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S.1.(P) Construction Series
Measurement vo_t

This book is to be returned on or before

the last date stamped below.

> WW. 1978

hr
Acknowledgements

My thanks are due to Mr. Norman Parker, retired principal of the Hertfordshire
College of Building, who provided the initial impetus and opportunity essential
to the commencement of such a project and whose work in the cause of tech-
nician education is to some extent reflected in its format. Secondly, my thanks
to my wife who helped a lot and complained little. Thirdly, my thanks to
those in whose varied employs my own approach to measurement has been
tried and tested -M&T, WSD, DARRP, O’RHT, and of course, HCB; and
to those who have contributed material -GIGH for the geometric formulae,
Messrs ICI for the use of their data sheet in Chapter 4. Fourth and lastly,
my thanks are due to the many students at HCB who have pursued their
studies with the aid of several draft versions and whose reactions have guided
my pen.
NMR

The publishers thank Mr. T. D. Robinson, the author’s brother, for the concept of the cover design
ST(P) Construction Series
Series Editor: Mr. N. Parker OBE ARTC

Mieasurement VOL 1
TEC UNIT LEVEL Il

Nigel M. Robinson FRICS, Cert.Ed.

senior Lecturer Hong Kong Polytechnic

Stanley Thornes (Publishers) Ltd.

Text © N M Robinson 1978
Diagrams © Stanley Thornes (Publishers) Ltd 1978

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise without the prior written consent of the copyright holder.

First published in 1978 by Stanley Thornes (Publishers) Ltd., 32 Malmesbury Road, Kingsditch.
Cheltenham GL51 9PL.

ISBN 0 85950 052 7

Typeset by Avontype, Bristol, printed and bound at

The Pitman Press, Bath.
Contents

Page
EDITOR'S NOTE vii

FOREWORD ix

Chapter 1 MEASUREMENT: WHY AND HOW? sh

Introduction
The Uses of Measurement
What Exactly do we have to Measure Then
Measured Items
Choice of Measurement Unit and Mode
Examples of Use of Various Measurement Units
Addendum AOoOw

COSTS AND PRICES

Introduction
‘Estimating’ and ‘Tendering’
Cost, Price and Value
Unit Rates
Labour ‘Constants’ and Costs
Suppliers and Supplies
VAT
Plant
‘Preliminaries’ or Project Overheads
Head Office Overheads and Profit
Factors Affecting Cost
Tendering Procedures
Other Methods of Estimating

Chapter MENSURATION
Introduction
Dimensions
Sequence of Dimensions
Multiple Quantities
The Ampersand
Constant Dimensions
Waste Calculations
Correction of Errors
Wants and Voids: The Golden Rules
The Group Method of Measurement
Squaring and Billing Procedure
Geometric Forms
Trigonometry and Pythagoras
Gradients
Irregular Areas
Centre Lines and Corner Adjustments
Interpolation of Levels
More difficult Mensuration: Example
Addendum
Chapter 4 COMMUNICATIONS IN THE BUILDING INDUSTRY 104
Introduction
Product Data 105
BSS’s and BSCoP’s 108
Drawings 109
Pre-contract Communication of Design Information 110
‘Specification’ or ‘Measurement’ of Building Work ? 112
Bill of Quantity Formats 116
Documentation at Tender, Contract and Production Stages 117
Civil Engineering Work
Addendum 121

Appendix : IMPERIAL UNITS AND DUO-DECIMALS 129

LIST OF TASKS, QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 133

INDEX 134

vi
Editor's Note

The main purpose of this series of textbooks is to provide a learning resource

for students employed as technicians in the Construction Industry or the
associated professions. They very largely provide the information to assist
students to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve the learning
objectives as stated in the Technician Education Council’s Standard Units.
It is intended eventually to cover the main topic areas.
The books contain short tests placed at suitable intervals in the text and the
knowledge required to answer them may be ‘discovered’ within the relevant
chapter. Lecturers will find the books useful for classwork or students may
progress individually with the minimum of tutorial advice. The books will also
be useful for remedial work where particular learning objectives are difficult
to achieve.
Each book has its own foreword where its general objectives are stated. Its
size has been carefully judged to link closely with TEC Standard Units and
be within the students’ means.

Norman Parker 1978

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Foreword

The TEC Syllabus for Measurement Unit II states the aims of the unit to be
as follows:
1. To identify measurement as a basic and essential tool of the building
industry.
2. To provide an introduction to communications, costing, tendering and
control procedures in the building industry.
3. To provide the basic measurement technique and skills essential to further
studies in this subject.

Progression on to measurement of complete buildings is the subject of the

Measurement III Unit at which level ‘measurement’ starts to become ‘quan-
tity surveying’. Simple measurement, however, is a skill of value to a much
broader section of construction industry technical staff than just the quantity
surveyors, if only in that the work of the quantity surveyor needs to be widely
understood by others. .

This book is therefore intended to introduce the student not only to basic
measurement technique but to the concepts and language of quantity sur-
veying. It is assumed that its use will be in the context of a course of study
including Construction Technology and ‘Organisation and Procedures’ as
envisaged in TEC programmes. It is hoped that it will equally be found appro-
priate for use in relation to professional and other courses involving measure-
ment, because all such courses must cover the same basic material while possibly
varying in their emphasis on the theoretical basis of measurement or on costing.

Volumes 1 and 2. The division of this book into two volumes was made
necessary by the current revisions of the Standard Method of Measurement
but it is considered by the author that the division will also permit lecturers
more flexibility in their use of the text and make it more convenient generally.
Mention and application of specific rules of the SMM has been avoided in
Volume | so that it will remain of general relevance to all codes of measure-
ment using the work-in-place approach. For the same reason, item descriptions
in the examples given have been kept as basic as possible so that they will not
be rendered obsolete by the new rules and phraseologies.

Volume | covers the syllabus Sections 1 to 3 and 5 and Volume 2 will cover
Section 4 (measurement examples).

Usage of the book. The Author’s intention has been to provide a work-book ©
rather than a normal text-book but without any pretence at programming.
It is primarily for use in conjunction with classwork, and as classwork itself,
under the direction and supervision of the lecturer and with his assistance as
necessary to individual students. The text requires the student to demonstrate
his achievement of the syllabus objectives (see below) by periodically testing
himself: these occasions are labelled ‘Questions’, ‘Tasks’ and ‘Exercises’ as
appropriate. (‘Questions’ do not necessarily require written answers — they
could be the subject of a class discussion for example; ‘Tasks’ in most cases ©
require more formal answers and possibly some research or enquiry; ‘Exercises’
require an intelligent application of given information to examples of varying
extent and complexity.) Some of these may be considered suitable for home- .
work or test material for assessment purposes, and for these reasons solutions
to problems have not been provided.
 The book may also be found useful as remedial material for students having
difficulties, late entrants, absentees, etc. and, of course, as reference material
for revision.

Educational objectives. The chapters are each introduced by the relevant

syllabus extract as a guide and criterion for assessment including self-assessment.
The following note may assist students’ appreciation of their task.

The Use of Educational Objectives by TEC

In its note (reference TEC 4/3/1) on presentation of TEC units in objective

terms, ‘intellectual skills’ are stated to reflect the intellectual processes pre-
sumed to be involved in tasks requiring thinking. Measurement is such a
skill.

Depth of study is indicated by the use of appropriate verbs at the beginning

of each ‘general’ or ‘specific’ objective in the syllabus. These verbs are classi-
fied as belonging to one of four levels which relate to what the student
should be able to do on completion of his studies:

Level Student Verbs used in

achievement syllabus objectives

1. Information Ability to recall Defines; identifies;

learnt material states
2. Comprehension Understanding of Calculates; compares;
facts and principles explains; interprets;
discusses
3. Application Selection and Applies; determines;
application of facts relates; measures;
and principles to expresses
new situations
4. Invention Analysis, synthesis Appraises; classifies;
and evaluation creates; plans; modifies
 1.
Measurement: Why -and How?

Extract from TEC Syllabus Measurement II:

General Objective: Specific Objective:

States the uses of Identifies the uses of measurement including

measurement in the choice of measurement unit and modes
building process appropriate to:
a. Approximate estimating based on units of
accommodation and elemental unit
quantities
b. Operational estimating as practised for
minor works
c. Preparation of Bills of Quantities
d. Resource allocation (materials, labour,
plant, sub-contractors)
e. Cost recording and comparison with
targets
f. Valuations and evaluation of variations

~-MEASUREMENT: WHY and HOW?

1.1 Introduction

Most things we have to buy in the ordinary day-to-day shopping are con-
sidered expensive, i.e. they cost more than they used to do or more than we
are happy to pay. But ‘expensive’ is a meaningful word only if it is directly
related to the QUALITY and the QUANTITY of the goods concerned. To
say that the price of sugar is 20 p is of very little use unless the type of sugar
and size of bag are specified.

Buildings are no exception to this general rule but they are a lot bigger and
more complex in their nature. For most people who buy buildings, they are
a major or once-in-a-lifetime investment, not a day-to-day affair. Therefore
the essential process of relating their cost to the quality and quantity of the
work and materials involved is one for which special expertise is required.

Measurement is the link between DESIGN and COST: the one makes very
little sense without the other. It follows that the measurer very rarely measures
for his own benefit. Almost always, other people (the designer, the estimator
and of course the purchaser— the owner) will use and have to rely on the
measured data (‘quantities’) the measurer produces. Measurement is not
normally checked; it must be right first time — other people’s money depends
on it and, needless to say, so do the measurer’s employment prospects!
2 Measurement |

Measurement as a ‘link’ has two aspects, the mensuration and the communi-
cation. Mensuration is the arithmetical problem of calculating the quantity of
the work or material in question and is generally quite straightforward once
the basic procedures are understood. It occasionally involves simple trigon-
ometry and such geometric formulae as Pythagoras’ Theorem and Simpson’s
Rule which will be studied in due course. But dimension figures on paper
are useless without the appropriate ‘description’ of what they relate to and
it is this verbal (communication) aspect of measurement that is perhaps the
more difficult for the student.

‘Description’ is an art that must be mastered. The measurer must put into
words what the designer has drawn or the builder has built. The use of the
correct words is crucial to his success because he is counted successful only
if the people reading them on their own obtain the same mental image of
the work or material that the measurer had in front of him in more tangible
form. Understanding of the construction itself and of the various rules of
measurement can only complement the basic requirement of competence in the
English language.

Finally, measurement has many occasions and uses throughout the building
process and all require the application of the same skills and degree of care;
whether the measurer is sitting at a comfortable office desk with a heap of
drawings and a cup of tea on it, or is clambering on scaffolding in a blizzard
or treading warily down the middle of a road, tape in hand, with traffic whiz-
zing by. He is spending his employer’s (or client’s) money every time he enters
a dimension and a description on his pad. It is assumed that he is aware of
his responsibility and is worthy of it.

Task 7 Write a short essay (about 300 words) under the title ‘Measurement as a link’.
Use your own words and give it some careful thought.

1.2 The Uses of Measurement

Most students will have come across ‘Bills of Quantities’ and possibly other
uses of measured ‘quantities’ of building work. There are in fact many differ-
ent uses of measurement. Even if we narrow the field down to ‘measurement
of quantities’ (i.e. excluding measurement for purposes of design or site sur-
veying), it is unlikely that any one measurer or surveyor would be concerned
with them all in the normal work situation.

The following is a fairly comprehensive list of activities involving measure-

ment of quantities in one form or another. Try to get a rough idea at least
of what they mean:
Measurement: Why and How?

(a) Forecasting

Used by
Preliminary cost studies; budgets; cost limits QS/Designer
Cost planning and approximate estimates for design QS
Preparation of BQ Qs
Detailed estimating for tender submission Contractor
Construction programming Contractor

(b) Resource Allocation

Used by
Materials ordering Contractor
Bonusing Contractor
Domestic sub-contractor and supplier quotations Contractor
Nominated sub-contractor and supplier quotations QS/Architect
Plant scheduling Contractor

(c) Recording

Used by
Expenditure recording: comparison with targets QS/Contractor
Interim valuations QS/Contractor
Variation evaluation QS/Contractor
Cost analysis QS/Contractor
Final accounting QS/Contractor

‘Forecasting’ is what the Quantity Surveyor or Contractor does when he pre-

pares a cost estimate for the Client based on the design, whether the design
is merely a sketch on the table cloth or a set of detailed drawings. He uses
an appropriate measurement unit to suit the design detail available to him
and applies to the quantity of units a rate per unit which his experience tells
him will produce a reasonable forecast of what the tender price may be, if it
ever gets to the stage of tendering that is. As the design becomes more detailed,
so the cost forecast is expected to become more accurate and a finer (more
precise) measurement method is used to achieve more precise results. When
the tendering stage is reached then the Contractor’s surveyors and estimators
need their knowledge of measurement to calculate the cost of the design (as
the QS may have described and quantified it in the Bill of Quantities) and to
work out the programme for the job on which many of its costs depend.
 Measurement |

When the contract has been won by the successful tenderer then his measure-
ment work really starts and continues all the way through the construction
period. The Contractor’s management team must include the necessary skill
in measurement for planning and controlling the labour force, the flow of
materials and mechanical plant for the site. And, of course, every sub-contract
involves the same problems within the specialist area of work.

‘Recording’ is another area in which measurement is crucial; firstly to the

QS who has the duty of settling the final account for the project — calculating
who owes who what at the end of the day — and doing the analysis of cost
which will hopefully help him to give a good forecast for the next job he gets;
and secondly, to the Contractor who must maintain his own accounting
systems and similarly digest his results for the benefit of the next tender he
is asked to prepare. Remember that ‘cost’ is only meaningful if related directly
to quantity and quality; and that needs measurement. There is no other
way.

We will examine some of these uses of measurement in more detail later in

this chapter. See also Chapter 2 for further consideration of the words ‘cost’,
‘price’ and ‘value’.

Question (a) Why does bonusing need measurement?

(b) What does the word ‘analysis’ mean (in general terms)?

1.3. What Exactly Do We Have to Measure Then?

This, of course, depends on our objective — what the purpose of our measure-
ment is— and the nature of the design or work concerned. There are three
main modes of measurement:

(a) Measurement of Simple Areas, Lengths, Distances, and Amounts

for the Purpose of Job Planning and Cost Estimating

This sort of measurement (which includes site surveying) is done both for the
Designer, at the very early stages of his work to enable him to decide on the
overall shape and size of the buildings, and for the Contractor, as the basis
of his construction programme on which his costing and major management
decisions rely.

(b) Measurement of Work-in-place

Sometimes called ‘measurement of completed work’ or ‘measurement by

achievement’, it is the quantification of building work — the concrete, brick-
work, joinery, painting, etc. — as if it were completed whether or not it is;
i.e. we can measure this way from drawings by visualising the finished work.
It quantifies the final product rather than the means of achieving it. (For
examples, see later.)
Measurement: Why and How?

(c) Measurement of Operations

The opposite of (b) above, the operations are the means by which the result
is achieved. An operation in building terms, is the resources — labour, material,
plant, management — needed to execute a certain part of the construction,
generally a part such as laying a floor slab which is done as one continuous
effort without being interrupted by the requirements of an adjoining separate
operation such as building walls. This approach is the basis of good site
management of the construction and of some cost calculations.

Having identified these different modes of measurement, what is the real

difference between them? They all involve the taking of dimensions of land or
of designed building work and the description of what has thus been quanti-
fied. They may all be done before or after the event, from drawings or from
the finished product. The difference lies in the purpose not in the basic technique.

The most widely required mode of measurement is that of WORK-IN-PLACE—

(b) above. This is the mode adopted for the great majority of Bills of Quantities
and therefore for the various estimating and final account activities based on
them. It is applied by reference to a set of rules and a code of practice which
is readily available to all of us. It is reasonable to say that if one can become
proficient at this method, the other methods will be no problem.

1.4 Measured Items

The fundamental tool of measurement is the ITEM. This is so whichever

mode of measurement we are talking about. An ITEM can be big or small, the
whole building at one go, or each little bit of it. It may refer to the number
of bricks in a wall or to the finished wall —as ‘one wall’ or as so many square
metres of wall.
Items generally have three parts:
the description
the quantity
the unit of measurement

The DESCRIPTION is the written definition of exactly what it is that we are

measuring.

The QUANTITY is the arithmetical result of the dimensions we are taking.

The uNIT is one of the following:

Usual symbol: nr (indicating ‘enumeration’, i.e. simple counting up)
m (metre — linear measurement)
m2 (square metre — superficial area measurement)
m® (cubic metre — volumetric measurement)
Item (itemised measurement)
kg (kilogramme — measurement by weight)
6 Measurement |

In descriptions we often quote sizes in millimetre terms (mm) and sometimes

the ‘litre’ and ‘tonne’ are useful units. These are the international SI Symbols
which are now general in the Building Industry. Some old designs will still
be found in Imperial Units and this will be studied later on.

Look at this typical work-in-place item from a BQ:

Ref. Description Unit} Rate Extended Amount

150 mm Concrete blockwork wall in cement

mortar 1:4 mix

The last two columns on this format for rate and extended amount are for use
by the builder at pricing stage.

BQ items are initiated in the measurement (or ‘taking off’) stage. They must
be complete at that stage: it is bad practice to leave it to later stages of Bill
production to ‘fill in the details’. Thus the full responsibility for correct des-
cription as well as quantification is on the taker-off, right from the start. This
is how the same item started life in the measurement format:

(SO w17 corere/e || The quantity is expressed by the dimensions while

the unit is implied by the arrangement of the
blockwork wall dimensions (in this case m?). See later (3.2).
te cra Cf: 4)

BQ items are intended to be priced, each one representing a particular cost

factor in the construction process of the building concerned. The total of
all the pricing of individual items will be the price for the building as a whole.
It is therefore essential that every cost factor be represented by items and that
every item is priceable.

As stated previously, not all measurement is done for the purpose of Bills of
Quantities. Examples of other types of items are shown as follows.

Areg be/wee7 This sort of item is not reproduced in any other

sya clary format and is not intended to be priced. It repre-
sents the information necessary for a decision to
arid building be taken.
litte (Hig t SYree
cle vo tior/
Measurement: Why and How ? 7

(Store) "
This sort of item for use in compiling a small works
(Boer Mojiize,/ estimate or a purchase order, is, of course, derived
from the previous measurement of the quantity of
brickwork required in the design.
Commrorr Bricks

Before going on to look at particular types of measured items in more detail,

study the SI symbols again and memorise the rules shown below:

m lower case letter : metre

mm lower case letters : millimetre
m? or m2 figures raised for : square metre
m* or oat drafting purposes cube metre
kg lower case letters ; kilogramme

Note: (i) no full stops used at all

(ii) ‘litre’ and ‘tonne’ are best written out in full.

In combinations, the figure and the unit should always be separated by one
space:
6:87 33,m.4,5634nm (not 33m, 563mm)

In series of dimensions, the symbol need only appear once:

e.g. 15x50 mm (not 15 mm x50 mm)

It is also wise to avoid confusing different units of measurement within one

description:
e.g. use 5320 93 mm (never 5.320 m X93 mm)

Task 2 Go and find an ordinary brick — one with a ‘frog’ on one side; measure it
precisely (in millimetres) and then (a) sketch it with all its dimensions shown,
and (6) complete the following item:
LianteBrickwsizerm ee... .

You can write as much as you like here but remember the objective of a des-
cription is to convey a complete and accurate mental picture of the subject
to the reader. Remember also that unnecessarily long-winded description is
tedious and may confuse.
8 Measurement /

1.5 Choice of Measurement Unit and Mode

We will look at the theoretical basis of the choice of measurement units later
on (Vol. 2); meanwhile it is sufficient for the student to appreciate that in the
great majority of cases, the choice is easy and almost automatic. There are
two main considerations:

(a) What is the predominant dimensional nature of the item we wish to

measure ?

(6) What is the purpose of our measurement?

Keeping (5) - our purpose — very firmly in mind, let us see what is meant by
‘predominant dimensional nature’.

Surely almost anyone if asked to measure the skirting board around the room
for the purpose of renewing it, would measure it by length and then state the
size of the timber in the description, viz:

120 x 20 mm softwood skirting

plugged to brick walls 16m

We would do it this way because a skirting board has an obviously ‘linear’

dimensional nature; its cross-sectional dimensions are insignificant compared
to its length dimension. Similarly we can say that walls should generally be
measured in square metres (superficial area of face), paint and plaster on the
walls in square metres, but excavation of trenches and the concrete in foun-
dations should be measured by volume in cubic metres. There are a few excep-
tions and a few borderline cases of course but this generalisation will do for
the time being: just be logical in your choice

In measurement for the purpose of ordering material, the unit will be that in
which the material is purchased, e.g. bricks in thousands, plasterboard in
number of sheets, cement in tonnes, but in most cases these quantities are
calculated from the previously measured lengths, areas or volumes of the
required work-in-place. Similarly in operational measurement for labour
scheduling, bonus calculations, plant use, etc: in most cases the unit will either
be the whole operation given as ‘1 nr’ or as ‘Item’, or given by length, area or
volume (according to its nature) as above.

One difficulty arises in the early stages of design of a scheme: there may not
be enough design detail available to enable normal items to be measured at
all. It is still necessary, of course, to be able to say what a building is likely to
cost even if the design is on the back of an envelope. If it is going to cost too
much, then that particular design should never get further than back-of-
envelope stage. This particular problem of measurement is solved by adopting
some rather different units:

Units of accommodation

and

Elemental units.
Measurement: Why and How ? g
Many types of building development schemes are considered initially in terms
of ‘units of accommodation’, e.g. the size of a new hotel is defined in terms of
the number of bedrooms; similarly hospital beds, school places, cinema seats
etc. This is the unit the Client is interested in when calculating the possible
profitability. For offices, warehouses, and the like, the unit would be floor
area (in square metres measured overall between internal faces of external
walls on each floor level). If the costs of several previous hotel contracts for
example are known in terms of cost per bedroom, then quite a good forecast
of the approximate cost of the next hotel contract can be made by this method.

Measurement by ‘elemental units’ becomes possible when the design has pro-
gressed from ‘back-of-envelope’ to outline drawings which show the overall
dimensions and layout. The ELEMENTS of a building are its component parts
grouped according to their function, i.e. all those parts with a certain general-
ised function comprise one ‘element’. The external walls of a building have
the function of keeping out the weather, whether they are made of timber,
brick or glass, and are therefore one ‘element’. The complete standard list of
elements appears at the end of this chapter. Measurement of the area of ex-
ternal walls, floors, ceilings, number of doors, number of radiators etc., for
the elemental quantities is possible without knowing the precise constructional
details of each bit. Analysis of elemental costs of previous similar contracts
again permits the calculation of a reasonable forecast of the total cost of the
next job.

Some examples are given in the next section.

70 Measurement /

1.6 Examples of Use of Various Measurement Units

The student should fill in the gaps and complete the exercises following the
examples, using the units and prices indicated.

