, seventh edition SMM7).
NRM 3: Order of cost estimating and cost planning for building maintenance
works.
NRM2 was published in April 2012. It became operative on 1 January 2013 and
formally replaced the Standard Method of Measurement, seventh edition (SMM7) on 1 July
2013.
Sri Lanka did not have a standard method of measurement of building works prior to
1968 and in 1982 Sri Lanka Standards Institution initiated the development of the SLS 573 and
published. This was not complete as sections dealing with paving, glazing and mechanical
installations were not included and Institute of Quantity Surveyors Sri Lanka (IQSSL) along
with the Institute for Construction Training & Development (ICTAD) felt the need of up to
date complete document and hence published the revision in 1994 as a complete and
comprehensive document for the practice and named SLS 573: 1994.
SLS 573 contains 22 work sections and classification of the tables within the work and
preparation of the standard document is influenced by the following publications and practice
in Sri Lanka,
The first edition of CESSM was published in 1976, following the work of a committee
set up by the Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1971 to revise the Standard Method
of Measurement of Civil Engineering Quantities. The second edition was published in 1985.
CESMM 4 was prepared under the guidance of ICEs CESMM review committee and
prepared to allow it to be used with many of the contract types including NEC (New
Engineering Contract), FIDIC, ICC (Infrastructure Conditions of Contract). In contrast to older
versions, changes have been made to bring in line with the industry practices and new
technology emergence and reference to British codes have been removed to facilitate more
global use.
These are only some of standard methods that is being widely accepted and there are
local and more standard methods that has been used. Out of these NRM2 is more prominently
used and accepted for the building works and CESMM 4 is used for the civil engineering works.
Measurement rules are made in these standards based on the characteristics of the practice such
as in the NRM2, for a building work, there may be hundreds or thousands of items included
that making of a man hole may require measure separately for concrete, formwork and
reinforcement which having the characteristic of larger number of items but the quantities are
smaller. But in the civil engineering project, items maybe few but the quantities are in
humongous numbers compared to a building so that works like man holes are measured as a
single unit item for the ease and fast take off.
The principle importance of having the standard methods of measurements as the basis
for measuring building works is that it provides uniformity in the way bills of quantities are
prepared. This helps in set out rules for measuring and describing building construction works.
Furthermore, the unification of building measurements embodies the essentials of good
practice to the quantity surveyors involved in the preparation of bills of quantities for building
construction.
The bill of quantities (referred as BOQ and BQ) is a document prepared by cost consultants
(often a quantity surveyor) which provides measured quantities of the work items of a specific
project identified by drawings, specifications in the tender document and costs including
consideration for price fluctuations, day works and value added taxes etc. preparing a BOQ
requires that design has been completed and specification to be finalized and the level of
accuracy of BOQ depends on the degree of information provided to the quantity surveyor.
The primary purpose of a BOQ is to provide a coordinated list of items, together with
their identifying descriptions and quantities of the work need to be carried out which enables
the contractors to prepare tenders efficiently and accurately. And furthermore, when contract
has been entered into, to provide a basis for the valuation of works executed and provide a basis
for valuation of variations.
Save cost and time for several contractors to measure the same design in order to
submit their bids.
Provides a consistent basis for obtaining competitive bids.
Provides extensive and clear identification of the work needs to be carried out.
Provides a basis for budgetary control and accurate cost reporting of the contract
(Valuations, variations, cash flow etc.).
When priced, provides data to support claims and taxing.
When priced, support claims for grants.
Provides a cost model in single document which is one of best source of real time cost
data that can be used for estimating the future projects.
(Anon., 2012) (Wiki, 2016)
According to the RIBA plan of work published by Royal Institute of British Architectures,
BOQ is produced at RIBA work stage G which is tender documentation. In order to enable the
preparation of a BOQ, the information from RIBA work stages E which is technical design
with specification and information for statutory standards and construction safety is required
along with the information provided at work stage F for data to enabling the tender to be
obtained. BOQ required for lump sum project will normally be prepared by employers
quantity surveyor whereas under a design and build contract, either employers project team in
conjunction with the contractor and maybe with work package contractors involve in producing
the quantified BOQ. But ultimately the decision of who prepares the BOQ will be down to the
employers preference. (Anon., 2012)
The description in a BOQ needs to be in a logical and recognized order and quantities has
to be carefully worked out accordance with the standard methods accepted. Traditionally BOQ
prepared in two stages,
TAKING OFF
In the first step of taking out quantities, the measurements are taken off from the
drawings and entered on measurement sheet or dimension paper. The measurements to
be taken out would depend upon the unit of measurement. And write the descriptions
of each components of works. Taking off is done in a logical order to make the QSs
work easy and reduce the chance of mistakes.