(a) Approximate Estimating

Example 100 bedroom hotel: £

100 bedrooms @ £10000 1 000 000
Separate restaurant: 300m? @ £150 45 000
Kitchen equipment 6 000
External works 15 000

Total £1066 000

(Excluding cost of land, fees, furnishings)

Exercise Office block of 8 floors , each floor size 75x20 m (measured between internal
faces of external walls):

ey oe m? floor area @ £100

Air-conditioning ground floor only
sigisi He ohee stm? floor area @ £20 extra }
External car park area size 93 40m
dil daca, m? area @ £4.00 }
Screen wall around car park with
two 4m wide gate openings
ve Sonal. m length @ £45.00 }

Total £

(b) Operational Estimating

A small building firm has been asked to submit a price for re-surfacing a drive-
way to a house and putting in new kerbs to both sides. The driveway is
43.450m long x 5.000m wide between kerbs. They estimate as shown
opposite:

Task 3 Complete the calculation of this estimate and then check the Supervisor’s
Requisition Sheet (Page 12) for this same job which he has compiled from the
estimate.
N.B. Labour times are to be computed to the nearest } hour.
Measurement: Why and How ? 17

163 River View: New Driveway

All-in Rates:
Labourers Craftsmen
Basic £0.783 £0.924
Other earnings
50%
On costs 60%

110% 0.863 1.014

£1.65 £1.94
Rate £ p
Breaking-up old- concrete paving and loading
into skip:
Labourers 20 hr

Laying hardcore 150 mm th. (compacted) :

Hardcore (Full loads @ 5 m*® each) loads 10.00
Sand for blinding (7 tonnes load) 1 load 17.50
Labourers: spreading hardcore @ 5 m? per hr hr
blinding with sand @ 20 m? per hr hr
Roller: hired (including transport, fuel and
driver) 2 days 22.00

Kerbing:
Redimix concrete (nearest $m* up) ms 16.00
Corr rete end?
Precast kerbs (incl. 5% waste) 91 m 2.00
2/ |434 Mortar (say) 4 m> 20.00
GOS Labourers: digging trench @ 3hr perm hr
0-10 spreading concrete @ 10 mins per m hr
off-loading & handling kerbs @
Ad!| (07 5 mins per m hr
tor was fe Mason: laying kerbs @ ihr perm hr

Surfacing:
Macadam 80 mm th. (1.860 tonnes per m*) tonnes 6.50
Labourers: spreading @ 4 hrs per m® hr
Roller: (as before) 2 days 22.00

Skip hire: (1 load for broken concrete)

(1 load for earth) 20 | 00
Supervision (including setting-out) 6 days 16.00
Add 3%
for aste
Overheads (Head Office) 5%

Profit 10%

Total Estimate
12 Measurement |

(c) Resource Allocation

This is how the Supervisor’s Requisition Sheet may look:

163 River View: New Driveway

Labour Skilled Unskilled

Hours — Days Hours — Days
Breaking-up old paving 20
Hardcore and blinding 544 6
Kerbing Mason 248 Ze 654 a
Surfacing 693 if

Totals 22 23 209 22

Requires: 1 Mason for 23 days

4 Labourers for 53 days

(“) Material

Hardcore 9 loads @ 5 m® each

Sand 7 tonnes (N.B. Includes enough for mortar as
well)
Redimix concrete grade ‘B’ 24 m3
Precast kerbs 254x127 in 600 mm lengths 152 nr
Cement in 50 kg bags 10 nr bags
Macadam 34 tonnes (N.B. Delivery over 2 days)

(iii) Plant

Skip hire 2 loads/1 day each

6 tonne roller, driver and fuel 4 days hire
Hand tools, shovels, barrows

(iv) Sub-contractors Nil

Measurement: Why and How ? 13

(d) Cost Recording

After completion of the work, the actual costs are totalled and the results
assessed as a guide to future pricing levels:

163 River View: New Driveway

(i) Labour

Total wage sheet No. 5092

Supervision 6 days @ £10.00
On-costs (last two) j 60%

(ii) Material

Merchant Ltd. Invoice 93

Redimix Invoice 15/2
Macadam Co. Invoice 23rd Feb.

(iii) Plant

Skip charge
Roller hire (4 days)

£
Overheads (Head Office) 5%

Actual total cost 2

Original Estimate £

Net profit/loss f
=....% on actual cost

Shortfall on anticipated
profit £

Problem Where did the operational estimate go wrong to a significant extent? Note
the items and the over/under-estimation for each here:

Item Estimate
Too little by Too much by
£ £
 Measurement /

(e) Bill of Quantities

If the same driveway were part of a larger scheme which was to be put out to
competitive tender, the BQ section would be as follows:

New driveway Rate |\£ p

Breaking up existing concrete paving 75 mm

thick and removal from site 70 mM:

Trench to receive kerb foundation starting at

formation level and 250 mm average depth
including grading and compacting bottom,
partial backfilling and removal of surplus
excavated material from site 87 m

Bed of hardcore 150 mm average thick graded

to falls and cambers compacted with a 6 tonne
roller and blinded with sand 247 m?

Plain concrete grade ‘B’ kerb foundation not

exceeding 150 mm thick 2 m?

Precast concrete half battered kerbing size

254x127 mm finished fair on all exposed
surfaces, bedded, haunched, jointed and pointed
in cement mortar (1 : 3) 87 m

Ends 4 nr

80 mm Bitumenous macadam surfacing

comprising 50 mm base course and 30 mm
wearing course to BS 594:1973 247, m?

Total to Summary £

Read these items carefully and compare them with the operational estimate.
(Do not attempt to price this page yet; wait until you have studied Chapter 2.)
\
Measurement: Why and How ? 15

Addendum

Elements of Construction

Definition: The component parts of a building grouped according to function;

the group being known as an element.
The RICS, BCIS (Building Cost Information Service) standard elements:

1 Sub-structure

2 Superstructure
Frame
Upper floors
Roof
Stairs
External walls
Windows and external doors
Internal walls and partitions
nora)
Gate
SS)
eet
> Internal doors

3 Internal finishes
A Wall finishes
B Floor finishes
C Ceiling finishes

4 Fittings and furnishings

5 Services

Sanitary appliances
Services equipment
Disposal installations
Water installations
Heat source
Space heating
Ventilating system
Electrical installations
Gas installations
Lift and conveyor installations
Protective installations
Communication installations
Special installations
Builder’s work in connection
OZZOrACHTOAMMbOW>
Builder’s profit and attendance

6 External works

A Site work
B Drainage
C External services
D Minor Building Works

Preliminaries
tet
Costs and Prices

Extract from TEC Syllabus Measurement II:

General Objective: Specific Objective:

Discusses current costs 1. Calculates simple approximate estimates

of building work and using published data sources.
their expression in the 2. Explains components of unit rates and the
tendering process estimator’s procedure in item pricing.
3. Identifies the current basic and ‘all-in’
costs of labour, discounts, VAT, and the
general levels of overheads and profit in
percentage terms.
4. Identifies major factors affecting costs
generally and, in particular, the relevance
of scale, repetition and time.
5. Describes the common tendering processes.
6. Defines and identifies the significance of
costs and values to both contracting
parties.

Note. This Syllabus does not require an ability on the part of the Student in the
skill of estimating. Ability to discuss requires an appreciation of what the Estimator
does and an understanding of the common terminology. This in turn leads to a
fuller appreciation of the objectives of measurement of work-in-place and its
problems. Reference may be required to the form of BQ’s as explained at 4.6
and to the samples appended to Chapter 4.

COSTS AND PRICES

Ps Introduction

We have seen in Chapter | the close relationship between measurement and

costing of construction work. Nearly all measurement of quantities is done
with the intention that the quantities will be priced for one of the several pur-
poses listed at 1.2, and this intention is of course reflected in the way we do
the measurement and the way in which we present it in its final written form.

The primary most important use of measurement in our industry is for

TENDERING, i.e. the procedure by which a contractor is selected by the
Architect (on behalf of his Client) to carry out the required construction work,
generally on the basis of a price competition. The form of the measurement
for this purpose is (almost without exception in the UK and also in many other
countries which have adopted our system) the Bill of Quantities based on the
current national code of measurement and prepared by the QUANTITY
SURVEYOR.

N.B. Quantity Surveyors are employed in both the Design and the Con-
struction sides of the industry but when one speaks of ‘the Quantity Surveyor’
for a project, it is the QS working for the Client that is meant. If he is from
a ‘private’ firm of consultant quantity surveyors he is usually identified as the
PQS. If one intends to refer to the Contractor’s own staff QS it is essential —
to be quite explicit.
Costs and Prices 17

It follows, therefore, that while measurement and costing are the two aspects
of the single tendering process, they are carried out by different people within
different organisations and between whom there is very little (if any) contact
at that stage. The costing operation is carried out by the Contractor’s ESTI-
MATOR. In large companies, there is usually an Estimating Department;
in smaller firms the estimating may be done by a Manager or by a QS in the
role of Estimator. Whoever actually does it, estimating is a distinct and highly
skilled operation for which probably the best qualification is experience.

We must now define some of the terms we have been using here.

2.2 ‘Estimating’ and ‘Tendering’

A building is constructed by the bringing together on the site of the Contractor’s

primary resources - LABOUR, MATERIAL, PLANT and MANAGEMENT EXPERTISE.
The cost of providing these resources is predictable in advance if one assumes
certain prevailing conditions: for example, one must assume that weather
conditions will be average for that time of the year when the site operations
are due to be carried out; one must assume that labour, material and plant
will be available as and when required; one must make assumptions regarding
the effectiveness of the personalities to be involved. The task of making this
cost prediction within such assumed prevailing conditions is the task of
ESTIMATING.

What makes it all worthwhile, however, as far as the Contractor is concerned,

is the margin he will be able to claim from the Client in payments over and
above these costs, i.e. his margin of PROFIT. Prorit is very much a variable
factor, not necessarily dependent directly on the estimated cost or on the quan-
tities or on the time required for construction. The tendering Contractor
has to decide how much profit will make that particular contract worth the
effort, and worth taking the risk that the assumptions made by the Estimator
may turn out to be wrong. Furthermore, he has to try to spot the level of
profit that will give him a good chance of winning the tendering competition
and at the same time provide an adequate return on investment for the owners
of the company. This is the essence of TENDERING. The formality of it isthe
return to the Architect or Client of ‘The Form of Tender’ stating the Con-
tractor’s offer, but it is the decision-making process as to the level of that offer
that may truly be regarded as ‘tendering’. Study these suggested definitions:

Estimating: Estimating (by a Contractor) is the analysis of measured quantities of work-

in-place into their resource requirements, and the synthesis of the costs of
those requirements.

Tendering: Tendering is the formulation and submission of a formal offer for the execu-
tion of specified work, based on the cost estimate.
18 Measurement |

Estimating is not the first process to be carried out by the Contractor who is
invited to tender for a contract. Several of the Estimator’s decisions and
assumptions rely on a prior study of the whole problem by a PROGRAMMER
who must decide how the work should be tackled if the tender is finally accepted.
(N.B. The Programmer may be a full-time specialist, or a Manager, a QS,
or the Estimator himself, dependent upon the size and structure of the com-
pany. Programming, however, like estimating, is a separate operation and
area of skill.)

The questions the Programmer must settle, at least provisionally, are, for
example:

What would be the main sequence of operations on site?

What would the management/supervision team need to consist of?

How would the site be best laid out as far as arrangement of major plant,
hutting, access, etc. is concerned?

What major plant would be suitable and economic for the nature of the
project (e.g. tower cranes, concrete batching plant)?

What work would best be sub-let to specialists?

These are things the Estimator must know to be able to predict the costs.

The tendering process therefore flows like this:

Tendering: Information Sources

Architect
Qony,%
Ip

Quantity Contractor's
Surveyor se Contractor's resource data
Quantities preliminary
construction
programme

e— Enquiry Bisdaders: LA Contractor's

Suppliers costing data
and
Specialists Quotation

commercial
| expertise

Offer to Client
Costs and Prices 19

A QUOTATION is similar to a tender, i.e. it is an offer to supply goods or to

execute work for a stated sum of money or at stated rates. The word is gener-
ally limited in its usage to offers by suppliers and specialists for relatively small
amounts while the word ‘tender’ is used for offers by main-contractors for the
work as a whole and by specialists for major sub-contract work such as special
foundations.

Similarly an ESTIMATE - meaning a tender — may be given by a specialist or

small-works contractor. This use of the word ‘estimate’ must not be confused
with the costing work of an estimator which is subject to a further ‘tendering’
adjustment as explained above. An estimate in the small-works sense will
not normally be based upon a detailed BQ — the offerer has most likely done
his own measurement from a drawing or sketch — but this does not mean that
it is necessarily approximate or subject to final re-measurement or later review.
If such a review is intended by the offerer he must say so quite specifically in
each case. Otherwise there is no significant difference in meaning or effect
between a tender, or a quotation or an estimate.

2.3 Cost, Price and Value

The precise meaning and correct use of these terms must be clearly under-
stood. Most things of a material nature, things which can be bought and
sold, have their individual ‘costs’, ‘prices’ and ‘values’, but the actual amount
or meaning of these costs, prices and values depends upon whether one is on
the buying or selling end of the deal, or is a third party. Taking the case of
building under contract, look at these examples:

(a) To the Contractor (the seller of the building)

The COST of the building is what he had to pay for his Labour, Material and
Plant plus a proportion of the running expenses of his organisation (his ‘over-
heads’).

The PRICE of the building is what he contracts to sell it for to the Client—
(the ‘contract sum’).

The VALUE of the building is primarily his profit margin, i.e. the difference
between the cost and the price, plus any further advantages he may gain from
having built it, such as prestige, experience, good will, retention of a good
labour force, etc.
20 Measurement |

(b) To the Client (the ‘Employer’ under the contract and the
eventual building owner — the Purchaser):

The COST of the building is what he has to pay the Contractor for it (i.e. the
price of it), plus payments he has to make to the Consultants (Architect’s,
QS’s, and Engineer’s fees) and for raising the money (interest charges), and
in addition, the cost of the land.

The PRICE of the building is what he agrees to pay the Contractor (the ‘contract
sum’ again).

The VALUE of the building is either (i) what he could sell it for on the open
market, or the rental income he could get by leasing it, or (ii) the advantage to
himself arising from his own use of it - as accommodation for himself or for
his business.

(c) To the Community:

The COST of the building is any alternative local amenity that they have had
to forego by allowing planning permission for the use of the site for a particular
purpose, e.g. they might have preferred a new library to the houses actually
built. They may be disadvantaged in other ways as well, such as by unwelcome
resultant traffic increase or noise from a factory.

The VALUE of the building lies in its final aesthetic and amenity advantage to
them and in any increase in local trade and employment.

Check the above examples against the following definitions:

Cost: That which must be given or suffered in order to obtain something.

Price: The level at which anything is offered for sale.

Value: The worth of something: that quality which makes it desirable.

PRICE may often be the same as COST, i.e. where price is the only cost factor
relevant. For example, the price of a bag of sugar may be 20 p and most pur-
chasers will regard that as its cost, but strictly speaking, the cost would also
include the bus fare and time expended in going to buy it. The price of some-
thing will generally be the same in the understanding of both buyer and seller,
but their cost and value concepts almost certainly differ.
Costs and Prices 21

Question With reference to estimating/tendering, explain why it is correct to say that

estimating is concerned with costs but why it is also correct to refer to a priced
Bill of Quantities.

Question The Quantity Surveyor is usually responsible for the monthly valuation of
work executed by the Contractor for the purpose of periodic payments by
the Client. He does this valuation by reference to the prices indicated for the
work items in the BQ. From whose point of view is this a true ‘valuation’ —
the Contractor’s or the Client’s?

Question If you wished to sell your house, you would probably invite a professional
‘Valuer’ to come and inspect it and give you a ‘valuation’ of it so that it may
be advertised for sale. The Valuer will walk around the house, the garden and
the street outside probably without even opening his notebook before giving
you his opinion. Whose point of view is he taking and what yardstick is he
applying?

Task 7 The example (relevant to the case of building under contract) given above
(in 2.3) may be shown as follows:

COST TO CONTRACTOR = Labour, material, plant and overheads.

PRICE = Cost to Contractor plus his profit.

VALUE TO CONTRACTOR = Price minus Cost (ignoring the more

abstract considerations for this purpose).

COST TO CLIENT = Price of the building plus fees, expenses,

finance charges and the cost of the land.

A SPECULATIVE BUILDER, one who builds ‘on spec’, is one who designs
and builds at his own initative and at his own expense in the expectation of
being able to sell his product at a profit on completion. He does not operate
under a contract with the purchaser from the beginning but he begins in the hope
that someone will make him a reasonable offer. Until he does sell it, the building
belongs entirely to the Builder.

Re-write the equations to fit such circumstances:

22 Measurement /

2.4 Unit Rates

The prices inserted by the Tenderer in the priced Bill of Quantities are based on
UNIT RATES. These are the rates required by the Contractor for the execution
of the work described in each item per each unit of measurement of that item,
i.e. per m, m?, m%, kg or per each one of them. It is the multiplication of
the measured quantity by the unit rate that gives the price for that job within
the general picture of the work as a whole. As noted before, the unit rates
are based on the cost calculations of the Estimator as modified by the tender-
ing decision: a unit rate calculation, therefore, covers the labour, material
and plant elements of the unit cost plus an allowance for overheads and profit
which is dictated by management.

Each of these cost elements is the total of possibly many minor cost factors
which may be applicable to the particular work item. A suggested check list
of the more important cost factors is given on page 24. Study this and note
particularly the overlapping aspects of the lists. For example, the cost of
labour includes the cost of non-mechanical plant and hand tools; the cost of
material includes the labour off-loading it from delivery lorries; the cost of plant
includes the cost of plant operators. The definition, therefore, of what pre-
cisely constitutes the costs of labour, material and plant is a question for each
estimator to settle for himself. The important thing is that all the factors
are covered somewhere and that none are duplicated. System is essential
but no one system is universally agreed upon. A typical unit rate calculation
follows by way of example.
Costs and Prices 23

Unit Rate Calculation: Example

BQ Item: Broken brick or stone hardcore filling deposited and

compacted in 200 mm maximum thickness layers per m°. S i3

Material
Cost delivered site and tipped in position, in 6 tonne loads, per
Messrs. ABC Ltd. quotation (net of discount, excluding VAT)
£3.00 per tonne
@ 1.50 tonnes per m? 4.50
add for consolidation 20% ‘
add for waste 10% 30% eso
: —_—— 5.85
Labour
Spreading in layers at rate of 2 m* per hour @ all-in labour
rate of £1.65 per hour 823
add for working supervision 10%
add for shovels, barrows, etc. 1% 11% 09
92

Plant
Planned delivery rate of material at 7 loads. per day
7 x6 tonnes ;
= 4.5 t/m*x8 hrs/day ~ 22'™ Per hour
requires a single roller and driver @ £3.20 per hour (all-in
rate, hired)
£3.20
Cost of rolling per m?® = Raa 91
; 2

£7.68

Overhead and Profit 15% 1.15

Unit Rate per m* £8.83

To do this calculation the Estimator needed beforehand to have obtained or

calculated the following:

(a) A quotation from a suitable supplier for the supply of the material to site.

(6) The output rate (productivity) of the labour.

(c) The hourly ‘all-in’ cost of the labour with allowances for supervision
and tools.

(d) The output rate (capacity and efficiency) of the plant.

(e) The hourly ‘all-in’ cost of the plant.

24 Measurement |

Compilation of Unit Rates

Unit Rate

Labour Material Plant Overheads Profit

Payments to Prime cost Fixed Costs Head Office and Withdrawals or
Operatives delivered to site Depreciation or Yard/workshops distribution
On-costs: Off-loading to hire charge Salaries Reserve for
Tool money stack or store Interest Accommodation investment
Nat. Insurance Waste Repairs Transport Tax
Employers’ Road tax Communications
liability ins. Insurance Advertising
Training Transport Finance
Time losses Fees
Working supervision Running Costs
Fuel and oil Site Organisation
Maintenance Clerical staff
Operator wages, expenses
Transport
Security

So quite a lot of preparatory work is needed, particularly the sending out of

enquiries to suppliers and specialists and plant hirers, and the calculation of
the ‘all in’ rates (see 2.5). But a large part of the Estimator’s preparatory
work is concerned with gathering information from the company’s current
building operations as to the output rates of men and machines and to material
cost factors such as coverage and wastage. This feedback of experience from the
sites and the use of that information in future unit rate calculations is how
the production efficiency of the company is reflected (for better or worse) in
their tenders.

2.5 Labour ‘Constants’ and Costs

The site ‘feedback’ as regards labour, consists of details of what a particular

workman or gang achieved in a stated time under stated conditions. Forexample:

Site Record No. 193 Date: 8/2/va Job Ref: Bogs’ Schoo/
Operation: | Hand-digging trenches
Quantity: 23:60).07 551-20
15.00.x 0.90 x 1.20
Gang/time: 6 labourers for 19 hours
Conditions: Cold and wet: ground fairly easy
Costs and Prices 25
This record may be made by a special observer on site doing time study, or
by a foreman or gang leader. The Estimator receives it and notes the fact
that an output of 3 hrs per m® was achieved. This he incorporates into his
stock of similar job records and deduces that under average conditions the
output will probably be around 2? hr per m® for ordinary ground. Now the
text books and pricing guides and journals are full of such ‘constants’ for all
trades and operations and conditions, but only the experience of the com-
pany’s own workmen with their own supervisors and in their actual average
conditions may be fully relied upon. These so-called ‘constants’ are in fact,
anything but constant, and estimators hold their own file of facts and figures
as highly confidential information.

There are many BQ items however, particularly the minor ones, for which it
is almost impossible to isolate the site operation from the surrounding opera-
tions in order to derive an accurate labour output constant for it. Take, for
example, plastering into a window reveal and forming the arris. The BQ
provides three items: plastering to the wall face, to the reveal, and to the arris
between them. But the plasterer on site does not treat those as three different
operations, he works on all three together. In many such instances the rules
of measurement are seemingly intended for convenience in measurement rather
than for accurate estimating, but solutions to such problems are not easy to
find. The Estimator is obliged to assess labour outputs for such items by doing
mental comparisons of the operations and by using educated guesswork.
Similarly when an item crops up that he hasn’t experienced before — the use of
a new material for example — the Estimator may appear to pick the answer
off the office ceiling, but in fact he applies all his skill and experience to a purely
mental visualisation and analysis of the problem.

The cost of labour — in the sense of the rate per hour — is more readily cal-
culable even though, by reason of inflation and regular Trades Union negotiations
with the NFBTE, etc. it keeps changing. Under most forms of building contract
(by the ‘fluctuations’ or ‘variation of price’ clauses) the Estimator is permitted
to calculate his costs at the rates prevailing at the date of tender and to claim
most of the subsequent increases in the cost factors which are beyond his com-
pany’s control as extra to the contract sum. In other cases, the Estimator is
obliged to forecast and make allowance for future possible increases.

The ALL-IN rates for labour are the costs to the Contractor of having opera-
tives of the various grades at work on his site. This covers:

(a) The earnings of the Wages, overtime, bonus payments and

operative: supplements. Sickness or injury absence pay.
Annual holiday pay (cost of stamps).

(6) Other payments to the Tool money (to Craftsmen). Severance pay
operative: (on his being discharged, redundant, etc.).

(c) Other costs to the National Insurance (Employer’s contribu-

Contractor of tion). Employer’s Liability Insurance (pre-
having employees: miums). Training costs for apprentices, plant
operators, etc. (C.I.T.B. Levy).
26 Measurement |

These costs, totalled on an annual basis, are then divided by the number of
hours the operative is expected to be productive for during the year, thus
making allowance for holidays, bad weather, training time, stoppages, etc.
and any daily time losses the Estimator may wish to cover. Normally excluded
from the calculation (but allowed for elsewhere) are the costs of:

Supervision (Site Managers, Foremen, gang leaders).

Hand tools and non-mechanical equipment.
Travelling time and expenses, lodging allowances, etc.

The details of the current agreement on wages and conditions are to be found in
the booklet entitled National Working Rules for the Building Industry and versions
of the ‘all-in’ rate calculations for the various grades of labour may most-con-
veniently be found in the periodic estimating sections of the weekly magazines
Building and Building Trades Journal. You should ensure that you are familiar
with the current all-in rates and the basic wage rates. You should also be
aware from your newspaper and journals of the current national policies on
wage restraint/free collective bargaining and the general climate of thought
on such matters.

Task 2 Look up the current costs of employment of labour and complete the following
i table:

(Grade A/London-—Liverpool) Labourer ~ Tradesman

(delete as appropriate) £ per week £ per week
Basic wage rate
Joint Board Supplement
Guaranteed Minimum Bonus

Total minimum weekly earnings (40 hour week) £ fa

= Rate per hour i

ALL-IN rate per hour fe £
SOurceoh informations 74 oh ee ie eed a as eet Ge Renee ars ere ene stro eagle Date: eee

2.6 Suppliers and Supplies

Builders obtain their supplies of materials from:

(a) PRIMARY PRODUCERS: usually bulk natural materials such as sand and
aggregates.
(6) MANUFACTURERS: Processed materials such as cement, bricks, glass, ready-
made joinery.
(c) IMPORTERS, WHOLESALERS, STOCKISTS: Generally bulky materials such as
timber and steel handled locally on behalf of distant or overseas pro-
ducers or manufacturers.
(d) MERCHANTS: A wide variety of manufactured or primary products stocked
locally in relatively small quantities.
Costs and Prices 27

The choice of source of material supplies depends on factors such as time

available, size and frequency of required deliveries, precise specification and,
of-course, on price quoted. This is the province of the PURCHASER - another
member of the builder’s management team with a distinct skill.

The Estimator’s problem is to find from the supplier’s quotation precisely

what will be the material cost delivered, off-loaded and stacked or stored on
site. For this, he must identify and compare as between competitive quota-
tions several variable factors:

DELIVERY TERMS: to site, to nearest railhead, ‘ex-store’ (i.e. you collect it your-
self), or at extra charge?
In what size loads, in what condition for handling and at what frequency?
With what assistance in off-loading?

PRICE TERMS: fixed price or liable to fluctuate?

What discounts allowable?

Most suppliers work on a ‘monthly account’ system of payment for the goods
they deliver to site. This usually involves a Delivery Note, a later Invoice
and probably a Statement of Account.

DELIVERY NOTE: brought by the delivery driver to the Site Manager or Store-
man for signature. The signature confirms the liability of the Builder to
pay for the goods and implies that they are in good order and in the stated
quantity unless the Note is endorsed to the contrary, or, where the goods are
packaged or crated up, defects or shortages are found on later examination.

INVOICE: follows after the delivery and states the amount due for payment
(subject to any cash discounts). Payment is then usually due within the
calendar month following the month in which delivery is made. (In the
case of counter sales by a merchant, the purchaser would be handed an
invoice directly.)

CREDIT NOTE: issued by the supplier for the value of any goods returned un-
wanted or found to be defective.

STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT: follows by post at the end of the month listing all the
invoices and credit notes issued during the period and showing the amounts
paid or outstanding.

The common discounts made by suppliers are as follows:

CASH DISCOUNT: A percentage

— usually 2} to 5%
-which the supplier per-
mits the purchaser to deduct from the invoiced amount due, if (and only
if) the payment is made within the stated monthly account period. The
invoice is always ‘gross’, i.e. before deduction of the cash discount and a
note as to the discount terms usually appears in the ‘small print’ on it. The
intention of course, is to encourage prompt payment of accounts.

N.B. Cash discount is nothing to do with payment in ‘cash’ as opposed

to the use of cheques: payment by cheque is almost universally adopted.
It relates purely to the time allowed.
28 Measurement |

TRADE DISCOUNT: A percentage - anything between 10 and 40% — off the

normally quoted retail price for goods supplied to accredited trade custo-
mers. For counter sales it is usually necessary for the purchaser to prove
his entitlement to such a reduction. The invoiced price would be ‘net’
of such discount, i.e. it is already reflected in the price shown. The in-
tention is to encourage trade customers to make regular or bulk purchase
from that supplier and to assist the trade.

OTHER DISCOUNTS, such as Preferential Discount (an agreement made specially

between the supplier and a particular customer possibly reflecting some
business association between them) and Bulk Purchase Discount, may
be shown on the invoice where appropriate.

Specialists who actually execute work on the site with their own workmen
and supply their own materials usually do so under a sub-contract with the
Contractor and are then known as either DIRECT or DOMESTIC SUB-
CONTRACTORS or, where they are chosen by the Architect rather than by
the Contractor, as NOMINATED SUB-CONTRACTORS. Such sub-con-
tractors generally allow a 2} % cash discount. Statutory corporations and bodies
having monopoly powers over the connection of such services as water, elec-
tricity, gas and telephones to new buildings and local authorities constructing
pavement crossing and road reinstatement, do not usually allow any discounts
at all.

The term PRIME COST (PC) is defined as the invoiced cost of goods supplied
after deduction of all discounts except a cash discount not exceeding 5% and
including the cost of packing and delivery to site. The term applies similarly
to the cost of work executed on site by specialists, subject to cash discount
of 2b %.

2.7 VAT

Virtually all building firms and their suppliers and sub-contractors are subject
to the VAT system, i.e. they are liable to pay to HM Customs and Excise value
added tax calculated on the added value of what they supply in the course
of their business. ‘Supply’ means a transaction, most commonly a transfer-
ring of ownership of goods or the carrying out of services by one for another
— supplier to contractor, sub-contractor to contractor, contractor to client.
VAT is payable at each stage along the chain of supply but each person along
the chain, paying out VAT to his suppliers and charging it to his clients, may
set off what he pays against what he receives and accounts for only the net
difference to the Customs and Excise. Thus only the final consumer at the
end of the chain — the client — bears the full burden of it. Generally the tax
is calculated on the invoiced value of the supplies net of all discounts. The
detailed rules are set out in a series of booklets available from the Customs
and Excise Offices.

The supplies we are interested in are either ZERO-RATED (i.e. rated at nil)
or STANDARD-RATED. At the time of writing, the standard rate is 8%
on the value of the goods or services. There is also a higher rate at 124%
applicable to petrol and a few other particular supplies. Every supply may be
assumed to be standard-rated unless it is specified to be zero or higher-rated.
Costs and Prices 29

The supply of a new building by a contractor and work of alteration and demo-
lition, is zero-rated and sub-contract work directly involved in it is similarly
zero-rated by the sub-contractor. The supply to them of materials for their
work is standard-rated. Thus the Customs and Excise must refund direct to
contractor or sub-contractor the amount of VAT already paid out by him to
his suppliers. The client pays no VAT at all unless some of the fittings in the
building are not ‘of a kind ordinarily installed by builders as fixtures’.

Any other nature of supply attracts the standard rate and the Client must pay
on the full value. This particularly includes work of repair, maintenance and
redecoration.

In any case, VAT would be indicated as a separate sum in the invoice or claim
for payment and is therefore never included in an estimator’s cost calculations.

VAT Cash Flow Diagrams

(a) Where supply is wholly ‘zero-rated’

SUPPLIERS Input Tax : Bae CLIENT:

Contract payments

VAT charged
on invoices

CUSTOMS & EXCISE

(b) Where supply is wholly or partly ‘standard-rated’

SUB-CONTRACTORS Input Tax :

SUPPLIERS

VAT charged
on invoices
CONTRACTOR

VAT payment = output less input

or
VAT refund = input less output

CUSTOMS & EXCISE

30 Measurement /

2:6 Plant

Mechanical plant may be owned by the builder or hired from one of the many
plant-hire specialists. Plant is an expensive and rapidly depreciating invest-
ment and it is only economic to own such items as are likely to be in regular
use.

In calculating a unit rate, the Estimator must allow for the use of the appro-
priate plant at a rate which reflects its total costs related to its actual productive
usage. For example, a mobile crane with a minimum hire period of one day
may only be required for a particular operation taking one hour. The full
daily hire charge together with the costs of the driver, fuel, etc. must be re-
couped from that one hour’s use. In the case of ‘owned’ plant, the Estimator
will rely on the records kept by the company’s Plant Department for hours
usage, repairs and maintenance costs and fuel consumptions, adding in the
depreciation costs and allowance for loss of interest on the capital invested, etc.

The output rates of the plant are assessed in the same way as labour outputs
— by feedback of information from the sites.

2.9 ‘Preliminaries’ or Project Overheads

There are numerous items of site expenditure which are not readily coverable
in the unit rates for the measured items of work-in-place in the BQ, because
they are not related to the quantity of the finished work. For example, the
site administrative and technical staff, full-time supervisors and Site Manager,
site accommodation (offices, stores, canteen), transport of workmen and plant,
welfare and safety requirements, temporary water and power, drying out and
cleaning the building and insurance of the buildings. Also there are the items
of major plant which service the site generally or are involved in more than
one section of the work; in particular the tower crane. These items are con-
sidered by the Estimator as PROJECT OVERHEADS and he calculates their cost
separately from the unit rates. Most such items are mentioned in the ‘Pre-
liminaries’ section of the BQ (usually the first 20 pages or so) in the sense of a
check list of things specifically required, but, apart from stating the minimum
requirements in some cases, the nature and extent of the work involved is left
to the Contractor to decide upon, subject to any relevant statutes such as the
Health and Safety at Work Act, and to the National Working Rule. The
major decisions are made in the preliminary programming and the Estimator
assesses the rest.

The cost of these items together with their share of Head Office overheads and
profit, may be entered as lump sums at the appropriate BQ Preliminaries item,
or they may be amalgamated with the Head Office overheads and added into
the unit rates in the rest of the BQ sections, or both. Thus it is common to
find in priced BQ’s only a few items of the Preliminaries priced: this does
not mean that the others have been ignored, but rather that they have been
allowed for elsewhere.

See Chapter 4 for a fuller explanation of Preliminaries in BQs.

Costs and Prices 37

2.10 Head Office Overheads and Profit

These two factors are usually considered together because they are both finally
computed as a percentage of the net cost estimate and, for arithmetical con-
venience only, added together as a combined percentage as shown in the
Example (2.4). They are however quite separate and distinct. In normal
times, the combined percentage is commonly in the 124% to 20% range of
which probably about one third is actual profit. In difficult times, however,
when builders are short of work and are struggling to keep their organisations
and their workforce together, these figures may be drastically reduced until
the profit margin is very slim indeed and overhead costs are pared down to
the absolute essentials.

OVERHEADS may be considered as the cost of running a business as distinct

from the direct cost of the product itself. It includes all the salaries of manage-
ment and office staff, directors’ fees, the cost of maintaining the offices, yards
and workshops and of financing the operations (bank interest on overdrafts,
etc.). The Estimator or Manager abstracts these costs from the records from
the previous year’s trading and projects them forward to calculate the probable
rate of expenditure for the current year. This must then be recovered from the
building work expected to be executed during the year. It is therefore appor-
tioned to the tenders on either a contract value or a contract time basis. Thus
one may speak of the overheads recovery rate of a contract as the rate at which
the expected payments will include contributions to the cost of running the
business.

The costs of the site organisation for a particular contract (stores, timekeepers,
security provisions, etc.) may be considered as a further element of overheads
related to that contract only or else as Preliminaries (see 2.9).

Question In the preceding sections, we have identified as separate areas of skill within
the Contractor’s management team, the following:

estimating
programming
purchasing

In what ways is knowledge of measurement essential to each of these?

32 Measurement |

2.11 Factors Affecting Cost

We have been considering the main elements of the cost of construction work
— labour, materials, plant, overheads — and how the Estimator compiles these
into unit rates and preliminaries. In many respects estimating is an exercise
in the arithmetic of construction and follows routines of analysis, enquiry,
comparison of quotations and finally synthesis. If every construction project
were of the same design in the same conditions, that would be all there was
to estimating and the excitement would be taken out of tendering as well.
But, of course, it is not so. No two jobs are the same; even if the designs are
similar the site and timing must be different. Concrete in a column on one job
may look exactly like concrete in a column on the next job but the circum-
stances in which the concrete was mixed, transported and poured may be
entirely different and hence the labour element at least of the unit rate will be
different.
The factors which make one job different from the next are many and various.
The essential is that within the Contractor’s team there is a clear understanding
as to who makes allowance for these factors in the estimating/tendering pro-
cess, so that none are overlooked or duplicated. A list (not exhaustive) of
factors is given in Task 3, page 34 for you to consider. There are three factors
however of overriding importance for the Estimator and Programmer which
must be discussed: SCALE, REPETITION and TIME.

(a) Scale

This relates to the overall size of the project and to the general range of quan-
tities of the major items which make it up. It has been said that one of the
problems of the Construction Industry is that each site must be regarded as
a factory which is established to produce one single product — a building —
and which is then dismantled again and removed. The effort and cost of estab-
lishing (and removing) the factory is not proportionate to the size of the product:
the bigger the product the lesser proportion of the total cost is the cost of the
factory. This means that small jobs tend to be inefficient and expensive com-
pared with large jobs. To counteract this, construction firms tend either to
restrict their operations to jobs within a certain range of size or type — one
reason for the wide range of sizes of the companies which manage to co-exist
in most areas — or to departmentalise with the same affect, i.e. a major national
company may maintain a ‘jobbing-work’ department which is happy to con-
sider your kitchen extension scheme.
One example of the ‘economies of scale’ may be seen in the use of concrete
mixing plant. A 21/14 mixer is only one and a half times the cost of a 10/7
mixer but has double the output — if you can use that much concrete.

(b) Repetition

Just as you will become proficient at measurement if you stick at it, so workers
on a construction site become more efficient — i.e. faster with less supervision
needed and with less wastage of material —-with repetition of a particular
operation. Psychologists estimate that efficiency increases rapidly, from a
low level at the first attempt, as the number of repetitions rise up to seven
or eight when the efficiency reaches maximum and levels off. Therefore a
housing estate of individual designs is naturally more expensive to construct
than one of repeating designs; similarly, a multi-storey building with repeating
floor layouts, and on a smaller scale, similarly with the machining of door
frames or the installation of pipework, etc.
Costs and Prices 33

(c) Time

The time available for completion of a project will be either laid down by the
Client/Architect at tender stage or it may be a factor to be competed for as
between the tenderers. Either way, a job which has to be done quickly will be
more expensive than one for which there is no time pressure. This arises from
extra incentive payments to workmen, more expensive overtime working,
more men to get in each other’s way or waiting for each other to finish their
bits of work thus leading to inefficiency, more supervisors and organisers
needed, etc.

These factors, and the others listed below, affect the way a job is tackled, the
output rates of men and machines and the waste factors on materials. The
problem is that the factors don’t operate singly; they operate together and
probably in opposite directions. But decisions have to be made. The Con-
tractor must stick his neck out and stake his livelihood on what he thinks it
will be like on that site in two or three years’ time — if he gets the job, that is.
34 Measurement /

Task 3 More factors affecting cost; for discussion.

Consider the following list and state against each item whether you think it
should be allowed for:

in unit rates (‘Rates’)

in preliminaries (‘Prelims’)
or whether they can only be regarded as tendering risks (‘Risks’)

How allowed for:

Design Factors

Shape, scale and interrelationship of buildings.

Extent of repetition of operations.
Material/component availability when needed.

Quality Control
Required accuracy and standard of finish.
Extent of Architect/Clerk of Works supervision.
Testing of materials.

Site Factors

Location (e.g. 10 miles away).

Access (e.g. off busy street).
Space for plant, hutting and circulation.
Weather.
Ground conditions.
Site services (water, power, telephone).

Programming Factors
Choice of major plant items.
Component fabrication in workshop or on site.
Section and operational sequence.
Safety and welfare provisions.
Labour availability locally when needed.
Efficiency of sub-contractors (domestic).
Efficiency of sub-contractors (nominated).
Efficiency of Architect/Engineer.
Incentive scheme.
Restrictions on use of noisy plant.

Contractual Problems

Financial stability of Client.

Probability of late design variations.
Completion period.
Costs and Prices 35

2.12 Tendering Procedures

There are three common procedures by which the Architect obtains tenders
for construction work:

Open Tendering

Selective Tendering

Negotiation

There is also a method called Two-stage Tendering which will probably be of

greater importance in the future when it gains more general acceptance, it
being a relatively new idea. We will consider the traditional methods first.

(a) Open Tendering

This method means that any contractor who wishes to tender for the particular
project may do so, subject to the proviso in the case of large contracts that
he may first be required to produce evidence as to his adequate financial status
and experience. The method is nowadays almost only used by local authorities
or governmental departments who, having to operate under the critical eye
of the rate-paying public, are obliged to do so even if it is against their better
judgement. It has the advantage of allowing new firms to obtain work thus
encouraging local enterprise, but this backfires if the firm turns out to be in-
adequately equipped or inexperienced and the project ends up in trouble as a
result. It has the advantage of being free from any suspicion of underhand
dealing or favouritism, but this implies that the lowest tender must normally
be accepted unless it can be very clearly shown to be a bad risk from the client’s
point of view. Such a risk may be suspected on good grounds but very difficult
or embarassing to have to prove.

The procedure is usually commenced by the Town Clerk or appropriate civil

servant putting an advert in the local or national press (according to the size
of the project) which invites interested contractors to apply to the particular
office to receive copies of the tender documents, often also requiring a few
pounds deposit as proof of their serious intention to tender. Thus it would
not be unusual to have twenty or more tenderers each incurring the substantial
expense of preparing their tenders and only one of whom can be successful.
Naturally the expense involved in tendering unsuccessfully is an overhead cost
which must be recouped from other successful tenders. As the expense of
tendering for a substantial project may be a thousand pounds or more and
tenderers are lucky if they win one in every six (up to one in every 20 in bad
periods), clearly the cost to the client is quite significant.

(b) Selective Tendering

Selective tendering is the method most widely used by private industrial and
commercial clients and is generally recommended as avoiding most of the
problems of the ‘open’ method. The Architect will select, subject to Client’s
approval, between four and six firms to be invited to tender. He makes his
selection for this ‘short list’ according to his past experience of them on previous
contracts, or by their national reputation or following a thorough investigation
of their organisation and past record. He must be reasonably satisfied and be
able to advise his client, that whichever of the selected firms wins the tender,
36 Measurement |

of their organisation and past record. He must be reasonably satisfied and be

able to advise his client, that whichever of the selected firms wins the tender,
they may be relied upon to complete the project according to the contractual
terms. This is a heavy responsibility on the Architect and he will naturally
tend to rely regularly on the few contractors who have given good service in
the past. Inclusion on such an approved list with a busy architect is of great
value to a contractor as it substantially increases his chances of getting work
and thereby reduces his overhead costs.

The procedure, following the agreement of the short list, is for them to be
sent an individual letter of invitation to tender which sets out sufficient infor-
mation about the type, size, location, etc. of the project for the firms to decide
whether or not to participate. If they accept the invitation, they are sent
copies of the tender documents directly.

(c) Negotiation

This system may be regarded as a selected list of one. A particular contracting

firm is decided upon on the recommendation of either the Architect or the
Client, and then generally the Consultant QS and that contractor’s own team
will meet and endeavour to hammer out a tender between them which the QS
can report to his Client as being fair and reasonable. The method lacks the
highly competitive element and may tend as a result to a rather higher price
level, but this disadvantage is felt to be off-set by the special relationship be-
tween the parties which, as far as is possible, guarantees satisfaction. Such
a procedure may become advisable due perhaps to the abnormally difficult
or specialised nature of the project, or for a continuation project on a site
where the Contractor is already working for the same Client. It also happens
where there already exists a special relationship between the parties due perhaps
to financial links.

Whether the ‘open’ or ‘selective’ method is used, the tender forms and the priced
BQs are finally returned in sealed envelopes to the Architect on the due date
and then he sets up a meeting with the Client and QS for the formal opening
and preliminary consideration of the tenders. The procedure at this meeting
follows well established principles of good practice which are designed to
respect and preserve the highly confidential nature of the pricing information
submitted to it. A tenderer’s prices are his commercial secrets and he is entitled
to have them kept secret as far as is practicable. (V.B. Students with access
to such prices in the course of their work must equally be very careful in this
respect.) The forms of tender are all opened first and a list compiled of the
company names and their respective tender sums. The lowest tender is iden-
tified and the relevant priced BQ is then opened and briefly inspected to see
whether there are any obvious errors which may render it undesirable. If
there are such errors (and there often are), the next lowest is similarly examined
and then these one or two priced BQs are handed to the QS to take away for
detailed inspection and report; the others remain sealed. The QS duly carries
out his inspection including a complete arithmetical check on the extension
and totalling of the rates and finally makes his recommendation as to whether
or not they may form the basis of a successful contract. The Client then makes
his decision and a letter of acceptance is despatched to the winner, thus con-
cluding the contractual relationship between the parties. A formal signing
of the documents takes place later. Unsuccessful tenderers have their priced
BQs returned to them unopened with a letter notifying them of the decision.
Costs and Prices 37

For further details of procedure the Student is referred to the Code of Pro-
cedure for Selective Tendering published by the National Joint Consultative
Committee of Architects, Quantity Surveyors and Builders. For further details
of tender documentation, see Chapter 4.

(d) Two-stage Tendering

The major criticism of the traditional methods of tendering is that they all
require that the design is finalised and measured in the form of a BQ before
the Contractor can be selected, thus it follows that the design work and measure-
ment were done without the benefit of the advice and experience of the com-
pany who are to execute it on site; without knowing what his plant is most
suitable for, or at what systems he is most proficient. This must result in loss
of efficiency and waste of resources. The solution being considered is to have
a preliminary tendering operation at a very early stage of design development
to select the contractor and bring him in to the design team, then to finally
negotiate the price with him on the basis of his earlier tender. (A more detailed
consideration of such possibilities is beyond the present syllabus.)

2.13 Other Methods of Estimating

This chapter has been largely concerned with estimating by the tendering
contractor on the basis of unit rates for measured items of work-in-place;
what may be termed an analysis/synthesis method. To avoid possible confusion,
however, we must identify other methods in current use.

(a) Operational Estimating

Estimating by a contractor on the basis of operational measurements. See

Chapter 1.3 and Example at 1.6(d).