WORKING UP
When taking off is complete the dimensions are squared, which means working out
volumes, areas, etc. and casting up their total in recognized units by dimensions being
multiplied and added up. Then quantities are abstracted which means if works are
measured by a one person or couple of persons, all are collected and similar works are
put together to get the total quantities and arranged in a logical order and then bill is
prepared.
Paper for taking-off purpose may differs slightly from place to place but the standard sheet
is A4 sheet (210 x 297 mm), ruled vertically. Each dimension sheet is split into two identically
ruled parts, each consisting four columns. The ruling conforms to the requirements of BS 3327:
1970 Stationary for Quantity Surveying. The ruling, widths and purpose of columns are as
follows.
Description
Description
Dimension
Dimension
Timesing
Timesing
Squaring
Squaring
( ) ( )
Description
Dimension
Dimension
Timesing
Timesing
Squaring
Squaring
( ) ( )
QUERY SHEET
Name of Project :
Name of Architect / Engineer :
Name of Quantity Sureveyor :
. ..
Quantity Surveyor Architect / Engineer
There are number of types of formats of boqs are in use today and considering the standard
format, there are number of breakdown structures being used in producing a BOQ. Each has
its own advantages and disadvantages depending on the project characteristics. According to
the NRM2, main BOQ breakdown structures are as follows,
Figure 3-6 Elemental BOQ breakdown structure for simple building (Source: NRM2)
Figure 3-9 Sample Bill formats under breakdown structures (Source: NRM2)
Preliminaries
Preambles
Measured Quantities
Provisional Quantities
Prime Cost and Provisional Sums.
The construction industry has recently witnessed a rapid shift from traditional paper based
methods of service delivery to electronic information exchange. At least in the western world
like UK and America. It is proved that adopting of information technology can enhance the
productivity and improve communications for effective decision making and coordination. The
ability to avail itself of technology depends on the level of usage by the construction
professionals including the quantity surveyors who plays a vital role in project success in
managing time, quality and cost.
The designing and accountants in the construction industry was the early adopters of the
new technology but nowadays Quantity Surveying practices are embracing the new software
packages available due to the benefits of speed, accuracy, reduction of errors, less effort, satisfy
the clients needs and changes fast and accurately and more importantly ability to compare and
contrast the data of various projects together which is hard to impossible to achieve with
traditional paper based methods. In terms of quantity surveying, these it based applications
made the surveyors work much more efficient and faster, 2D drawings are now 3D models
which these software will give the quantities of exact components precisely. And generate
reports on demand once data has been feed and changes and its effects are reflected instantly
allowing quantity surveyors to be more focused on the managing part of the project. Following
are very few of the commonly and widely used IT applications in Quantity Surveying.
Microsoft excel is a part of the Microsoft Office suit and it is a spreadsheet application
which can be said as the most commonly and widely used application by quantity surveyors
for its functions and familiarity and the flexibility. Excel is being used for producing BOQs,
Budgets, Cash flows, Analysis of various kinds, preparation of interim payment applications,
measurement sheets and summaries, record keeping and sometimes for reports preparation due
to having large variety of formulas that can be used to manipulate data and graphing facilities.
Whichever software may come, excel will remain a constant in quantity surveying practice.
AUTODESK AUTOCAD
AutoCAD can be said as the second most widely software used by quantity surveyors
for many purposes. Though it is being developed primarily for drafting and civil engineering
designing works, the included tool set made opportunities that instantly grabbed by the quantity
surveyors and nowadays it has become a basic skill of a quantity surveyor to handle this
software package. Modern building incorporating more and more complex shapes and building
services are getting more complex and laid in positions where its impossible to measure,
AutoCAD allows QSs to have the dimensions of an object with a two three clicks and get it
precisely and get the volumes of unusual shapes after developing within the software made the
works much more faster and reviewing the designs or the works in a QS eyes also made
possible with much more flexibility rather referring a piece of paper.
It is needed to mention that not only AutoCAD but also the other software suits by the
Autodesk company is more and more emerging with the QS to manipulate to data extraction
such as Autodesk MEP for accurate mechanical, electrical and plumbing works, Civil3D
mainly for road construction that would instantly give the quantities if drawn in proper way
and many other.