(b) Estimating by the QS

In his role of cost advisor to the Architect/Client, the QS must be able to say
what he expects the eventual price of the project, or of any particular part of
it, will be if and when tenders are invited and obtained for it; i.e. he is attempting
to predict the average level of tendering. (See Chapter 1.2 ‘Forecasting’,
relevant units of measurement for this purpose at 1.5 and example at 1.6(q).)
As we have already noted in this chapter, tendering is a commercial operation
in which the commercial judgement of the Contractor overlays the factual work
of his Estimator. Thus for forecasting purposes the QS must rely on his experi-
ence of the level of past tenders for previous contracts rather than on his ability
in analysis/synthesis of cost factors. Such information on previous contract
prices (‘historical data’) is the QS’s stock-in-trade and is carefully collected
and compiled by him from his own sources and from sources such as the RJCS
Building Cost Information Service, the regularly published cost studies in the
journals and annual summaries as in Spon’s Architects’ and Builders’ Price
Book (Approximate Estimating section).
38 Measurement |

The term ‘approximate estimating’ may be applied to such forecasting tech-

niques and also covers the pricing of his own BQs by the QS using unit rates
which he considers to be a fair average of those being submitted to him in
recent tendering and done for the purpose of comparison with the tenders
he expects to be asked to check on the project in hand.

Question Some bricklayers claim to be able to lay up to 150 bricks per hour in straight-
forward ‘common’ brickwork. Why do you think it is that most Estimators
would usually only base their cost calculations on a rate of around 60 bricks
per hour? What are the relevant factors to be considered?

Task 4 Turn back to page 14 - the BQ for the New Driveway to 163 River View.
Using the all-in labour rates and the material and plant cost information given
in the Operational Estimate at page 11 plus a percentage for the overheads
and profit, price the BQ to come to the same total as the Operational Estimate
(within a pound or so). Set out your unit rate calculations properly showing
the full detail each time on separate paper. You are not permitted to change
any of the BQ items or to add any new ones.
3.
Mensuration

Extract from TEC Syllabus Measurement II:

General Objective: Specific Objective:

Applies the measurement 1. Applies traditional methods of entering

format to simple items metric dimensions on dimension paper
and mensurational format including use of waste (side-cast)
problems. calculations, correct sequence of dimensions,
S| units and squaring, to simple observable
work-in-place items.

2. Applies the same methods to simple

mensurational problems including use of:
a.Geometric area and volume formulae
Gradients
Compensation lines
Pythagoras’ Theorem
oa0c
Elementary trigonometrical ratios

3. Applies the same methods to common

mensurational problems found in building
measurement given simple line drawings
and determining realistic standards of
accuracy:
a. Measurement overall and adjustment
of wants and voids
b. Centre lines and corner adjustments
c. Interpolation of levels

4. Explains traditional methods of entering

imperial dimensions on dimension paper
format including duo decimal squaring and
reduction.

MENSURATION

3.1 Introduction

We are concerned in this chapter primarily with the mensuration aspect of

measurement, i.e. the format and procedure for setting down the figures derived
from the design drawings (or from the completed work on site) and the arith-
metical problem that that procedure involves. As stated previously (1 . 1),
the arithmetic is not often complicated but there can be a lot of it to be done,
and we are generally pushed for time and/or being frequently interrupted by
the other business of the office going on around us. The immediately pressing
problem, raised perhaps by a telephone caller, inevitably distracts us and inter-
rupts our flow of thought. But every mistake in measurement costs somebody
money and causes problems later on: a very small error in figure work may
have very large consequences and we will not be able to escape our responsi-
bility for them.
40 Measurement i

Obviously a SYSTEMATIC DISCIPLINED APPROACH is the first essential of measure-

ment, to minimise risk of error and to standardise methods so that our work
can be understood, checked and used by other people concerned in it. All
this means:

A STANDARD FORMAT of ‘taking-off’,

LEGIBLE and TIDY figures and writing on it, and
NO MENTAL ARITHMETIC

This last point may surprise you; but remember that everything you write down
on the paper is checkable - anything that was calculated in the mind only is
not. Secondly, the risk of error is substantially reduced if you impose on
yourself the discipline of writing down the details. Similarly, there is no place
for the use of scrap paper in measurement or for scribbled calculations on the
drawing margin. Get into the habit right from the start of doing it the proper
way, directly, in ink, the first time. Not only will you be penalised in the exams
for doing it any other way, the consequences in the real life situation could be
disastrous.

3.2 Dimensions

This is the common dimension paper format used in ‘taking-off’ quantities:

Les cryptior7 Lesecriprior

Sgua
7119
LDirmerrsior /17esS Sguariing
1G Dyy7er1s/orr

The columns are labelled up here to identify their purpose but you need never
write these as headings on your own work. Note that the usual A4 page is
divided vertically into two repeating halves: you should work down the left hand
half, then move to the top of the right hand half and work down that to complete
the page.

Dimensions for this purpose are either NUMBERS (‘enumeration’) or

LENGTHS of the various items of work shown on the drawings or to be
measured on the site. ONLY NUMBERS OR LENGTHS MAY BE RECORDED IN THE
‘DIMENSION’ COLUMN. Two lengths together are read as being multiplied to-
gether to give an AREA (i.e. the two lengths are generally the two boundary
dimensions of that area). Three lengths together are read as being multiplied
together to give a VOLUME. Look at the examples following:
 a
Mensuration

3) Coar Aooks ENUMERATION, 1.e. items measured by number

tgpe A, screwe/
to softwoor”

2:00 O44 x 2ZOnz LINEAR ITEMS, i.e. measured by length in metres - m

(Firi'sted s/3ze/)
sottiwcod Aook
ravi, PLLGGEA

hee (21a Fibre boord| — supERFICIAL ITEMS, i.e. measured by surface area in
L2ZO TeGo Piteeor®, LK LDL square metres — m2
to woll wut
od hesve.

LOS Pus, storing an CUBE (OR VOLUMETRIC) ITEMS, i.e. measured by

Oo: 83 ex stg GTOMTL volume in cubic metres
— m3
Wee |S LF leve/ arr rrr
excee7
[SO rz Jeep.

There are several important points to notice about these examples, apart from
the content of the descriptions (which will be discussed in Volume 2).

(a) The Setting Out

The various lengths of items measured are put into the dimension column and
ruled off either singly, in pairs, or in threes to represent linear, superficial or
cube measurement respectively. There is never any necessity to write down
what the unit of measurement adopted is; it is quite clear from the way you
write the dimensions whether the unit is nr, m, m? or m?.

These original dimensions MUST ALWAYS go in the dimension column and then
they are ‘squared’ (multiplied up as necessary) putting the answer in m, m?
or m® in the SQUARING column opposite the last dimension in each case. It is
this squared quantity which is transferred to the Bill of Quantities, at which
stage it is rounded off to the nearest whole number (see example next page).
42 Measurement /

Typical BQ Items

A lénm fibreboard pitboard

2
fixed to wel! wrth adhesive. Ze /77

B Lae starting ah, ex/sting

Grourid’ leve/ arid ror
excee7g | BO rz weep You complete the quantity
. and unit for the second
item.

(b) The Dimension Figures

The rule is that each dimension shall be taken to the nearest 10 mm, i.e. every
entry in the dimension column shall be in metres to two places of decimals.
(As we shall explain Jater however, the calculation of these dimension column
entries should be in millimetre terms.) The design drawings will always show
lengths to the nearest millimetre (metres to 3 places of decimals). So 0.005
goes up to become 0.01, while 0.004 goes down (e.g. 5945 mm is entered as
5.95 in the dimension column, but 5944 mm will be entered as 5.94).
N.B. See later note on reversal of this rule in the case of deductions.

(c) The Cubic Concept

A useful rule to remember is that PERMANENT WORK ITEMS ARE THREE DIMENSIONAL,
i.e. any items involving permanent incorporation of materials must have length,
width (or breadth) and height (or depth) and this must be reflected in the
measurement. The individual dimensions may appear in the ‘description’ or
in the ‘unit’ but the total number must be three, viz:

IF, IN THE DESCRIPTION THEN, THE UNIT IS:

No dimensions are given mm:

One dimension given m?

Two dimensions given m

Three dimensions given number

Check this on the examples above. In the coat hook example of course, the
manufacturers’ catalogue will show the dimensions of the hook, so using their
reference ‘type A’ has saved us the problem of writing them all out. In the
pit example, the 1.50 m is a descriptive classification which would refer to all
pits not exceeding 1.50 m deep; it is not saying that this pit is actually 1.50m
deep. (See Vol. 2 for rules on measurement of excavations generally.) The
cubic ‘concept rule will be found useful in the exercises in the next few pages.
Mensuration 4 43

3.3. Sequence of Dimensions

The order of stating dimensions in descriptions shall be consistent and generally

in the sequence of length x width x height. Where that sequence is not appro-
priate or where ambiguity could arise, the dimensions shall be specifically
identified.

This rule applies both to dimensions in the dimension column of taking-off

and to those in the description, in-as-much as they occur in either.

Examples You complete the last one.

‘eo :
ty

2:30 Kelrrlorced’
oe 40 AS
insitu eg nia ri eae ade A
concrete Pin Kol Wit Colvrdat over
2850 column
9-/IOm7? secrH
VICE Fas

O- G4 1245x W277 (Kv'7)

softwood si//,
rehpaoled a7
Softwood
sill splaye =A

Precast
concrete
pier cap
44 Measurement /

It is not always easy to identify which dimension is the width or height etc.
The following are generally accepted applications.

Examples

[tems measurable in m?*

Plan area dimensions given first, followed by Trertch starting

depth. a LEGLar/7
e.g. trench 1.450 deep nile (B3Om
ego

e.g. concrete foundation 350 thick 33:00 Flatts corre. grade

O35 Aun fouwndatiors

Ovee7— BOO thick.

Items measurable in m?*

Horizontal dimension followed by vertical dimen-

sion
e.g. plaster 2.80 high 5.00 lO plaster
Z-80|/4-00 on Brick walls.
(When measuring a plan area, e.g. of flooring —
the distinction is unimportant.)

Items measurable in m 1-40 228 </SO purr

For concrete lintels and similar members, the

section dimensions in the description are given as ei ee 2
width x depth: ywrelvitig E777
/Zvrrirr da. rans. Lars.

For joinery timber sections, the width on face

when fixed is given first and thickness next.

ey 2:Co | 4:00 TS x ZO m7 soffhw

7-00 4:00 arctifrove, srreleding
5-00 ars ard rrifres.
Mensuration 45

Exercise Fill in the dimensions missing in the following items.

x x UA
P7e <as 4 pods tore

Buff sre.

2000 200m prbreLhoary

as pnb oord,

800
screwed” Yo

Brick walls

angle pegier Bor.

FI starting ar
EGL arte w/e (20
Jeep
46 Measurement /

Exercise The same selection of items and a few others are shown here in the Bill of
Quantities format. Square your dimensions and fill in the quantities and
units missing: (See 1.4 for example.)

A Excavator fo recuce leve/s. 532

B Fit, starting ar ex/s HE ground

leve/ ard ror 2 KCCCMTG Yiope
deep,

Gi GL x QOrrev7 | frrsthed sige/.'soXYH)000’

took raul, plugged, wrelogiing

ergs. <a

WE. lorcret2Z Grade Li (pore-cast

ds fore SIZE x x U7 W7,
Lurlf //T /

Ve Litto Wt pre-casK pler ca,

SIZE LS5Ox LS50x (23mm (or7ax. ry)
trick, weg (reread four WAYS
Prom, Cartfre poll?? ond furshed
dar or alt CLpOse” SUTSICES,
heckled arc/ (Porred JEPgaged
wrortirr VC. Zz

a lOv7 ples ter or brickwork wafer. 73

Ca /Zram fibreboard beard,

pegged DIA screwed fo AW.

HY x lee a: Per wre (re

wild ste! 17g [a Leorer Dar
Mensuration 47

3.4 Multiple Quantities

In practice of course, there are generally more than one lot of any particular
item to be measured on a job: e.g. there may be a whole grid layout of founda-
tion pits, some of similar and some of varying sizes; every room may require
skirting boards, etc. It would obviously be inefficient to have to repeat the
description on your dimension paper for every single pit or length of skirting.
Measurement is above all a practical art and various methods of grouping
dimensions together have been evolved to cope with such problems.

Ent. fal// y,

Secte/aries) Addition of Quantities (i.e. where there is more

than one lot of the same item to be measured).
G7 Clogkreorres )

74 Cogf Looks
aos berore.

oS G4. x ZO rear (Fir)

~ uw QS Hook rat/ ab.
10:05
VME

(bracket line)

Any number of lots may be listed like this; you may fill a whole column with
such figures and continue on the next page (by writing ‘contd.’ at the foot
of the first column and continuing the bracket line at the head of the next).
There is no limit to the system and the description need only be written once
against the bracket, but notice the, use of the location notes or ‘signposts’
written against each quantity to identify it on the job.

Note the following rules:

(a) Ruling Off

Every quantity must be ruled off across the dimension column because other-
wise one would not know later on whether it was a length, area or volume
(see following examples).
 Measurement /

(b) Use of Bracket Lines

Every quantity on the left of the bracket relates to the description on the right
of it; i.e. the total of all the quantities shown (rounded off to nearest whole
number) is what finally appears in the BQ against that item. It does not matter
whether the description comes at the beginning or end or middle of the bracket;
just fit it in where convenient and extend the bracket to cover it if necessary.

(c) Location Notes

Every entry in the taking-off must be identified so that anyone else wishing to
make use of your work can follow it through. But do not let the location notes
get mixed up with the description.

(d) Squaring

The total quantity is inserted below the last dimension entry, an oblique line
down the squaring column indicating that the figures are totted-up directly
to the total below.

Examine carefully these further examples and complete the squaring. Each
quantity must be squared first and then the items totalled.

3-06 Entrarce) Vigo hd Base klo./ y

G:47\|/9:80 WEEEIf
1-44

15:36 Driveway y)
4.25 3 74 Base lo. 2/
JOOS

4-9/ Playground, y tee Fleaitr correrefe

10°73 gradi A Ge
a eet prrachirre Bases.

1290-50

WS rm Macadarrr
Su rfacing ;

These examples have been of ADDITION of quantities. Frequently, of course,

it is necessary to make a DEDUCTION. There are two methods of doing this (see
opposite) and measurers tend to prefer and adopt one or the other, but both
have their advantages in particular situations:
Mensuration 49

Deduction Examples

Method 1

2750 Z ourrde )
3:95 |2Z0-44

PLAN of LOUNGE
DOT
[os Leey,
0:GO|\/-/0 breast,

/9 84 /9 iran (fir7]
softwood 7a7gVed
WIS (Groover
hoard Hfoorrirg.

Method 2 The difference is purely one of presentation; the

final BQ is, of course, exactly the same. The first
one however, has advantages where the ‘Group
Method’ is being used (see later, 3.10) and avoids
4:30 Z our 2 y) to some extent the necessity for ‘abstracting’ (col-
3:95 |\20 lecting the quantities for like items together prior
to billing).
/Giraf77 (fin) s. ad.
TELA hoard
4¢/oo0 oF) {

LES L:Bitte Y
0-60 |-/-/0 breas7

PLT

Lar

The word ‘last’? in the second method means that the last (immediately pre-
ceding) description is relevant also to the deducted quantity.
50 Measurement /

Exercise Further examples of deductions are given later. Complete the squaring of
this example now:

G-34 G -34

4-92 Excavatiorr fo 4 ae Excavatiorr fo

1-95 zyeduce /evels. 17 vreduce /eve/s.

3-76 9%
4-92 4-92
0-82 0-82

ODT,

8-76 8:76 bor

240 240 last
O37 Orsi

Remember that if you wish to deduct in the squaring column to arrive at a

net quantity (Method 1), there is only one description and the one bracket
required covers all the dimensions. If you separate the positive and negative
quantities per Method 2 (as is frequently essential to a proper sequence of
measurement), then the description is repeated for each against its own bracket.
EVERY QUANTITY MUST BE RELATED TO A DESCRIPTION BY USE OF A BRACKET,
whatever sequence is being adopted. You may, of course, have any number of
positive and any number of negative quantities as long as they are connected
by the bracket, but all the ‘adds’ must come before the ‘deducts’; you may
NOT have ‘adds’ following ‘deducts’ against the same bracket: if you have
missed out a quantity from its proper sequence, just close off the bracket and
start a new one repeating the description again.

N.B. As mentioned previously, the rule about rounding-off the third place
of decimals reverses for deducted quantities. The intention is that the rounding-
off should not operate to the contractor’s disadvantage. For example, 8.765
shown on the drawing would be entered as 8.77 in a positive quantity but as
8.76 in a negative quantity.
Mensuration 57

We can now consider the use of the TIMESING column. ‘Timesing’ is just the
word measurers use for multiplying any particular quantity by the number
of times it occurs in the design.

‘Timesing Examples’

“/5) / KS) Mortice latch For example, there may be one mortice latch per
door, five doors per floor and three similar floors.
art ser fever
It would be quite wrong to do the multiplication
Pure OTE in your head and just put down the figure 15; your
taking-off must always indicate (as far as is reason-
(Catalogue rapa) ably possible) where the dimensions came from
4o sortwood deors || and how they are arranged and distributed about
the building.
ond) TQTIZS.

3/ G AO C/assroor7s yf
4-35

DOT

Hy 1-20 | Eootlights oy
YZO.

72/ 0-L0 Piers )

0-23

Flaster or7
Corr rete2 ceilings

Note that the oblique stroke always represents a multiplication sign, so in the
second example there are three similar classroom ceilings each with four roof-
lights and two piers projecting from the walls around. I[t is important that the
stroke is larger than the figures and it should not cross the dimension column
line. Care and neatness are essential when every entry involves money.

It is quite permissible to use fractions in the timesing and the symbol ‘2’ (pi)
in circular work. Sketch in the description column the shapes measured in
the examples.
52 Measurement /

Exercise: Geometric Forms

Careful figurework is particularly necessary when

using fractions so that there is no possible confusion
with the timesing stroke.

Another useful tool the measurer has is called DOTTING-ON . This is again
done in the timesing column and the DOT means a PLUS sign. (We never use x
or + in the dimensions because they are easily mis-read and mistakes arise.
Many years of experience has taught measurers to use these other symbols.)
‘Dotting on’ Examples

| 205 ih Coat kooks Note the clear dot and how the figures dotted-on
ao ae tres rise up the column a little to give extra separation.
4/ G7 \'\53G

543

2.
Saf 7:82 Start offices) You square up this second example.
3°06 Flast COs7E. cl9s. ab.
Mensuration

Exercise: Squaring in Metric Units

AS B/fud.
a
Ley fix /f
/3/ G LS OO

im
2/ 2-23
42/ 2-00 0-44.
0-15
O-2/
ip
2/ 15-03 18/ /0 56
0-60
03:27 Wee YAS

63:00
LG if
DOT Ie -Og,

ODT

3/ 52-03
O92
45:42

4
2] 5205
/-4/
ETPA
54 Measurement |

3.5 The Ampersand

Measurers never use the word ‘ampersand’ in practice; we always say ANDING-
ON? It means the linking of two (or more) descriptions together where the
quantities for each are the same. We put the ampersand sign between the
descriptions and extend the bracket to cover both.

Example

The pairs of items shown in these examples have

Corridors )
the same quantity because they are in (or have
3/0 Flaster ort come from) the same place. So, to save us from
having to write out the dimensions twice, we write
blockwork walls, them once only and shen AND-ON the descriptions.

ot
Three coors
eyr7i//§/0/7 pur
ovr plist 7eCS
walls.

2) OS Vass starting of
O23 E.GL. ar7d 0h
/-#8 exce ed//79
/ 50m Jeep.
if
1/ LZ
CUS = Question

How many pits have I measured here in total?

|: 43
herrove sezples
spoil from si7¥2.

This is the rule for anded-on items:

THE TOTAL OF THE QUANTITIES ON THE LEFT OF THE BRACKET RELATES TO EACH
AND EVERY DESCRIPTION ON THE RIGHT OF IT. }
 pe
Mensuration

3.6 Constant Dimensions

Where, for a particular item, one dimension figure repeats in several quantities,
then it is convenient to add up the variable dimensions first and only multiply
the total by the other (constant) dimension. For example:

could more neatly and easily be expressed as:

368 Classroom //)

Eo sa ee
Dio. EZ OO) Po hoe BP

6/Bye lore Wey,

ie FN 3: OG Foyer /

4/2/ 065 |2:60\ Ste/F roor7s

44 bb

lZ 10007 tibreloare/ Because we have measured linear dimensions here,

pur oer oe we cannot mix them up with the depth dimension
in the dimension column. Similarly we cannot
walls with odkesive| mix areas and volumes, etc. So the constant must
ae 2 always appear following the description with an
Oe Amped arrow to draw attention to it and space for the
squaring as shown.
56 Measurement |

The method is very useful also in conjunction with anded-on items to bring
in another dimension:

Example

“/ [ayaifes Corridors |}
Ad * 30 ran (fir)
softwood skirtig

+
Prime ory back
or skir4i7qs befre

Aixirg, 100fo
ZOO rrrrr7 qrte

4
[tepare Kvvo A

PTUTE, STOR 7A
apply 2 wridercods
ond ore coca Fal)
9 Joss orl (parr OT
stirtings (00 4a
LOO rere GTS

a
ELLIE
Three coors

COTO /S/O7 ote

ovr Past wolls . Remember that we previously (page 54) measured

the paint on the corridor walls full height (the same
x O/4F= yr as the plaster). Now when we measure the skirtings
the wall paint behind must be deducted out — in m?.
Mensuration 57
3.7 Waste Calculations

WASTES (also called ‘side-casts’)are simply preliminary arithmetic done on the

dim paper to calculate a dimension. There are no set rules about what may or
may not be done on ‘waste’ rather than in the dims column or as to the format
of waste calculations: just keep in mind these two general points: (a) no mental
arithmetic, and (b) your measurement must be followable by anyone else who
may wish to use or check it.

Example

Question
Staff Offices: In this example, the girth of the room is calculated
on waste and entered as a total length in the dim
Str eey column. What other items in the room might
3:060 have the same dimensions and could have been
anded-on?
2/ /0°875
Bete (ep (0) 0: 0)ce ‘wdish 'ej/(9)'e) Je) fej 8) ee) 6 011.6: ele) esse! © 0. «ee \e, sje, e 0 © 's

a 8 Ce Ole We! (0,6) [fey elie “ee /6) <0. "enka! ie) eo} lee Lemeve, 0,4 b6) site! (8) ©2 6)‘el 6ale.

© isiepke; Zelge! ‘ete, fa) si ene! @ \4, 6 fe, fe! \e; Je:.e- e's: eo, eis +e, oie © se) © 6 ‘6;

21°75: 69* 3277 /?

Frrr/)
sorfwood 17:0VU led
ple wre ro pligg 2

4
FO. backs n/a

O00 gh

li
AFS& @ pe. ra/, N.B. Abbreviations used here:

VOO 200 gtth

P.O. — prime only

n/e — not exceeding

4
KPS— knot, prime and stop

DOT* G3) — three coats

@ Evme/s. plast wwls

XxX 0O' O06 = yehg

 Measurement /
58

Here is a typical calculation of excavation depth which could only be done on

waste.

Example

101-670 100-032
EGLs 101-670 =e ae

J3 -F3/
78 426
14-250
|
4) 399-1097
Se a aia
average : GD 777 98-426 98:981
Formavior PLAN
leve/ 78 000

Exc, oeoty Vel site

26:63
/4 25 Excovol! surtIces
TAS, po reduce sevels.

EGL

4 FORMATION LEV 98-000

SECTION
Rerrove sorplus
spor/ fromm s1f2.

Note these presentational points for all waste calculations:

(a) Wastes are as much a part of the measurement process as are the dimen-
sions and descriptions: they must be neatly presented and the arithmetic
should be complete and checkable.

(b) Wastes MUST ALWAYS BE TO THREE PLACES OF DECIMALS (i.e. to the nearest
millimetre) with no rounding-off until the final transfer of the result to the
dim column.

(o) They are generally kept to the right hand side of the description column
but, where extensive or tabulated calculation is required, may spread
across the whole half width of the page.
~

(d) They may come before, between or after the descriptions and do not need
to be within the bracket.
Mensuration 59

Exercise Take a sheet of dim paper, head it up and copy the plan of the room like this:

oll Fira S/1IT9S

Ae (9/74 3:000 Now measure the following items only. (See sequence
below.)

4-O00
WALL PLASTER

zany PICTURE
SKIRTING
RAIL

SS:
O00
PLUS PAINTWORK ON EACH
Door
/:000x 2-000
Cee :
But ignore the door and window openings because
‘+eOO we are going to adjust for those later on. Just
measure the walls as if the room were a totally
enclosed box.
Window
1 GOOx/ 200

LAA

Here is the sequence for your measurement:

(i) Waste calculation to find girth of room and then put total length in
dimension column.

(ii) Take wall plaster and paint items, putting full wall height as constant
dimension below each to give the areas.

(iii) Take picture rail and paint (on back and front).

(iv) Take skirting and paint (on back and front).

(v) Adjust (deduct) wall paint behind picture rail and skirting using waste
to find their total height.

All these items are anded-on with one long bracket covering the whole lot.
You can turn back in this chapter to find suitable descriptions.
60 Measurement |

3.8 Correction of Errors

We all make mistakes from time to time and no doubt you have made some
already as you worked through this chapter. The measurement procedures
we have been studying are designed to minimise risk of error (a) by imposing
a disciplined approach which will become habitual with you, and (6) by ensuring
that your work is checkable. As we have noted before, however (1 . 1) generally
only the arithmetic is checked before the measurement is used: the taking of
the dimension figures from the drawing is not checked until someone has cause
to suspect an error — which is too late as far as you are concerned.

Errors may be spotted by you as you work on the following items and refer
back to what you have completed, or they may be found in the arithmetical
check, or they may arise from a change of design detail which is notified to you
at a late stage and necessitates amendment of your measurement. In any such
case there are right and wrong procedures. The wrong ones are: to change a
figure by writing another on top of it in thick ink; to untidily scratch it out,
or to tear up the page.

It is often important that the wrong figure or item remains readable although
clearly cancelled: only in this way can the correction itself be checked or the
effect of the design change be identified. Besides which, the Examiner will
penalise a messy entry on your script but give credit for correct correction
procedure:

Example: Arithmetical Error

Classrm(1) 3-680
GS 020
& 2/100
- Ar
6/4600 27-600
Corridor 2: 370
Foyer 1-290
Staff E775. (a) Amend waste with neat cancellation and
2/2/0650 ZEGOOo, correct figure below.

43-660 (6) Cancel quantity entirely with NIL in squaring

aaa rE, column and insert correct dimensions below
44-660 (or above if necessary).

GLOW ALE:
l2rum fibre hoard
4hbb pirboar, fixed
10 FO walls wtf
adtes! Ve. N.B. Compare this presentation with the alter-
native shown on page 55.
Mensuration 67
Example: Unwanted Item

Z 0 | kL/L 100 x £0Q)z7077 (fir) Here the Architect changed his mind. Cancel and
swe of rath NIL the dimensions and cancel the description as
well with a bold wavy line through it vertically.
Peg CL tre loding
This wavy line will later join up with the straight
ers. vertical ‘abstracting’ line (see later note, 3.11).

YL VAL/L Coor hooks

7yPe screwed
fo 5 Oe

Now go back and correct properly those errors you made!

3.9 Wants and Voids: The Golden Rules

You may have thought it unnecessary in the last excercise (page 59) to measure
the wall paint full height and then later on deduct some of it out again. Why
not take the net quantity straightaway and avoid the repetition? Why not
deduct for the door and window at the same time? Well, long experience has
given us two GOLDEN RULES OF MEASUREMENT which you MUST LEARN. You will
be surprised how often they crop up to guide us in practical measurement and
you will come to fully appreciate just how valuable they are to the avoidance
of errors.
Rule 7 Measure overall in the first instance and adjust later.
Rule 2 Never adjust until you have measured that for which the adjustment is required.
Recognising that these rules are most essential in the measurement of larger
or more complex work and may seem to involve unnecessary repetition in more
simple cases, you may depart from them at your discretion and at your own
peril; you may never ignore them.

‘Adjust’ means in most instances a deduction from something previously

measured. The deduction will generally follow the item which gives rise to
the adjustment, e.g. we do not deduct out the wall plaster and paint in the
window area until we have measured the window itself. Where however the
adjustment is in respect of a ‘bit missing’ — such as the inset corner of the
room in the last exercise caused in the floor tiling area — the deduction then
follows the overall measurement of the item. This is illustrated overleaf.

We can now complete the measurement of the finishings to the room (plan
on page 59):
62 Measurement |

Floor arr «
ceiling
tip stig Ss. VEY DIOL EYER

/00 /|$4 x 30 maz (Fi77)

—— std skirting.
3:60 ZS nit c3errrerrtarrd

3:00 sorre/ My,E74 bey 4

Jai over corcre/se
onto 4FrowelleaS VADER ETE

7D firrsfP.
FO. back SEG.
UAE Z 400 -.Z00 eee.

2/7 Va,Vo tloor-

Pa
tlie.
PE DUET

Ps
100 ~ 200 gir 7h.
Flaste]er or
concre ve covlizgs
aE
4. ALD

@® evrce/storr corr BD emer’ prasé

plas fered carling walls.
xO/4 = re

Door orro/ wirvdew

PLUG ape ae

Can you see why this last ‘adjustment of an adjust-

ment’ was necesssary? Think about it. (And the
100 DELI Csi answer to your next question is, Yes, it is worth
doing’ !)
£00
Flaster Llock wk.

/ G0 weal/s |
N.B. Measurement of the door and window

a
USBEL joinery would normally be done before the adjust-
ments shown here (per Golden Rule No. 2).

PALO

@ emi/s. on Jasr.
Mensuration 63
Measurement is a practical art and any procedure which appears to involve
more work must be fully justified if we are to adopt it. Why the Golden Rules
then? The answer is as follows.

Your client or employer is expecting you to be accurate and your quantities

correct. He will be justifiably annoyed if he finds a substantial error while
the building is being built which throws his financing or resource programme
out of gear. But he will be a lot less annoyed if the error is of the ‘too much’
type rather than if it is of the ‘too little’ type.

The problems arising from the former are almost certainly less than those
arising from the latter and the worst situation is where the client has to be
asked for more funds as a result. So the Golden Rules are intended to mini-
mise that risk; it is better to forget to make a deduction than an addition.

Adjustments are most frequently required in respect of WANTS or VOIDS:

want

void

A WANT is a gap or missing area or volume at the face or boundary of the

work.

A VOID is a gap, hole, missing area or volume within the boundaries of the
work, wholly detached from the face.

For example; a fireplace projection creates a WANT in the floor boarding; a

rooflight creates a VOID in the roof slab.

Rule The general rule of measurement is that:

A WANT is always deducted for (irrespective of its size).

A VOID may or may not be deducted for according to size; (the SMM clause
relevant to the work section must be studied in each case).
64 Measurement |

3.10 The Group Method of Measurement

What we have been illustrating in the last few pages is generally known as the
GROUP METHOD: (sometimes also called the London or Southern method
but its use is nowadays national).

The definition of the Group Method is:

MEASUREMENT OF ITEMS IN GROUPS ACCORDING TO LOCATION AND RELATED
DIMENSIONS, IRRESPECTIVE OF NATURE OF WORK OR TRADE

We anded-on the paint to the skirting board not because these operations
are done at the same time on site or because they are done by the same trades-
man; they are not. We anded them on because the two items (and the plaster
and its paint and the picture rail and its paint) are in the same (or related)
physical position on the site and therefore their dimensions are the same and
therefore it is convenient to take them together. They are indicated to us
by the designer on the same drawing: not to take them while we are examining
that particular detail would invite the error of forgetting one of them later on.

The main alternative is known as the TRADE BY TRADE (or Northern) method
which also is in fairly common use but is generally considered too risky for a
large project. In this method, all items in a particular trade are taken before
the next trade is considered, i.e. first all excavation work, then all the con-
crete work, all the brickwork, etc. This means scanning all the drawings for
the items you have decided should logically come next in your set sequence.
It does not give much opportunity for anding-on and so dimensions must be
repeated more (but descriptions repeated less) than in the Group Method.

The Group Method is almost universally taught to students as is the ‘work-in-

place’ approach. If you master these you can very easily adjust to any other
required system.

A few further procedural rules may be noted here.

(a) Use of Scale Rules

The 150 mm plastic scale rule with eight scales on its four edge faces is all
most measurers need for office work, besides their pen of course. It is used
principally for ruling bracket lines on the dim sheet and sometimes for rough
checks on dimensions on the drawings. It is no substitute for waste calculations
and its use for determining actual dimensions should be considered only as a
last resort.

(b) Abbreviations

You will have noticed some abbreviation used in the examples throughout
this book and this is, of course, normal practice. The rule is that in any par-
ticular project, the description of each item must be written out in full detail
the first time it occurs in the measurements, and whenever it repeats thereafter
it may be abbreviated. There is no national standard list of abbreviations
yet and practice varies from office to office, so the main criterion of an acceptable
abbreviation is that it must be readily understood by any other measurer (and,
of course, by the Examiner). If in doubt, write it out! |
Mensuration 65

The Group Method: (Adjustments Exercise)

Walls 150mm thick

Door openings 1.000x2.000 high
im Window Opening 2.500x1.350 high
5 \ Hy Ceiling height 2.900
° a
‘ 5:000 Lerner
ve 3:900 ©

°
<2)
ro)
PLAN (1:100) ro)

Specification of Finishes

Floor: 2mm PVC tiling on 30 mm (1 : 4) bed (on concrete slab).

Ceiling: 10 mm plaster and two coats emulsion paint (on concrete slab).
Walls: 10 mm plaster and three coats emulsion paint (on blockwork).
Skirting 120 x 18 mm softwood, rounded, plugged. Painted three coats
oils.
Picture Rail: 75x25 mm softwood, moulded, plugged. Painted three coats
oils.
N.B. Door and window frames finish flush with plaster face.
(Ignore finishes on other sides of walls.)

Measurement Sequence and Groups (finishes only: assume

structure already measured)

Floor tiling and bed, ceiling plaster and paint.

Wall plaster and paint (measured overall).
3. Skirting and paint, picture rail and paint, adjust wall paint (measured
overall).

Adjustment for door openings

4. Floor finish in opening.
5. Wall plaster and paint adjustment.
6. Fair joint plaster to frame.
7. Skirting and paint and wall paint deduction adjustment.

Adjustment for window openings

8. Wall plaster and paint adjustment.
9. Fair joint plaster to frame.
10. Picture rail and paint and wall paint deduction adjustment.
 66 Measurement |

3.11. Squaring and Billing Procedure

The overall sequence of events is this:

(i) Measurement (vii) Check totalling of abstract
(ii) Squaring, including checking wastes (viii) Draft bill
(iii) Check squaring (ix) Check draft bill
(iv) Abstract (x) Type bill
(v) Check abstract (xi) Check typing of bill.
(vi) Total abstract

Note that the only stage that is not checked is the measurement, and secondly,
that measurement does not include squaring. Whatever your particular office
arrangements, the squaring operation should be separated from the measure-
ment: the measurer has enough on his mind.

ABSTRACTING is the collecting together of all the item repeats throughout the
measurements that the Group Method requires. There are several short-cut
methods that offices adopt to avoid the time-consuming middle stage of the
formal abstract — such as ‘cut and shuffle’, direct billing, and computer sorting
- which are beyond the scope of this book. A simple abstracting system is
illustrated in Volume 2.

These are the methods that all measurers use whatever the size of the job,
whether on site or in the office, whether they are Partners or Assistants.

All you have to do now is to learn a few convenient arithmetical approaches

to building work and to become accustomed to the use of the Standard Method
of Measurement rules for each type of material.

N.B. For use of Imperial measurement units — see Appendix.

3.12 Geometric Forms

It is frequently required that the dimensions of building work in simple geo-

metric forms are entered in the measurements. The most commonly occurring
(apart from the rectangle) are the trapezium, the triangle and the various parts
of circles. It is expected that the measurer knows the formulae which are
given in mathematical terms in the Addendum to this Chapter. What you
must now learn is how to enter these in the measurement format so as to indicate
as far as is possible the shape that is being measured, thus making your work
understandable to anybody who needs to use it. Some examples are given
below and the exercises will require you to use some of the methods shown,
but remember also that it is always permissible (and indeed considered good
practice) for you to enter small sketches on your dim sheet with notes and
figures as required to explain what you are measuring and how.
Mensuration 67
Exercise Measure these quantities; the whole point being to choose the method of
entering your dimensions that will best reflect the differing nature of the examples.
(No descriptions are required in these exercises; just put the brackets and
reference letter to identify the answers.)

LENGTHS
a
ee
A. (Scale 1:20)

B. (Scale 1:5)

3:000
—_—

1-200
68 Measurement /

Geometric Forms: Examples

AREAS

32-000

4:700
8 O50

yy12-750
4-700
(Ate*a! overage G'S7Si
4:28
Area F

4:284

8:050
_-

2/1210
0-9/ Area @
Mensuration 69
Geometric Forms: Examples

AREAS
H. Scale 1:50

J. Ve

|
3:500

Exercise

You complete these two examples using similar

methods and remembering Golden Rule No. 1:

‘Radius 5-000
70 Measurement |

Geometric Forms: Examples

VOLUMES

Vol/urre M

Exercise

You complete these next examples:

Volunte kl

Volurte P
Mensuration 71

3.13 Trigonometry and Pythagoras

Trigonometry applications in measurement are normally only to find the

length of side of a triangle where the angle is known (or vice versa) and, in
many such cases, Pythagoras’ Theorem may equally provide the solution.
You choose the easiest way of course.

Exercise (a) What is the slope length of face of an embankment of 3.000 m horizontal
spread and 45° slope?

(6) What is the area of this triangle?

60° 60°
15:725 |

(c) What is the area of this parallelogram?

969%

Pee 7-000 ze
7a Measurement |

3.14 Gradients

When a gradient is specified as, for example, | in 8 or | : 8, it means that the

surface level rises or falls 1 in every 8 units.of length measured on the hori-
zontal. It signifies a ratio only, the unit of length does not need to be stated.

SURFACE

In measurement of earthwork, (for example, the area of top soil stripping on a

site) the gradients are rarely such as to make necessary any adjustment of the
area as indicated on the drawings.

Site plans are, of course, supposed to show the true ‘bird’s eye view’ and the
surveyors do adjust to the true horizontal where they consider it necessary to
do so. But on the majority of slightly sloping sites, site measurement is done by
tape laid on the surface without such adjustment of lengths being made and
it is these measurements that appear on the site plans.

Slope length calculation is therefore only necessary where the gradient is

significant (see below) and in cases of embankments and the like.

Gradient Percentage difference between slope

length and true horizontal length
Leas Dah
Pee) % (You do this one)
1ee25 0.08%
1 : 40 O03;
1: 80 0.01%

For measurement of road surfacing, adjustment to slope length would be

warranted at any gradient above (say) 1:10 but for normal drainage runs
no adjustment is made.

Low gradients do become significant in measurement however when we need

to calculate concrete slab thicknesses, roof screed thicknesses, depth of roof
firrings and the like where surface slopes of 1 : 80 or | : 60 are commonly
required for surface-water run-off. In such cases the designer may state the
minimum thickness and the surface gradient, leaving it to us to calculate the
average or maximum thickness.
Mensuration 73
Example Find the maximum and average thickness of concrete paving 10.000 m wide,
minimum 150 mm thick and surface sloping at 1 : 60:

NOTE
(in millimetres) 60) 10000 af ae
W367 fall ; Divide to find the fall
150 minimum )
: Add minimum to find maximum
317 maximum J
ot) ee:
1) 467 Add minimum again and
; divide by 2 to find average
234 average

Exercises (1) A roof is constructed of flat timber joists, tapering firrings on each joist,
boarding and roofing felt. The width of the roof is 7.350 m and the slope
isu SO!

Calculate the average depth of the firrings allowing for a minimum of

12 mm.

(2) Ona 100 m length of road, the road surface rises at 1 : 100 while the sewer
beneath falls at 1 : 150. If the sewer invert depth is 1.500 m at the begin-
ning, calculate what it is at the end of that length of road.

Sketch the longitudinal section here first.

74 Measurement |

3.15 Irregular Areas

It is sometimes necessary to calculate areas which have irregular boundary lines.

If these shapes represented fields on which we were considering building houses

and were drawn to a scale of say | : 2500, then clearly the area could only be
measured approximately and it would be a waste of time to apply complicated
formulae methods such as Simpson’s Rule. The accuracy of your measure-
ment method need not be any greater than that of the drawing to be measured.
If you had done a proper survey of the field and drawn it out to a larger scale
then the choice of measurement method would depend on your purpose.
Calculation of a purchase price at £10 per m? would require more care than
calculation of cost of grass seeding at 20 p per m2. At this stage we will con-
sider only the fairly rough scale-rule methods and study their accuracy.

Rule 7 Never assume that opposite boundaries are parallel or that angles are 90° unless
they are specifically indicated to be so.

Rule 2 Make as few scale-rule readings as are absolutely necessary because each reading
involves a degree of inaccuracy.

Rule 3 Avoid (wherever possible) scaling areas which are long and narrow or have tight
angles at the corners.
Mensuration 75

(a) Triangulation

Where boundary lines are straight, split up the area into the largest possible
triangles and then measure each triangle.

Example

Scale 1:500

(b) Compensation Lines

Where boundary lines are curved, they must be ‘straightened out’ by drawing a
compensation line (or “give and take line’) along each. This requires visual
judgement to equate the areas cut off with those enclosed. Then measure by
triangulation or any other appropriate formula.

Rule 4 Draw your compensation line starting at one extreme end of the curved boundary
line, using that point as a fulcrum for the edge of your ruler. Extend the next
boundary line to meet your compensation line at the other end if necessary.

Example

Scale 1:1250
76 Measurement |

Group Exercise Measure these areas carefully by compensation line methods. Compare the:
results obtained by your colleagues and calculate their percentage range of
accuracy in relation to your result.

Scale 1:500

Scale 1:2500
Mensuration 77.

3.16 Centre Lines and Corner Adjustments

Remember the Golden Rules of Measurement? Write out Rule 1 here:

nt Ree See Seles ee ee eae Cer eee ee! eens le 16 |e mh ole 167 shiene 6) 10:6; 0) ihe nelfe) Jel el eles) 6:10, 6 fs), .0 4) oe) e101 ee er eres ys

One aspect of ‘measuring overall’ is that we avoid ‘piecemeal’ measurement.

For example, when measuring the foundation trenches for a building, we do
not measure each length in turn but rather calculate the total length all round
the building in a waste and then measure that. Where one part may be different
in size from the general run that would require an adjustment to the overall
dimensions taken. In this way we reduce the risk of error of omission.

To do this totalling of lengths (and also for many other similar arithmetical
problems) we use the CENTRE LINE method and this is probably the most
important technique you have to learn in measurement this year.

The usual formula for area of a trapezium is half the sum of the parallel sides x
distance between them. Half the sum of the parallel sides is, of course, their
average length and thus the length of the line midway between them.

CENTRE LINE LENGTH 3-370

1-000

This approach to measurement of areas, viz:

Length of centre line

x width

is convenient for any shape which is bounded by parallel sides.

78
Measurement |
Exercise Using the centre-line length, measure the areas of these shapes.

Fig. 1

Jo/L
Fig. 2

Fig. 3 (Scale 1:1250)

Use a pair of dividers for this one, set

at an interval of 10m on the scale.

Area 2.

Area / Areo 3.
Mensuration 79
There were several possible methods of calculating the length of the centre-
line of fig. 2 on the last page, but with a view to developing a method which will
be applicable to more complex examples, look at it again in the way indicated
below.

Dimensions from
3]
Fig. 2 on Page 78

B 2:000
A -500
angle allowance -300
C/L 2:800

Z80 Z
0:30 Diep ie

The centre-line is LONGER than the total] of the INTERNAL dimensions A and B by
the amounts x and y, Le.

C/L = A+B+x-+y

but x+y = the width (W). Therefore

C/L = A+B+W

Similarly we can calculate the length of the centre line from the EXTERNAL
dimensions of the figure by DEDUCTING the width (W) from the total:
2.300
.800

3.100
—angle .300

C/L 2.800
80 Measurement |

Exercise Using the centre-line method, measure the following items.

Concrete Wall
400 mm thick

/3 S7AT177 Plywood
Ketrrforced
Debstar she/f.
ie A
Lh Ugg walls.
 Mensuration 87

If the difference between internal or external face

dimensions of a simple right-angled figure and its
centre-line is equal to the distance between its two
faces (W), then in a four-sided enclosed figure the
centre-line must be the internal or external girth
plus or minus FOUR TIMES the distance between
them (4W): 4-000
C/L = 2(A+B)44W S-O00O

2/ {7-000
18-000
si 320 | WEE)

Ct 16° 720

1@:7R
/:00
C32 Keirtorced corrcre/e
[1-000 HIGH]
grace Ain walls

320 mm concrete
wall painted internally
5:000

16°72 Wrovaht formwork

1-00 vertical sides ofwalls

be ood i: 2
ext girth 18-000
Fe 4/320 2: 560

iintgirth: 15-440

This centre line may be used to represent the

average of the two face girths thus permitting both
faces to be measured at once.
@) emulsion patct
/5-44
torr-face corrcrere
1:00
wal/s.
A further adjustment by 4W on the centre-line
girth (or an adjustment of 8W on the face girth)
gives the girth of the other face (see example).
 82 Measurement /

Exercise Fill in the dimensions for the platform foundation and wall items:

7-800

Waste calculation for C/L:

Trench fo recerve
4-700
fo urdatiorrs, starting
a EGL and nfe
1-50 deep.

600 wide Block wall L)

foundation 225th. oP
Plan of raised loading platform

Kerrrove excavote/d
materia! trom srf2.