QSPLUS
QSPlus is a software primarily based on the function of a quantity surveyor and one of
the foremost software suit offered as comprehensive, efficient and cost-effective international
QS software solution for quantity surveyors and cost engineers, for the take-off and production
of Cost Plans and Bills of Quantities.
QSPlus software integrate inbuilt take off tools which works with AutoCAD drawings,
pdf and many other and incorporating many of the standard method of measurement systems,
with simple clicks quantities are taken off and the descriptions are generated based on the
defined method. And more over, QS plus is able to generate BOQs in many of the formats and
generate cost plans accordance with accepted standards in seconds with provided data which
is neatly done and accurate with analysis of various jobs and final accounts too.
CUBICOST BY GLODAN
These are only four of more commonly used but there are numerous software suites
developed in big and small scale on aiding the quantity surveying profession namely CostX by
Exactal, WinQS, Cubit by Natural Estimator, Vico software Intergrating Construction,
Autodesk Quantity Takeoff and Pro Contractor and many more. Adaptation of these software
suits have already begun in more developed countries and its slowly emerging even though it
is still not much popular in Sri Lanka mainly due to the initial cost. But with time, 100 floors
skyscrapers are begin to build, construction professionals will need the help of these software
in order to deliver the demand of clients are asking.
World is moving fast, oldest and golden truth of time is gold phrase is now embraced
by each and every industry and everybody is in a run with the time. With the expanded horizons
made avail by the information technology, everything is fast phased and building owners
requirements are changing rapidly. And the construction technology is also rapidly changing
to match up with this modern world requirement to deliver cost effective, quick and sustainable
solutions. The design and accounting sectors already embraced the new technology and
plucking the fruits that it made available. Architectures are making revolutionary designs and
new construction technologies are emerged and improving day by day to meet the requirement
of the concepts. E.g. Of new use of augmented reality and virtual reality already making strides
in the architectural and engineering fields.
The profession of quantity surveying faced many challenges and changed in many ways
since its first inception to now to be recognized as present. and the reason for this change was
to meet the ever-changing needs of the clients and to beat the competition from other
construction professionals such as architects or engineers. As of these sectors are adopted
new technology, profession of quantity surveying is lagging behind still and missing the
opportunities made available thus making the future of the profession in danger.
World is now moving towards the era of BIM (Building Information Modeling) and
BED (Building Energy Modeling) which is not just a 3d model of a building produced but a
key to future era of construction information sharing and sustainable construction. Adaptation
of these systems rapidly increasing in the construction world which improve the time quality
and cost efficiency of the projects as BIM covers whole lifecycle of the project since its
inception.
As the industry move forward with the use of BIM software suites, quantity surveying
sector has taken step to fully utilize the opportunities made avail. Several complete BIM based
software suites such as Autodesk NavisWorks has been introduced which controls from the
design to operation of the building and numerous software like Cubicost are made available to
use by quantity surveyors for efficient take off and prepare estimates from any drawing or
model given and in conjunction with information of schedules, cost plans are readily available
for critical and accurate analysis for budgetary and time control with no time waste for manual
taking off and preparation of reports.
And moving on with the time, world faced the technological boom and expansion in IT and
IT based application in almost every industry and construction also embraced the IT use for
leveling up with the colleagues and improve the delivery of products. Numerous number of
software, concepts and applications are in use currently which made the delivery of estimates,
analysis, appraisals and recommendations much faster and with the introduction of BIM based
systems, future of quantity surveyors profession may face changes from today to meet the
demand of the industry. If not cope with these new technologies and applications, the future of
the quantity surveyors are in danger.
Anon., 1999. SLS 573:1999. 1st ed. s.l.:Sri Lanka Standards Institution.
Anon., 2012. Civil Engineering Standard Method of Measurement. 4th ed. s.l.:ICE
Publishing.
Anon., 2012. RICS - New Rules of Measurement - NRM2. 1st ed. s.l.:RICS.
Ashworth, A., 1973. Building Economics. 3rd ed. Great Britain: McMillian Education Press
LTD..
Dilkumar, C., n.d. A Review of standard method of measurements of building works. [Online]
Available at: http://dl.lib.mrt.ac.lk/handle/123/930
[Accessed 24 02 2017].
RICS, 1998. SMM7 - Standard method of Measurement of Building Works. 7th ed. s.l.:Royal
Institute of charted Surveyors and Building Employers Confederation.
Wao, J., 2016. Predicting the Future of Quantity Surveying Profession in the Construction
Industry. [Online]
Available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/295147875_Predicting_the_Future_of_Quantity_Su
rveying_Profession_in_the_Construction_Industry
[Accessed 25 02 2017].