+
101:000 Corre. grede A “Un
_w
Oxo i 3 °K 0
tourrdation ir Frerrch,
9? Conc Slab °° 150 — 300 +hckB.
200 th.

Section AA

Solita corre. Ps)

225 th.
wall 225 fick tn
wall gauged rmorter /:/°6
emulsion
painted
built fair arr!
ponte” oe svc.

Ground
level
100:000 Waste calculation for C/L:

@ errw/s. Pune Oo”

ass tarr lace block wk.

walls.
Conc Found
600 x 300
 83
Mensuration

The centre-line principle is still useful even though the item to be measured is

a Ea
not on the centre-line or at the face.

1124250" 112}
mania J

5:6G70
Brick External f
cavity wall face 10-300
wall Suet ons Say
= aay
10-300 2/ 18-970
. xX
.

on plan by Re
yg sue oe,
2:500 high 3/:-I4O

Less COCWET Ss.

“iz L25
50

4f 275 1-100

C/L 30-840

Section jC/L

30:84 Hal¢-brick (HZ ‘Sm

2:50 thick skins of
follow wos id
common bricks ard

gouged pwrovtarl 6
——}) xZ= rr?

In this case, the two skins of te hollow wall (which 4

are measurable separately) are positioned symmetri-
cally about the centre-line but are not on it.

Korn: SO wir wide

cavity befweern
IF THE TWO SKINS ARE THE SAME, THEN MEASUREMENT Diy chem Ui
BY THE CENTRE-LINE WILL GIVE THE TRUE ARITH- ;
walls Wi +4 ties
METICAL AVERAGE.
at 4) im?
 84 Measurement |

Where the two skins are not the same, however, each must be measured ON ITS
OWN CENTRE-LINE.

Taking plan area of 5.670x 10.300 external.

150) OO mii2s Outer skirr}

x ha ee ad ae
where x,=4/1/23

S$: G7O
Blockwork Brick /0- 300

2A SS 2 Fe

3/: 74 O
Z CSS Ccorvers:

Section 4/2 /4 | zz ASO

. 150 alu. ue CL 3/:490

3/49 HB (2-5) shin

Z:50 of follow walf
jing (& &.. ond G7.

he] Ge

facrer skier:
Plan Detail at Corner ——<——
where Xe Fs
SO
z /Iso 75
Z
’ L372
If x and y are the distances in each direction between pat Fe
the outer and inner faces respectively and the skin Pi uetro ge
centre-lines, then for the four-sided plan of known te
external dimensions A and B: as above’ 3/940
Less COTVIETS :

C/L outer skin = 2(A-+B)—4/2/x, 4/2/23 1-900

C/L inner skin = 2(A +B)—4/2/x, cf 30 040

and for known internal dimensions A and B:

ie : 30.04 Sold conc. blockwk.

t in = 2(A+B)+4
ea ee aos az S0 skin of follow
C/L inner skin = 2(A+B)+4/2/y,
wall /SOmnrn tick
ea g 7 SiS ee
 Mensuration
85
A simple way to express this formula (for the en-
closing sides of a regular plan) is:
(oC
dks a
Wastes:
225 MM WALL

THE DIFFERENCE IN LENGTH BETWEEN THE LINE OF

KNOWN DIMENSIONS AND ANY OTHER REQUIRED LINE
(RUNNING PARALLEL TO IT) IS TWICE THE DISTANCE
BETWEEN THEM FOR EACH CORNER.

CAVITY

Exercise

Calculate (in wastes only) the centre-line lengths of

each of the items noted in the next column for this
example: 112 MM WALL

387
Plan of H
walls =

10:250

TRENCH
ro)
ro
Use
i

ree ot
eacolly

EXTERNAL SOIL REINSTATEMENT

Section AA

Conc Found

800
86 Measurement /

A common problem arising in the application of the centre-line principle is

that of the irregularly shaped building:

Example Plan of
walls

Look at angle P and Q in more detail:

Wall PQ, could be moved to position Q,R and wall Q,R to position PQ,
without affecting the total length, i.e. 2 external plus | internal angle are equiva-
lent to one external angle alone.

ONE INTERNAL ANGLE COMPENSATES FOR ONE EXTERNAL ANGLE as far as wall
length is concerned.
Mensuration 87

This rule of compensating angles may be applied whatever the shape of the
building provided that the angles are all right angles.

Thus the
coosfy is precisely
“
length of the same as
these < the length <
walls: of these:

ee ne

B _| , B |
Plan 1 Plan 2

If A and B are external dimensions of, say, 15.000 and 10.000 m respectively
and the walls are 225 mm thick, then the centre-line of Plan 1 is:

15.000
10.000

2/ 25.000

50.000
—4/225 900

C/L 49.100

Exercise You find the centre-line of these walls. Look for the easiest way of doing it
and remember that no mental arithmetic is allowed.

WASTE:
5:000
a

-200
thick
10:000

4:000
2:000
13:000 3:000
88
Measurement |

However the shape shown below is different.

Plan 3

The angles P and Q here are known as RE-ENTRANT ANGLES and do affect the
total length.

|2
225

Zi P Qa

If wall PQ is moved into the position RS it will obviously fill the gap precisely
but leaving two lengths D (the depth of the inset) not accounted for. Note,
however, that the overall number of corners to be adjusted for in the centre-
line calculation remains at 4 because angle P compensates angle R and Q
compensates S. Hence, taking external dimensions of 15.000 10.000 m again
and if the inset D is 3.000 m:
10.000
15.000

2/ 25.000

50.000
Inset: 2/3.000 6.000

56.000
41295 7900

C/L 55.100
Mensuration 89

If you are in doubt about how many corners to allow for in centre-line calcu-
lations, try this simple test:

Count the number of external angles and the number of internal angles. The
difference between these two figures is the number of corners to be adjusted
for.

External angles (marked x): 11

Internal angles (marked 0): i

Number requiring adjustment 4

Plan 4

With an enclosed area the answer will always be 4. But if the area is not fully
enclosed then this check is essential:

External angles:
Internal angles:

Number requiring adjustment

|-lau

In this example you would total up the lengths on

the external face and deduct for one corner only
to get the centre-line: (or total the internal faces
and add for one corner to give the same result).
90 Measurement |

Exercise

Wastes:
Uy 1:350
BEAM:

Existing Extension
wall

PARAPET WALL:

Parapet wall
150 th.
|
=|.
250m]
2250)
2360...
5-400
piks

Roof plan of new extension

Conc parapet
wall 150 th. PROJECTION:

(Plan dimensions taken

to external face of
parapet wall)

|Plan level

900
Drain channel
100 wide DRAIN CHANNEL:

Calculate (in wastes only) the centre lines of the

items listed in the next column (do not attemp t to
measure items fully as yet).
Mensuration 91

3.17 Interpolation of Levels

The majority of component parts of the structure of buildings are designed

on horizontal and vertical grid lines, i.e. generally the bottoms of foundation
trenches and floor slabs are required to be horizontal and walls are required
to be vertical. But the original surface of the site is rarely truly horizontal
and so the depth of excavation varies from point to point. Similarly sloping
surfaces are involved at the bottom of drainage trenches, for ramps and external
paving work, for the face of tapering retaining walls and the like. The sectional
shape of such items is therefore commonly trapezoidal.

SAN”
SY Ve
IN
aa
LES, WRSKSRSZSRSZ!.WAWYEALY,
GG
Longitudinal section through foundation trench

600
Cross-section of
concrete retaining wall

Overall measurement of quantities of such work is straight-forward using the

average of the varying depth or width. The complication comes in, however,
where the rules of measurement for the particular item require the breaking
down of the overall quantity into the quantity for each of two or more dimen-
sional classifications, such as the depth stages of excavation work.

In surface excavation work, the rules require that excavation not exceeding
300 mm deep shall be separated from excavation over 300 mm deep because
the economics of shallow and deeper excavations are different and different
rates will apply to these items. Similarly, because of the varying labour content,
concrete work not exceeding 300 mm thick is generally separated from concrete
work over 300 mm thick, i.e. we must calculate precisely where on the design
the 300 mm division line will fall and then measure on either side of that division
line. In trenching work and the like, the division is set at 1.500 m depth because
of the extra cost of getting the earth out from lower levels: you must then
identify precisely at what point along the line of the trench the depth is 1.500 m.
22 Measurement /

Trench section

ie 20-000 bal

At what point is the depth exactly 1.500m (assuming regular fall of ground
level)? Obviously at half-way along -—by simple proportion. But this next
case is not so obvious.

- |

es 20-000 fault |

To find the distance ‘a’ along the trench at which the depth is 1.500 m, we have
to use a formula based on SIMILAR TRIANGLES.

The sides of the two triangles shown below are respectively proportionate to
each other, i.e. a is to A as b is to B:

>|8 o
|

a al

If the large triangle were the cross-section of a SURFACE EXCAVATION of overall

plan-length A and maximum depth B, we would be required to calculate
length a to the depth point b of 300 mm and we would substitute the figures
in the formula:

a=Ax?
Mensuration 93
Example 1 Surface excavation section

Find distance ‘a’ from shallow end to point at which depth is 300 mm.

1:10 0 : 300
distance a == 9.750
9. x 1100
——~ = 2.659
2, m

9-750

Example 2 Returning to the trench example, it is necessary here to first identify the triangle
to which the formula may be applied. Divide the trapezium into a rectangle
and a triangle and establish the relevant dimensions:

Trench excavation; longitudinal section

Find distance ‘a’ from shallow end to point at which depth is 1.500 m.

0.810
— 20.000 x- Ep = 13.96 lon

To measure this trench we would need to know the length and average depth
of each portion:

Portion n/e 1.500m deep: length 13.966 average depth: 0.690

1.500
4/ 2.190
1.095

Portion over 1.500m deep: length 20.000 average depth: 1.500

— 13.966 1.850
6.034 $/ 3.350
1.675
94 Measurement /

Exercise 17 Trench excavation; longitudinal section

Find lengths and average depths of portions not exceeding 1.500 m and over
1.500 m deep.

265

53-500 nd

Exercise 2 Concrete retaining wall; cross-section

Find heights and average thicknesses of portions not exceeding 300 mm and
over 300 mm thick.
Mensuration 95

Spot Levels and Contour Lines

The problem of interpolation of levels is a common one in surveying as well

as in measurement and you will probably be studying it in the surveying course.
The only difference is that in surveying you may be calculating in terms of
OD levels. One example here will suffice:

Exercises Plot the 100.000 contour line from the 50m OD level grid shown:

97-650 101-280
Re AAR ae IEEE Grid1

98-315 101:876
ets Ween Meee i Grid 2

101-280 _ 101:876

100-000.

97-650 98-315

Section on Grid 1 Section on Grid 2

x£100.000—97.650) LEC
1 = 50.000 *(101.280--97.650)
2.350
pee
=3,630 >22202™

You complete it and plot the line on to the level grid:

ag =
96 Measurement |

3.18 More Difficult Mensuration

Example The sketch below shows a swimming pool. The dimensions shown are internal
in all cases and the minimum water depth (i.e. at shallowest point) is 300 mm.
Find the face area of tiling to the walls below the water line and to the bottom.

Give the answer separately for the tiling which is

level

sloping not exceeding 15° from horizontal

sloping over 15° from horizontal

vertical

curved

Square the dimensions and give the total of each item in whole unit (m2) terms.
Detailed descriptions are not required as long as each category is clearly
identified.

:
Plan (1:100) Diving pool
2-500 radius
level bottom

‘ue (Line
of change of slope)

5:000

4+-— a a ce a a a a ee ert) Eg gee

°
ro)
C
4

°
Oo
nd
ioe)

}- Water depth Min. 300

2500 |
2-500 ie 5-000 | 2500 2.500
'Mensuration 97

Mensuration Example (cont.)

SWIMMING Bottom

POOL TILIKALG
Tilitrg sloping
Depth s frorz
nle 15° from
shallow erd :
hori zorrtal

of 3: 500 line:
errr 5 OO $:00 Slope lertgths ’
shpe 3-500 SS 7 S75Ss:
/ 3-500% 0-700"
=3:570

at 5:00 line:
V /. 5007+ 0-300
/- 000
1°*S00 = /-530
Ss - 300
/0:-06
1,300 oes) Width : 4:000

eH PIE 5-000
at 10-000 hie (7
rrrax,) : 10 000
/: 300

s-O0900
2s 2-000

3:300

Tiling sloping
Botfom slope angles :
over /5 ° Som
Z
horizontal :
(-
say angle trom for’

Slope /in F S/ope feng fh:

tan @=4+=0-2
V 54:000 *+2:000*
re) “ apprex Yen
=5°385

Slope lin 25
/5-00 Width: 5000

:
4°39 2/2 /z .s00 10:000
tan O= x, = OF
15-000
re)cs, SIBLE Wes xs
98 Measurement |

Mensuration Example (cont.)

SWIMMING Tiheng , vertical arid

POSCLAIEIRG curved te 2500
(co OB ) tadius.

Divirrg peel
boffor7.

z/ 2:50
Tiina, leve/.

Sides

5:00 Tihing, vertical.

0:°30\|/'50
300

1-300

1-500 bi: GOO

2/ 5:00 3'50° average O- 300
DegOWe OO an tee

4] |2-50
TCOWS CO

2/ 2:50
Vike Ve, Grog.

/- 300
a S500

2/ 5-00 )4-600
2:30|23:-00 overage 2-300

Width ofall 15-000

~Aiving poof 4:000

10 000
Mensuration 99

Mensuration Exercises: (see drawings which follow)

() Drawing A shows a proposed new athletics arena and running track. Using
dimension paper, calculate:

(a) The area of asphalt surfacing.

(b) The length of kerbs measured on their centre-lines and showing each
different radius separately.
(Ends and angles, etc. not to be measured.)

Square the dimensions and give the total of each item in whole unit (m? or m)
terms. Detailed descriptions are not required as long as each category
is clearly identified. Fine arithmetical computations for the intersections at
x and y are not necessary and judicious use of scale rule and estimation at
these points will suffice.

(2) Drawing B shows a concrete retaining wall to two sides of a yard. Using
dimension paper format, calculate:

(a) Total volume of concrete in the wall.

(6) Surface area of the wall, differentiating between exposed and concealed
surfaces in each of the following categories: (N.B. ignore end faces abutting
main building walls);
Vertical;
Horizontal underside;
"Horizontal upper surfaces;
Sloping not exceeding 15° from horizontal;
Whichever
is appropriate
ROP )
Sloping over 15° from horizontal. i ISS

Square the dimensions and give the total of each item in whole unit (m? or m?)
terms.
 UONesNsUuE9$19J9Xq
\y 100
Buruuny
yoe1 (00G-1)
— Buimeig
V

000-001

eS)
000-001

yeudsyyes)

SSeI5 sease

yeyudsy dn-Buiwueng
eae

000:0¢
II 49e4} SUOISUBWIP
UMOY
0} S J@UU! 998)
jo Sqidy SSP1S)

JE|NDIII-IWAS squey
puae S8AINO
OSL WW Buryog
@y3>
Measurement

OOE
X OO! 2U0d
/
Mensuration
107
Mensuration Exercise

Kitchen Yard Retaining Wall — Drawing B

:
Final ground level 103-000 Kitchen A
block 7

concrete | F=
retaining | |Timber open steps
wall

7:000
paving level
Plan at wall faces
O 0
Not to scale

Section BB Yard and bin area

(Typical)

101-000 :
Paving

ro)
ro)
o

Se

=ro) °
g | 24 | es
| Ble
moet:

L 3-000 |
Kitchen
Detail of wall wall
Top of retaining wall

Section AA
(Steps not shown)
 702 Measurement |

Addendum: Formulae for Regular Geometric Forms

Perimeter
Rectangle 2(1-+b)

Parallelogram 2(/+5)

0.5h (a+b) a+b+c+d

0.5bh a+b+ce
0.5ab Sin C
0.5ac Sin B
0.5bc Sin A
/s(s—a)(s—b)(s—c)
Note s=0.5(a+b+c)

Tor
aD?
4

0.5r26 (Radians) arc length

0.5rl | = r6 (Radians)
ar?6
“360 (Degrees)

0.5r?(6—Sin 6) arc length

Note 6 in Radians = r@(Radians)

Ellipse
Mensuration 103

Addendum (cont.)

Cuboid 2(ab +be-+-ac) abc

Cc
a

A LV b
a
e
Frustrum of Note h
a Pyramid h = height of frustrum 3 (A+B + VAB)
A = area of base
B = area of top

Wedge Area ABC’D’= } Area ABCC’

x DC
Area ABCD x Cos 4
Area ABCD =
Ae, DBO D:
Cos 6

Cylinder 22rh+2ar?

arl—+-zr? 4zr*h
Note Total surface area

Frustrum of zr? +-2R?+2(R+r)

ad(R?+Rr+r?)
a Cone Note: Total surface area
R = Radius of base
r = radius of top

Segment
of Sphere
 4.
Communications in the Building Industry

Extract from TEC Syllabus Measurement II:

General Objective: Specific Objective:

Identifies modes of 1. Identifies the purpose, source, users, modes

communication of product of transmission, formats, degree of accuracy
data and design or depth of detail of the following:
information
a. Product data sheets, catalogues and
specifications
b. British Standard Specifications and
Codes of Practice
c. Detail design drawings, production
drawings, contract drawings
d. Specifications and schedules of
rates for tendering
e. Bills of Quantities
2. Identifies the documentation required at
tendering, formal contract and production
stages and their inter-relationship.
3. Explains the common uses of schedules in
the various modes of communication.

COMMUNICATIONS IN THE BUILDING INDUSTRY

4.1 Introduction

We started Chapter 1 by identifying measurement as a link between design

and cost with two aspects — mensuration and communication. Measurement,
however, is not the only basis of communication in our industry and we must
now look at the wider scene.

Since the Industrial Revolution, the Building Industry has evolved in four
main sectors:
(i) The designers (primarily Architects, Engineers and Quantity Surveyors);

(ii) The ‘general’ contractors;

(iii) The specialist sub-contractors;
(iv) The material and component producers and merchants.

These four sectors are not always fully distinct from each other; for example,
some contracting companies offer package deal ‘design and construct’ services,
but the four sectors may nevertheless be taken as the predominant pattern
in the U.K.
Communications in the Building Industry
705
(N.B. The small jobbing firms and one-man businesses who cannot be called
“general contractors’ in the true sense are not to be ignored of course as they
form a large part of the industry as a whole, but they are not relevant to our
studies here.)

The four sectors then must co-operate on an ad hoc basis with a sufficient
degree of mutual understanding to create between them a building
which
satisfies the client’s and the community’s requirements as to its utility,
its
appearance and its costs. A building is a product which frequently involves
many varied materials assembled with a high degree of technical skill
and to
unique designs and which, from inception to completion, can take anything
from
one to ten years, or even longer. It is not really surprising that the
system
sometimes (too often) breaks down and delays and over-expenditures result.
Where such break-down does occur, it may in most cases be attributed to
a
break-down of communications: the information flow got behind schedule,
the instructions were misunderstood, or the full implications of a contractual
term were not appreciated or allowed for in the price quoted. The importance
of accurate effective communication at all Stages between all parties cannot
be over-emphasised.

The subject matter of the communications we are concerned with in this

syllabus is (a) product data and (5) design information. Other areas of com-
munications — management, finance, etc. will be considered later in the course.
A note on civil engineering work is given at the end of this Chapter (4.9).

4.2 Product Data

‘Product’ here means:

(a) Materials (i.e. natural or manufactured or processed basic ingredients);
(5) Components (i.e. manufactured assemblies of materials sold as units for
specific purposes);
(c) Specialist services on site (e.g. suspended ceiling systems, communication
systems, art work).

The producer/manufacturer/specialist wants to sell his product. The Architect

must be able to choose the one most suitable from the range of alternatives
available. The Quantity Surveyor must have details of the chosen product
for cost control and measurement purposes and the Contractor similarly for
tendering, for purchasing, and finally for installation. The Client may also
require information on it for maintenance purposes. All these users want
information but not necessarily all in the same form or depth of detail; in fact the
form of the information changes as it passes along the line of communication.
106 Measurement |

Product Data — Lines and Modes of Communication

PRODUCER/MANUFACTURER/SPECIALIST/MERCHANT
Via: Representatives or Agents
With data in form of technical illustrated literature/data sheets/specifications/catalogues/
price lists/quotations.

ARCHITECT
With data in form of specification notes referenced to technical literature, etc.

SPECIALISTS TENDERING FOR

NOMINATED SUB-CONTRACTS

QUANTITY SURVEYOR
With tender documentation in form of Bills of Quantities (‘Preambles’ and item descriptions)
or Specifications.

CONTRACTORS TENDERING FOR MAIN CONTRACT (ESTIMATING DEPT.)

4 Enquiries with data in form of BQ section extracts or specially prepared quantity schedules
and specifications.

SPECIALISTS TENDERING FOR

DIRECT SUB-CONTRACTS

PRODUCER/MANUFACTURER/MERCHANT
With data in form of technical literature, etc. and quotations.
Communications in the Building Industry
107
The producer/manufacturer/specialist/merchant first assists the Architect (and
others of the Design Team) with data on his product so that a design incor-
porating that product may be evolved. Having decided on the product, the
Architect specifies it by way of notes to the QS, and the QS incorporates it
into the Bill of Quantities which is duly despatched to the tendering contractors.
The Contractor will very probably then need to have his own copies of the
original data to enable him to estimate the costs of handling and fixing the
product in the work or of programming the work of the specialist firm.

Appended to this Chapter is an example (by kind permission of ICD) of a product

data sheet for a material commonly required in modern construction. This
example is typical in that it follows the pattern of presentation of data which
is now becoming virtually standardised.

Note these points in the ICI example:

(a) A4 paper format punched for standard filing systems.

(6) Classification reference box (top right-hand corner) with edition date.
(c) Clear main and sub-headings sectionalising all the information into
small, easily distinguishable sections.
(d) Use of illustrations.

Many thousand of such data sheets are published every year — for new products
and up-dating previous editions and, of course, they have the dual functions
of advertising the product and of assisting the users by providing a clear, con-
cise and accurate summary of the essential information for their various purposes.
The Architect is interested in the STANDARDS, PROPERTIES and TYPICAL PHYSICAL
CHARACTERISTICS information and the typical design details shown, while the
Contractor studies the AVAILABILITY and INSTALLATION details to assess the labour
involved in laying it. Although this data sheet format is being increasingly
adopted, some products or ranges of products need full books or catalogues
to provide adequate coverage and for others the advertising or brief outline
details are presented separately from the more technical information and
usage instructions.

The problems that such quantities of technical data pose in classification and
retrieval are formidable. CLASSIFICATION is the initial sorting of data into
an organised and logical shelf sequence by way of a code on each piece showing
its correct position on the shelf: RETRIEVAL is finding on the shelf any in-
dividual piece of information or alternatively finding all the information available
on a certain topic. Your College Librarian will explain the procedure in more
detail. It is sufficient here for you to note the CI/SfB code in the classification
box; this is a coding system tailored to the special needs of classification and
retrieval of construction publications. It is probable that your college library
will have a general arrangement of books under the UDC classification system
and a special section for product data using the CI/SfB classification system.
Make sure you find out how to use these two systems properly, they will be
invaluable to your studies. You will also find summarised product data in
the NBA and Building Commodity File and the annually published review
entitled Specification and in the publications of the relevant trade organisations
such as the Cement and Concrete Association.
 708 Measurement /

Question Define the following terms (with reference to the Building Industry):
(a) Producer
(6) Manufacturer
(c) Merchant
(d) Specialist

4.3 BSS’s and BSCoP’s

The British Standards Institution has published around 6000 British Standard
Specifications and British Standard Codes of Practice of which about 1000
relate to the Construction Industry. The BSS’s cover materials and components
as regards minimum standards of quality, sizing, performance, methods of
testing, etc. while the BSCoP’s cover workmanship and procedures in selected
important aspects of construction work.
The intention of the BSI is to improve standards generally and to promote
standardisation of sizing, etc. but what concerns us here is the use of BSS’s
and BSCoP’s to assist communication. There are many common materials
the Architect may wish to specify for his building which are made by several
competing producers or are available from various sources; concrete blocks
for instance. The Architect could select a particular producer and specify the
blocks to be ‘Messrs XYZ type 3’, but if, unknown to him, the tendering con-
tractor can obtain just as good a block from Messrs ABC more cheaply then
the strict specification has cost the Client money rather than protecting his
best interests as it was intended to do. The Architect could alternatively com-
pose a fully detailed specification of the blocks he requires and leave the con-
tractor to search the market for a product which matches up to these require-
ments, but obviously the whole procedure is simplified and made much more
reliable by the specification:
Concrete blocks shall be in accordance with BS 2028 (1968) type A
and the product data sheets which claim:
Our blocks are guaranteed to be in accordance with BS 2028 (1968) type A.
Thus the BSS’s and BSCoP’s are a very significant aid to efficient and reliable
communication between Architect and Contractor and are incorporated by
the QS into the Bill of Quantities to this end. A word of warning on the use
of BS’s is required however: many of them give ranges of types or sizes of the
product concerned and it is essential that the specifier checks the BSS he is
intending to use to ensure that he is leaving no doubt as to what is required.

Task 7 (a) List (below) all the possible variants that are available in the type and
quality of clay bricks according to their BSS.

(6) Turn back to Task 2 of Chapter 1 (page 7) and see if you can improve
your description of a brick by using a BSS reference.
. Communications in the Building Industry 709

4.4 Drawings

We have already noted in Chapter 1 how a design for a building evolves from
the outline proposals for possible alternative shapes and arrangements to
Scheme Design where the preferred arrangements are re-drawn to 1 : 100
scale plans and elevations with sketched details for final approvals. Thereafter
the Architect will be working on three different sets of drawings of the building
which are each for different purposes although many (probably the majority)
of the drawings in the sets are the same:

(a) DETAIL DESIGN DRAWINGS (1 : 100, 1 : 20 and 1 : 5 scales) are the set intended
primarily for the QS to use for the production of the Bill of Quantities which
is going on as these drawings become available to him. Some details of the
design are still being worked out and solutions to problems arising from the
specialist areas of work are being sought. As a result, numerous minor re-
visions are necessitated to drawings already issued to the QS. These revised
versions should all be clearly marked (‘Drawing 93 Rev. 2’, for instance) and
the date and extent of the revision noted so that the QS can amend his measure-
ments accordingly if need be. These drawings are supplemented by notes
and sketches often produced in answer to a request from the QS for further
information.

(6) CONTRACT DRAWINGS are the set on which the Bill of Quantities is finally
based, i.e. only the latest revisions but including explanatory sketches if these
have not yet been incorporated into revisions. There should be no dis-
crepancy between the work shown on this set of drawings and that described
in the BQ because both are part of the legal relationship finally entered into
between Client and Contractor. The QS will generally schedule in an appendix
to the BQ the final list of the drawings that are to become the CONTRACT SET.

(c) PRODUCTION DRAWINGS (1 : 50, 1 : 20, 1 : 5 scales) are the set for use on
site by the Contractor. They show not only wHaT and HOW and HOW MANY
(which is what the QS needed to know) but also WHERE — the precise SETTING
OUT instructions for positioning on the site. They also give some other infor-
mation the QS did not need, e.g. the colour of the paintwork. This set may
differ in detail from the Contract set as improvements and amendments are
made as the work progresses and each such change must be covered by a written
Architect’s Instruction (AI) so that the QS’s can identify and negotiate the
financial affect of the variation. Because of these possible differences it is
not advisable for the Contractor to use the Bill of Quantities as a basis for
calculating material requirements and the like. He must re-measure from
the Production set.

It is thus essential in measurement to know your precise purpose and to ensure

that the drawing you are working on is the correct version for that purpose.
The distinct sets of drawings explained above are only relevant however to
fairly substantial building work. It is important always to remember the
jobbing sector of our industry by which most minor domestic extension and
alteration work is carried out on the basis of one or two drawings only.
770 Measurement /

4.5 Pre-contract Communication of Design Information

The Architect has the responsibility for deciding in what form the design
information is to be communicated to the Contractor. He has the choice of
three basic systems:
Drawings alone
Drawings with separate ‘Specification’
Bill of Quantities

Before examining the content of the latter two systems, we must note the nature
of the information involved. The Architect must decide and the Contractor
needs to know:

(a) The materials to be used — their types, qualities and any particular require-
ments as to their handling, usage and testing.
(6) The workmanship - the standard of quality of the finished product,
accuracy in sizing and positioning, strength and stability.
(c) The scope or quantity of the required construction work.
(dq) The arrangement (layout, positioning) of the required work.

(e) The conditions under which the work is to be performed:

— contractual conditions relating to time available, making good of defects,
periods and amounts of payments. etc.
— physical conditions, e.g. restrictions on the use of the site and of certain
plant, problems of access, season of the year, etc.

The Architect must not tell the Contractor how to organise and manage the
job — that is where the Contractor’s own expertise comes in — but the Con-
tractor must be given enough information to permit him to calculate its labour,
material, plant and management requirements. Communication of design
information is required:

(a) To permit accurate, uniformly based tendering:

Sufficient information is required by Contractor at tender stage to allow
realistic and accurate pricing and preliminary programming within the
tender period allowed.
(6) To provide a sound basis for contractual relationships:
Following successful tendering, a contract is entered into which must
detail the quality, quantity, arrangement and conditions of the work to
be done.
(c) To facilitate construction operation on site:
Design information geared to site operations to assist in production
efficiency and control of quality.
(d) To provide for cost adjustment in respect of minor design changes during
construction period.
(e) To facilitate calculation of payments on account and of final settlement.
Communications in the Building Industry 177
Thus the PRE-CONTRACT communication between them establishes the basis on
which the POST-CONTRACT work will be carried out and its extent. The post-
contract communication of design information is only to further clarify detailing
for production purposes and to cover variations required.

Design Information — Lines and Modes of Communication

PRE-CONTRACT POST-CONTRACT
CLIENT CLIENT

Brief
Written or verbal
Design approvals instructions

ARCHITECT ARCHITECT

Detail design drawings

Cost
Spec. notes
Answers to queries Architect's
Instructions

Tender Minutes
drawings QUANTITY Nominations
SURVEYOR Production
drawings

Bill of Quantities
with
copies
QS
COW
and
to
CONTRACTOR CONTRACTOR

SUB-CONTRACTORS Sitework
(Nominated and Direct) production
drawings
Programming
directives

SITE MANAGER «<¢———-» SITE MANAGER

Drawings
Sketches
Schedules
Site Orders

CHARGEHAND GANGER/CHARGEHAND

Verbal
instructions
Site Orders

OPERATIVE OPERATIVE

Question What is the event that separates the PRE-CONTRACT period from the Post-
CONTRACT period in the story of a building project? What alternative names
could you give these two periods?
112 Measurement |

4.6 ‘Specification’ or ‘Measurement’ of Building Work?

In the context of work (as opposed to materials and components) the word
‘specification’ takes on a special meaning. A Specification may be used as the
basic work description for tendering purposes instead of the Bill of Quantities
and, in small projects, commonly is. This arises because, in small building
projects, it is generally considered not worthwhile employing a Quantity
Surveyor and therefore the responsibility for communications is taken by the
Architect alone. As Architects are not trained to measure work (in the BQ
sense), they must rely on description and drawings together to convey their
requirements.

The main alternative modes of pre-contract communication (apart from

drawings alone in the case of minor jobbing work) are therefore as follows:

(a) The Specification and Drawings

Comprising: Preliminaries and Conditions of Contract

Description of Materials and Workmanship
Description of scope of work-operations
Schedule of Rates
Detailed design drawings (‘Contract’ set)

(b) The Bill of Quantities

Comprising: Preliminaries and Conditions of Contract

Description of Materials and Workmanship
Quantities
Outline drawings (plans and elevations | : 100) and other
selected details

Both these modes are supplemented at contract stage by the formal printed
Contract Articles and Conditions (which are signed by both the Contractor
and the Employer), and at construction stage by production drawings, Architect's
Instructions, etc.

The main distinction between the two modes is that the brief written descrip-
tions of the scope of work-operations in the ‘Spec’ is replaced on the BQ by
the fully detailed quantities section. While the BQ is a complete document
in that it relies on only a few accompanying drawings, the Spec is dependent upon
the full set of drawings which accompany it to show the extent of the work
required. The Spec is supplementary only to the drawings and has no provision
for pricing which must be done on separate paper.
Communications in the Building Industry
N73
The other sections of these documents, while probably varying in presentation,
are similar in content:

The Preliminaries and Conditions of Contract

The content of this section is covered by the rules of measurement and is in-
tended primarily to establish the context of the quantities sections which follow
on. Most ‘prelim’ items are not quantifyable, i.e. one cannot logically put a
normal unit of measurement after them (except the word ‘item’). But many are
nevertheless significant cost factors and the tendering contractor may price
whichever items he wishes with lump sums. The section generally comprises
the following:

Identification of the Client, Architect, Engineer and Qs.

General descriptions of the site and of the work to be done.

A schedule of the clause headings of the appropriate standard form of con-

tract to be used with such insertions and amendments as are necessary.

Specific procedural requirements and restrictions to be imposed on the

Contractor.

Temporary work required by the design or under relevant legislation (hut-

ting, hoardings, lighting, etc.).
6

Sundry non-quantifyable items such as drying-out the building, removing

rubbish, provision of samples.

Provision for ‘contingencies’ and daywork schedule.

The Description of Materials and Workmanship

This section, commonly known as the ‘Preambles’, lays down the types of
materials and standards of workmanship required. The items are for reference
only and are not usually priceable.

As the Spec contains no provision for detailed pricing of work items, it is

usually necessary to accompany it with a SCHEDULE OF RATES which sets out the
descriptions of the main items of the work (in the same manner in which they
appear in a BQ but without the quantity column). In it the tendering con-
tractor should insert the rates appropriate for use in valuing variations (if any)
during the construction period.

See the Addendum to this Chapter for sample pages of BQ’s (Quantities sections)
and of a Spec for comparison.
114 Measurement /

Choice of Mode

(a) SPECIFICATIONS

Easier and quicker to prepare documents but leaves measurement of quantities

to the Contractor at the tendering stage.

Advantages: Lower cost of consultancy

Rapid start on site

Disadvantages: Higher risk of errors in tendering, leading to:

Contract administration problems;
Increased Contractor’s overheads in QS staff and
risk factors;
No ready means of comparison of tendered rates on
Schedule of Rates;
No ready means of payment calculation.

Limitation of Usage: Generally only adopted for minor works of alteration

or repair or simple structures up to about £15,000 in
cost — generally housing but including small housing
estate work comprising repetitive house types.

(6) BILLS OF QUANTITIES

Requires average 6° to 8 weeks to prepare.

Advantages: Strictly uniform basis of tendering, providing for

ready comparison and choice of contractor;
Comparatively short tender period even for major
projects;
Facilitates contract administration and cost control by
both parties;
Minimises contractor’s overheads and risks.
Facilitates payment on account, cost adjustments and
final settlement;
Provides finely detailed statement of work to be done,
reducing contractual disputes.

Disadvantages: Methods of measurement usually adopted do not

convey to contractor all aspects of design information
that he would like to know for management and
programming purposes: there has to be come com-
promise between the needs of the Design and Con-
struction teams.

Limitation of Usage: Suitable for all projects (new work and repairs) unless
it is desired to allow for the Contractor’s own design
ideas such as in package deal contracts. In such cases
modified forms of documentation are necessary.
Communications in the Building Industry
115

Task 2 The words ‘specify’ and ‘Specification’ (both with and without a capital ‘s’) keep
cropping up in different contexts. To sort these out in your own mind, answer
the following questions with a simple sentence each in the spaces following:

(a) The ICI Product Data Sheet appended to this Chapter gives information under
these sub-headings: Standards, Availability, Properties, Typical Physical
Characteristics, Installation. Which of these sections can be said to
be a specification of the product and which are merely general information or
recommendations?

(6) If the Manufacturer cannot say how the product must be used on a particular
project, who can? How does he do so and to whom?

(c) A Bill of Quantities may be regarded as a quantified specification. What does

this mean? What part of the BQ primarily fulfils the specification role?

(@) A Specification is an alternative to a BQ for obtaining tenders for building

work. Who does the measurement in this case?

(e) What is meant by the phrase ‘Specific Objective’?

116 Measurement /

4.7 Bill of Quantity Formats

The Quantities section of the BQ may be presented in various formats at the

discretion of the QS. The total content is the same of course, it is only the order
of items and use and type of headings that varies.

N.B. Reference has already been made to the rules of measurement of work-
in-place. These are contained in the STANDARD METHOD OF MEASUREMENT OF
BUILDING WORKS, a publication of which it is virtually essential for every-
one concerned to have a copy. Its detailed rules are explained elsewhere;
what concerns us here is the widely practised use of the ‘SMM’ as a guide
to presentation of Bills of Quantities.

(a) ‘Work Section’ Bills

The preambles and the quantities are presented in chapters under ‘Work
Section’ headings which are the chapter headings of the SMM; i.e. ‘Excavation
and Earthwork’, ‘Concrete Work’, etc. In fact the whole document is structured
on the SMM; the same main and sub-section headings are used in the same
sequence as they appear in the SMM and the items themselves generally follow
the sequence of the individual rules of the SMM under those headings. Only
if the number of items in a sub-section is very small is the heading omitted.
This is the traditional and still most common format; most other formats are
only variations on this theme.

N.B. Work Sections are derived from the old trade-based structure of the
industry. Early editions of the SMM were presented under trade headings
and you may still hear BQ’s described as ‘Trade Bills’ but this is no longer
accurate. Items from various trades are to be found in some of the Work
Sections (e.g. carpentry work in formwork under the Work Section heading
of ‘Concrete Work’). The preambles may be presented altogether (between
Preliminaries and Quantities sections) sectionalised under the same Work
Section headings, or they may be presented before the quantities within each
separate Work Section.

(b) Elemental Bills

As described for Work Section Bills except that the main sectionalisation of
the quantities is under ‘Elemental’ headings in accordance with one of the
recognised elemental lists (see Appendix to Chapter 1). This system lends itself
most readily to cost analysis and cost planning techniques which are becoming
more and more widely used.

(c) Locational Bills

Bills with the main sectionalisation of the quantities under ‘Location’ headings
according to the natural divisions of the layout of the work. This format is
particularly appropriate to Civil Engineering work which may be spread over
wide areas. It is not to be confused with a Work Section Bill which may be
sectionalised into the different phases or blocks of buildings comprised in the
contract.
Communications in the Building Industry 117

(d) Locationally Annotated Bills

Bills with any of the above general formats but with additional locational
information given with each item or group of items.

(e) ‘Features’

A ‘feature’ is an individual assembly of components or materials (or a collection

of similar assemblies) whose quantities are grouped under an appropriate
feature sub-heading within elemental main sections: e.g. ‘doors’ being part
of the element “Windows and External Doors’ but being limited to the joinery
aspects of.the doors; the lintels and paintwork being separate features within
the same element.

(f) Other Formats

‘Operational’ and ‘Activity’ Bills based on operational measurement (see 1.3(c))

have been experimented with but are no longer in use. A new idea for section-
alisation called ‘Construction Planning Units’ (CPU) has been proposed for
future development but need not concern us here: similarly for sectionalisation
based on CI/SfB.

(9) Bills of Approximate Quantities

Within any of the main formats, the quantities may be accurate or approxi-
mate. Accuracy in accordance with the rules of the SMM may be assumed
unless a BQ is specifically stated to be ‘approximate’. Where approximate
quantities are given (because inadequate drawings were available at measure-
ment stage or time did not permit accuracy) it is necessary and may be assumed
that accurate measurement will be carried out at a later stage and any necessary
price adjustment will be made.
N.B. Estimating by means of approximate quantities is a different technique
altogether involving a different system of measurement.
There are other forms of contract in use which do not require the preparation
of quantities at all and which are useful where no drawings are available in
advance or where the extent of the work cannot be foreseen. Preparation of
such documentation is also the concern of the QS.

4.8 Documentation at Tender, Contract and Production Stages

Tendering procedure has been outlined in Chapter 2 but it is useful to sum-

marise the use of the documents we have mentioned above in relation to the
main stages of a building contract:
118 Measurement |

(a) Tendering

The documents a tendering contractor normally receives from the Architect

or QS are:
(i) The Bill of Quantities - 2 blank copies: one to be retained, the other to
be returned (priced) with the tender, or as and when called for.
(ii) Drawings — 1 : 100 scale floor plans and elevations, block plans, and any
further details necessary.
(iii) Form of Tender (to be completed and returned by the due date).
The function of the BQ here is (a) to communicate to the tenderer what the
legal terms and conditions of the work will be and the quality and quantity
of that work, and (4) to serve as a vehicle for the pricing operation to enable
the Tender Sum to be computed. The function of the drawings provided is
(a) to amplify the general description of the work given in the BQ Preliminaries
by showing the positioning of the buildings on the site and their shape, and
(5) to supplement the item descriptions in the case of joinery fittings and the
like. The tenderers are normally invited to inspect the full set of design drawings
if they wish to do so prior to tendering.

(b) Contract

The documents which the successful tenderer and the Client both sign as con-
stituting the contract between them (and which are then generally kept safely
by the Architect in case of dispute later) are:
(i) The Bill of Quantities — the copy priced by the successful tenderer and
now called the ‘Contract Bills’.
(ii) The Contract Drawings — one set (see 4.4 (b)).
(iii) The Form of Contract (comprising the Articles of Agreement and the
Conditions of Contract) — generally in standard printed form with the
amounts, dates, etc. filled in to spaces provided.
The function of the Contract Bills is to define the quality and quantity of the
work that the Contractor has now undertaken to execute for the Contract Sum
(the sum total of the pricing of it). Any adjustment of that quality of quantity
will require a corresponding adjustment in what the Contractor is finally paid.
The function of the Contract Drawings is to show the location and arrange-
ment of that work. Note carefully here that the BQ has no responsibility for
location and arrangement of the work and the drawings have no responsibility
for quality or quantity even though they might bear some information in these
respects. The documents are complementary but not overlapping in their
contractual roles.

(c) Production

The documents by reference to which the actual work is progressed on site are:
(i) The Bill of Quantities — blank and priced versions.
(ii) The Production Drawings — sets for site and office uses (see 4.4(c)).
(iii) Architect’s Instructions, Site Instructions, Memos, Programmes, etc.
Communications in the Building Industry
119
The function of the Bill of Quantities now varies according to the user con-
cerned: copies (both priced and blank) are available to the Contractor’s Manage-
ment team (including their QS) for purposes of programming, cost control,
etc: the Site Manager and Clerk of Works both have blank copies for use
as a specification: the Architect and QS have priced copies for their admin-
istrative, cost control and payment duties. In short it is the basic reference
and control document for all financial and specification routines.

N.B. Ina small project where the Spec and Drawings mode of communication
may be used instead of the BQ, the documents for tendering are:

(i) The Specification — to be retained.

(ii) The Schedule of Rates - 2 blank copies: one to be retained, the other
to be returned with the tender.
(iii) The Contract Drawings — an advance set.
(iv) The Form of Tender.

The Spec and Schedule of Rates may be substituted for the BQ in the docu-
mentation lists for the other stages.

4.9 Civil Engineering Work

Civil Engineering work (roads, bridges, dams, railways, sewers and the like)
is of quite a different nature from building work: different forms of docu-
mentation are used and a different code of measurement applies - the Civil
Engineering Standard Method of Measurement. There are two basic assum-
tions which have given rise to these differences:

(a) That there will inevitably be substantial variation of the original design as
the work progresses —- due to the extensive nature of the sites and un-
predictability of groundwork conditions.
(6) That method is a more significant variable in tendering than quality and
quantity.

The Bill of Quantities is therefore assumed to be approximate and all work

done is to be re-measured and valued (normally at BQ rates) on completion.
Furthermore, the CEBQ is not of itself a specification. It is merely a schedule
of quantities which must be accompanied (for tendering) by a separate material
and workmanship specification and by the full set of contract drawings. As
noted (4.7(c)) the presentation of the BQ is locational to permit ready identifi-
cation of individual items with the drawing of them — something that cannot
generally be done with building work BQ items.
720 Measurement /

Task 3 Another word that may require some clarification is SCHEDULE. A schedule is
a tabulated statement of details, a method for expressing a lot of information
in a concise, easily understood, written format. It may appear as an ordered
list, or as a table read across and down the columns. In short it is an ideal
format for expressing the complex requirements of construction work. But
because a schedule generally contains the very minimum of explanatory text
and linking words between the facts it is intended to present, it is essential
that it has clear headings and appears in an obvious context.

Schedules are used for specifying what is available or what is to happen, and
for recording what has already happened. In the following schedule you
should fill in one more example of types of schedules (which you have come
across or clearly understand) after each example given:

PURPOSE
SPECIFICATION RECORDING
SUBJECT AIRE

PRODUCT DATA Physical characteristics Test results

BRICKS Standard shapes Deliveries to Site

DRAWINGS (GENERALLY) Paper sizes (metric) Payments to draughtsmen

SPECIFICATIONS (CONTENT OF) Number of lighting points Trial pit results

PRODUCTION DRAWINGS (DITTO) Paint colours Actual excavation depths

PRICES OF ‘WORK-IN-PLACE’ Bill of Quantities Valuation of work done

EIGN HE cl Rein ae Mil Rt gle a CMs Pat ROME PNB NOCH CRY Tee CMTE CON RIC ROMER Cle Gi Ch ca

TENDERING

ME Re EIT ION1B) CO ROL Ie) Le) Se Te hs: (6) oeKesveey oe) c igivm Al -'sh:¥ 508) Ae) ieitey ©. © ial
lesa y dockohie: euins ietee cee nee
Communications in the Building Industry
121
Addendum A Sample Page from a Specification

NEW OPENINGS AND WORK TO DOORS AND WINDOW

New Opening to Extension Area:

Cut opening finished size 3.550 x 2.000 high (nominal) through

existing 275 mm hollow wall between Kitchen and Store (incorporating
two existing door openings) including providing all necessary shor-
ing and scaffolding, support head with and including 2 No 125 x 50
mm rolled steel channels back to back with ends bearing on 275 x
225 x 150 mm precast concrete pads built into piers at jambs,
bracketted around: quoin up one jamb including closing cavity with
112 mm thickness of brickwork, level off bottom of Opening at
existing floor level and make good all work disturbed.
Encase new beam over opening with plasterboard and plaster finish
jointed to existing both sides; remove remaining old plaster from
side piers and re-plaster jams and reveals of opening.

Kitchen/Dining Room Door:

Block up existing door opening size 800 x 2000 high in 225 mm thick
wall between Kitchen and Dining Room including wedging and pinning
all round.
Plaster over areas of new infilling to opening both sides with fair
joint to existing all round.
Make out skirting on Dining Room side across new infilling all to
Match existing.
Cut new opening through the same wall, size 800 x 2000 high including
providing all necessary shoring and scaffolding, insert new 225 x
150 mm precast concrete lintel reinforced with 2 No 16 mm diameter
bars and bearing 150 mm into walling each side, quoin up jambs,
level off bottom of opening at existing floor level and make good all
work disturbed.

Remove any loosened plaster around new opening and re-plaster

around up to new door frame with fair joint to existing both sides
including arrisses to returns.

Provide and fix new door frame, 125 x 50 mm rebated, on plaster

grounds plugged in new opening and finish around both sides with
20 mm quadrant fillet.
Re-hang door recovered from existing opening to new frame to
Opposite hand including adjusting existing latch as necessary and
patching old holes and mortices, supplying pair new 75 mm steel
butts and screws complete.

Make out skirting on Dining Room side into new reveals all to match
existing.

Existing Kitchen Window Opening:

Take out existing lintel and sill, cut back jambs to open cavity
around and block up with external skin in facing bricks to match
existing carefully toothed and bonded in both sides and wedged up
top course to existing, internal skin in blockwork or brickwork
wedged and pinned around and make good all work disturbed.

Plaster over areas of new infilling internally with fair joint to

existing all round.
722
Measurement /
ADDENDUM (cont.) A Sample Page from a BQ (Work Section Format)
CONCRETE
CONCRETE WORK
WORK

PLAIN CONCRETE £ p
Concrete Grade A filled into
excavations (measured separately) :-

Foundation over 300 mm thick 30

Concrete Grade B ditto:-

Bed 200 mm thick 54

REINFORCED CONCRETE

Concrete Grade B filled into

formwork and worked around
reinforcement and mechanically
vibrated (formwork and reinforce-
ment measured separately) :-

Foundations over 300 mm thick 163

ie) Horizontal suspended floors and
roof, 150 mm thick 196

Mild Steel Bar reinforcement

including bends, hooks, tying
Wire, distance blocks and
ordinary spacers (PROVISIONAL)
:-

10 mm in foundations 2200
25 mm in ditto 9000
16 mm in floors and roofs 2000
[es
Meal
(@\
we! 25 mm in ditto 3000

Formwork to the following surfaces:-

q Vertical sides of foundations 203

Horizontal soffits of floors
and roofs 183

Wrought formwork to edge of roof

150 wide 60

PROTECTION

Protect all work in this section Item

-To Collection
|
Communications in the Building Industry 123
ADDENDUM (cont.) A Sample Page from a BQ (Elemental Format)

INTERNAL DOORS
INTL. DOORS
£ p
PRECAST CONCRETE

Concrete grade 'C' in 150 x 150 mm

lintel with and including 2 No.
mild steel bars with ends hooked. E2L
Drill concrete for E21 Rawlbolts 168

JOINERY

DOORS AND FRAMES

(All sizes are FINISHED sizes)

45 mm thick internal flush door
size 800 x 2000 mm 42
45 mm thick ditto, afromosia
veneered finish both sides and
afromosia lipping all round,
kept clean for lacquering. 59
53 mm thick fire-check flush
door to BS 459 Part 3 (figure
2) size 1950 x 825 mm of one
hour fire resistance with
hardwood lipping all round. 28

In Red Deal:

| 120 x 44 mm frame on and

including sawn plaster grounds,
plugged. 212
Q 125 x 75 mm rebated fireproofed
frame to one hour fire-check doors,
fixed to deal sub-frame (sub-frame
measured separately). 142
ae 85 x 10 mm sub-frame bolted to
concrete (bolts and drilling
measured separately). 142
19 mm quadrant fillet including
mitres and ends. 300 3
40 x 19 mm stop fillet. 198 3
Drill 10 mm frame for E21
Rawlbolt and sink head. 168

To Collection
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C= Damp-proof
membranes
April 1976 VQ4

Imperial Chemical Industries Limited

Welwyn Garden City, Herts. AL7 1HD

VISQUEEN 1200
Super DPM
extra strength
damp-proof membrane
VISQUEEN 1200 Super DPM is a high impact and tear resistant For further information please refer to:
grade of polyethylene sheeting of a nominal thickness of 300 ICI Plastics Division,
microns (0:3 mm). Visqueen Marketing Department,
Bessemer Road, Welwyn Garden City, Herts.
This sheeting provides a permanent and efficient damp-proof Telephone: Welwyn Garden 23400
membrane for use under concrete slabs case ‘in situ’, orasa damp-
Related ICI products for building:
proof membrane laid on top of the slab and below the floor screed.
VISQUEEN 2000 T Damp-proof Course
VISQUEEN Polythene Jointing Tape
This data sheet describes the properties, performance and methods
of installation of VISQUEEN 1200 Super DPM.

Standards Availability
It has been established from long-term trials in conjunction with VISQUEEN 1200 Super DPM and VISQUEEN Polythene Jointing
the Building Research Station and from practical site experience, Tape are both stocked by builders’ merchants whose names. and
that in order to avoid mechanical damage during installation, the addresses can be obtained on request. A list of recommended
membrane should be a minimum of 0:25 mm (1000 gauge) in mastics is also available from Imperial Chemical Industries Limited.
thickness. The results of a series of tests are reported in the BRS
Finish
Report A88 and are endorsed in the 1971 edition of the BRS
Digest No. 54. VISQUEEN 1200 is tinted blue for on-site identification.
Sizes
VISQUEEN 1200 Super DPM not only satisfies this recommenda- VISQUEEN 1200 is available in a standard roll size of width
tion but provides an added safety margin with its extra thickness 4 metres (13 ft) and length 25 metres (81 ft) and nominal thick-
and quality. ness of 300 microns (0:3 mm—0-012 in.).

Polythene sheeting is also recommended for the provision of pro- Weight

tection against water from the ground in the following: Approximately 0-28 kg/m2, i.e. a standard roll of 100 square
metres weighs 27-7 kg (61 Ib).
British Standard Code of Practice, CP102:1963—'Protection of
Building against Water from the Ground’. Properties
Chemical Resistance
British Standard Code of Practice, CP203:1969—’Sheet and Tile
VISQUEEN 1200 is chemically inert and is unaffected by sub-soil
Flooring’.
acids and alkalis. Some hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydrocarbons
and lubricating oils may cause swelling by absorption. Full details
National House Builders Registration Council Handbook.
are available on request.
The Department of Architecture and Civic Design of the Greater Thermal Properties
London Council—Bulletin No. 10, Nov./Dec. 1967. Melting point: 112°C.

Information and recommendations con- Flexibility Range

tained in this data sheet are based on —50°C up to 80°C.
research and user experience. They are
published in the belief that they will be Typical Physical Characteristics
of value, but in view of the variations Tensile Strength 170 kg/cm? (2400 Ib/in.?)
under which they may be applied, all Tear Strength 125 g/25 microns (125 g/0-001)
CERTIFICATE information is given in good faith but
Elongationat Break 800%
NO. 73/165 without warranty.
Impact Strength 800 g
Copyright reserved to Imperial Chemical Industries Limited. Burst Strength 2-8 kg/cm? (40 Ib/in.2)
 installation
Oversite Membranes
VISQUEEN 1200 can be used as an oversite membrane situated
between the base concrete and the hardcore bed. A blinding layer
of weak concrete, sand or pulverized fuel ash, on a consolidated
bed of hardcore provides a suitable base. The membrane situated
in this position protects the site concrete against any sulphate
attack and allows bonding of the screed to the concrete base. An
adequate drying-out period is essential for the main slab and
screed with oversite membranes before a damp-sensitive floor
finish can be laid.

Sandwich Membranes
Where VISQUEEN 1200 is used as a sandwich membrane between
the base concrete and the screed, it is recommended that a 12 mm
layer of sand or compacted fuel ash be used to provide an even
surface to receive the membrane. If it can be ensured that the top
Ee
surface of the base slab is sufficiently smooth to avoid puncturing Sine

the membrane, the use of a surface blinding may be excluded.

Laying the Sheeting

VISQUEEN 1200 should be rolled over the blinded surface allow-
ing adequate excess sheeting for laps between sheets (see
Jointing the Laps), where the site width is greater than that of the
membrane. In order to provide a continuous barrier with the DPC
the membrane should be taken up the brickwork to DPC level and
incorporated beneath it in the inner skin (see Figure 2). In existing
buildings where the DPC in the wall is satisfactory, but moisture
is penetrating through the floor, the membrane should be taken up
the wall and bonded to the brickwork at DPC level.
There may be. occasions when the total area to be lined has to be
DPC
treated in stages. Where this arises, it will mean that areas of mem-
brane initially installed will at a later stage be required to be jointed
=o
to subsequent sections of VISQUEEN 1200. It is recommended
that the edges of the sheeting which may have to lie exposed for
any period should be double-folded and weighted down in order
that when jointing is eventually carried out, the edges of the hardcore

initially laid sheeting are clean and undamaged.

VISQUEEN 1200 SUPER DPM
Proprietary adhesives are available for bonding polythene sheeting
as
to most building materials. (Further details on request from A sandwich membrane
Imperial Chemicals Industries Limited.) B oversite membrane

Figure 2

mastic strip VISQUEEN JOINTING TAPE

Jointing the Laps Sat
It will at times be necessary to join sheets together and to tailor the
membrane round projections, etc. The following techniques have VISQUEEN 1200 SUPER Dpm~
been found suitable for installation by unskilled labour.
In weather conditions where it is not possible to keep the sheet Figure 3a
dry, the double welted fold must be used and it is essential that
some method of temporary weighting, e.g. bricks, is usedto main-
tain the fold in position prior to concreting. Alternatively, tape
can be applied across the folded joint (see Figure 4) at 1 metre
intervals, if the conditions are dry.
The ‘tape and mastic’ technique is the most effective method of
jointing sheets of VISQUEEN 1200 providing the site conditions
will allow a reasonably clean and dry joint to be prepared.
The adjacent sheets should be positioned so that there is a
minimum 150 mm (6 in.) overlap. The top sheet is then turned
back and mastic (or mastic tape) applied approximately 75 mm
(3 in.) in from the bottom sheet. The top sheetis then replaced and
sealed to the lower one with 75 mm (3 in.) wide VISQUEEN
Polythene Jointing Tape (see Figures 3a and 3b).
Heat sealing of VISQUEEN 1200 is not recommended for damp PS
proofing as it must be carried out by specialist fabricators away
from the site.
 VISQUEEN Polythene Jointing Tape
used to secure fold in position
at 1 metre intervals

300 mm

Figure 4. Double welted fold

Service Pipes and Projections

Where continuous vertical pipe runs or pillars extend through the The main sheet may then be slit and tailored to give clearance
base concrete, VISQUEEN 1200 can be tailored round the pro- round the projection. The sheet should be positioned over the
jection in the following manner: already sealed square and jointed in the prescribed manner, en-
Cut a square of sheeting of convenient size (1.e. large enough to suring that an overlap of the slit is allowed for and subsequently
allow 230 mm (9 in.) of material to lie horizontally on all sides of sealed.
the projection). Cut aslit from one side to the centre of the square. Where short pipe runs protrude through the base concrete or
Cut the centre of the patch approximately 50 mm (2 in.) smaller in hardcore, a round hole or a cross may be cut in the sheeting
diameter than the projection. Place the square round the pro- (approximately 50 mm (2 in.) less than the diameter of cross-
jection in such a position that the slit does not lie in the same section of the projection), and stretched over the top of the pro-
direction as the slit which will have to be cut in the main sheet jection so that the membrane clings firmly to the outer wall of the
(Figure 5). Draw the cut patch round the projection to leave an projection.
upstand of film of approximately 25 mm (1 in.) around the pro- Slide the sheeting down until it is supported by the base (Figure 7)
jection and also to give an overlap of the edges of the slit. Ensure and seal the resultant upstand of material to the projection with
that the patch is fully supported if using a sand blinding. The up- VISQUEEN Polythene Jointing Tape.
stand should then be sealed to the projection with VISQUEEN
Polythene Jointing Tape and the overlapped slit sealed likewise
(Figure 6).

eet
ae ae
Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7

Internal Walls VISQUEEN 1200

Where internal walls have already been erected above the base SUPER DPM
concrete, VISQUEEN 1200 should be taken up at least 150 mm
(6 in.) at all vertical axes and incorporated behind the skirting
as shown in Figure 8. Alternatively, for semi-detached houses/
bungalows and in all cases where construction of the ground floor
raft has been completed prior to the erection of the walls, the
membrane should be laid in one continuous sheet up and over the
party wall at DPC level.
Figure 8
 Concrete Screeds
The minimum thickness for unbonded screeds is 50 mm (2 in.) if beneath the base slab but in this case the drying period is con-
unreinforced. siderably extended. A drying period of seven days per 6 mm (x in.)
With industrial reinforced flooring a 25 mm (1 in.) screed should depth of concrete may be taken as a general guide, but the
be poured over VISQUEEN 1200 before positioning the reinforcing Building Research Station Digest Nos. 18 and 33 provide more
fabric, to prevent the weight of mechanical plant subsequently detailed information on testing a screed for dryness.
pressing in mesh directly on to the membrane. Where a monolithic Curing of the screed or concrete should be carried out in the same
topping is to be laid, the VISQUEEN 1200 should be placed under manner for a floor incorporating underfloor heating as for one that
the structural slab and this also applies to separate bonded is unheated. Once the curing is completed, the concrete should be
constructions. allowed to dry out with the heating system off. It may take about
To ensure that the membrane is not under stress, before applying four weeks to remove the bulk of the evaporable water in the
the screed or pouring of the base slab, sufficient slack should be screed. After this period has elapsed the heating can be applied
allowed to all vertical axes and particularly at the areas adjoining slowly.
wall constructions.

Floor Finishes
Drying VISQUEEN 1200 can provide entirely satisfactory protection from
Itis important that the concrete base and screed be allowed to dry rising damp to a wide range of floor finishes including those
before applying a floor finish. This requirement applies to all sand- normally classified as damp sensitive, e.g. linoleum, rubber, cork,
wich types of membrane. It also applies to membranes located flexible p.v.c., wood block.

Underfloor Heating
When underfloor heating is being installed incorporated with
embedded cable systems for hot water heating panels, a damp- 65mm screed
proof membrane is essential to ensure that the thermal storage with
Leg cables
concrete remains perfectly dry. To achieve this, it is recommended
that VISQUEEN 1200 should be positioned immediately between
blinded hardcore and insulation. The membrane should be taken
from the hardcore/insulation level up the wall to DPC level as
shown in Figure 9. In the case of quick response systems it will be
VISQUEEN 1200
essential to position the insulation and membrane directly beneath — SUPER DPM
the cable plane to ensure rapid temperature release. Most manu- insulation 12mm soft
Ort
: sand blinding
facturers recommend that heating elements should be placed
hardcore
approximately 60 mm (2% in.) below the finished screed level.
Cable plane temperatures of 65°-75°C (150°-170°F) can be
expected to provide a maximum service temperature of 26-7°C Figure 9
(80°F). VISQUEEN 1200 is not in itself an effective thermal
insulant, but is not adversely affected by temperature variations It should be noted that VISQUEEN 1200 should be laid so that
ranging from —73°C (—100°F) up to 82-2°C (180°F). sufficient slack is allowed, particularly at corner positions, in order
to avoid excess stresses being created in the sheeting during
temperature variations.
In quick response systems, the standard heating cables can also be
placed immediately upon VISQUEEN 1200 withoutrisk of damage.

Separating Membranes for Terrazzo and Clay

NEAT CEMENT JOINT
Tile Floating Floor Installations OR PLASTIC STRIP
This type of floor finish is installed by specialists and the build-up
TERRAZZO TERRAZZO
of the floors varies from one firm to another. A separating mem-
brane Is necessary in all types of construction and a typical ex- 338mm

ample is shown in Figure 10.

A polythene membrane in this application is used purely to ‘VISQUEEN'
~@- SEPARATING
separate the two concrete surfaces and to ensure that they are in MEMBRANE

no way keyed to each other. In the event of the base concrete

developing cracks or settlement, these will not be transmitted to
STRUCTURAL
the tile bed. In addition, the ‘Visqueen’ membrane ensures that CONCRETE
the moisture content of the grout and tile bed is retained for the
necessary period to ensure proper curing. As a result, the grout, SECTION OF NON-CRACK FLOORING USING PRE-CAST TILES
bed, and tiles become monolithic. Figure 10
It should be noted that where a terrazzo-faced or tiled floor is laid
on a ‘Visqueen’ membrane, there should be approximately 38 mm Tanking
minimum finish (tile plus bedding mortar) above the sheeting.
Polyethylene membranes are not generally suitable for tanking
In the case of clay tiles laid upon a separating layer, the tile bed requirements. In simple constructions, however, Visqueen 1200
should be of sufficient thickness to produce a level floor, i.e.
DPM may be used but further guidance in such situations should
about 12 mm thick. be obtained from our Technical Service Department.
Imperial Units 129
Appendix: Imperial Units and Duo-decimals

The Construction Industry has been leading the national change-over from
Imperial to Metric units of measurement since the late 1960s. Unfortunately
many other sectors of industry have not yet followed suit and consequently
we are likely to be burdened with two systems of units for a considerable time
yet. In major construction operations metrication is now virtually complete,
but in the minor works and ‘jobbing’ sectors where contact with the lay public
is more direct and immediate, many builders still work in the Imperial units.
Hence the unfortunate necessity for this Appendix.

(a) Imperial Units

The units we are concerned with in measurement are as follows (with their
usual abbreviated forms):

Inches (in.); Linear feet (Lin.Ft.); Linear yards (Lin.Yds.); Square feet
(Sq.Ft.); Square yards (Sq. Yds.); Cubic feet (Cub.Ft.); Cubic yards (Cub. Yds.)
Hundredweights (Cwt.).

Two further old units are still occasionally met with:

The Square - 100 square feet — usually of roof coverings or boarding.

The Standard — 165 cubic feet —- bulk purchasing of timber.

The most commonly required conversions are:

IMPERIAL METRIC

Inch 25.4 mm

Linet. -) (1 2,inches) 304.8 mm

Lin. Yds. (3 Lin.Ft.: 36 in.) 914 mm

Sq.Ft. (144 sq. in.) 0.093 m? (10.764 Sq.Ft. = 1 m2)

Sq.Yds. (9 Sq.Ft.) 0.836 m? (1.196 Sq. Yds. = | m?)

Cub.Ft. (35.3-Cub. Pts fm?)

Cub.Yd. (27 Cub.Ft.) 0.765 m? (1.308 Cub. Yds. = | m3)

Cwt (112 Ibs.: 8 stones) 50.8 kg.

Tons (20 cwt.) 1.016 tonnes

Gallons 4.546 litres

730 Measurement |

(6) Setting Down Imperial Dimensions

All dimensions are set down on the dimension paper format in feet and inches
using the ‘duo-decimal’ system. In ordinary decimals, the ‘decimal point’
separates whole units from their tenths: in duo-decimals, the point separates
FEET from their TWELFTHS.

>
Meaning:
PAO 20 ft 1 in

| 5 ft 3 in

Loe 1 ft llin

(S087, 19 ft 9 in
RR 47-0 Total 47 ft Fractions of inches are not normally used, the dims
being rounded up or down to the nearest inch, but
they may be used in waste calculations where to
ignore a 4 or } inch may lead to loss of reasonable
accuracy when multiplied up.

(c) Squaring and Reduction

With the advent of electronic calculators into almost universal use now for
Squaring dimensions, the method of ‘decimalisation’ of the duo-decimals is
all we need be concerned with, the previous long-hand methods of duo-decimal .
multiplication being virtually redundant. To use a decimal based machine on
duo-decimals, instant mental conversion and re-conversion is necessary.

You must memorize the following:

INCHES DECIMALS OF A FOOT

1 in. 0.083
2 0.167
0.25
0.333
0.417
Or
0.583
0.667
GO
IS
Cn
ONS
TT
COS
NORE 0.75
0.833
11 0.917
 Imperial Units
137
Example

This is entered on the calculator as 20.083 x5.25

1.917 = 202.118. The answer must be re-converted
tomZOzste

Note that the figure after the point in this answer

(i.e. 1) is not one inch but is one twelfth of a cubic
foot (i.e. 144 cub.in.).

All dimensions are thus set down in feet and inches but the SMM and trade
usage require many item quantities to be given in terms of yards (to the nearest
whole yard). The squared feet must therefore be REDUCED by division:

Lin.Ft. — 3 = Lin. Yds.

Sq.Ft, + 9 = Sq.Yds.
Cub.Ft. —27 = Cub.Yds.

In the above example, the reduced quantity would be 7 Cub. Yds. The reduction
is only, of course, after all the quantities of a particular item have been first
totalled in feet and inches.

In measurement by weight (for steelwork and reinforcement bars), the quantity

calculations should be done in feet and inches initially, these totalled and
multiplied by the weight per linear foot in pounds (avoirdupois) and the total
REDUCED to hundredweights and stones — the stones being indicated as eighths
of a hundredweight.

Example 100 Lin.Ft. of 3?” diameter steel round bar weighing 1.502 lbs./ft.
== 150.2 Ibs:
= 13 cwt.

Exercise The next page is an Imperial version of the squaring exercise you did at page 53.
Square it in duo-decimals and put the reduced quantity for each section in the
description column as indicated and example given. Check your squaring
against the metric version.
N.B. There will inevitably be some small discrepancy between the answers
of the two versions due to the conversions and rounding-off.
Measurement / 732
Exercise: Squaring — Imperial Units

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 List of Tasks, Questions and Exercises

N.B. The student is also invited to complete several of the examples given in the text of Chapter 3.

CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 4
Page Page

Task: Measurement as a link 2 Question: Producers, manufacturers, etc. : 108

Questions: Uses of measurement 4 Task: BSS’s : 108
Task: Description of a brick . d Question: Pre-contract/post contract 111
Exercise: Approximate estimate 10 Task: Specification 115
Task: Operational estimate (completion of) 10 Task: Schedule 120
Problem: Cost comparison with target estimate 13

APPENDIX
CHAPTER 2
Exercise: Squaring (Imperial) 13]
Questions: Cost, price and value 21
Task: Cost, price and value 21
Task: The cost of labour 26
Question: Use of measurement 31
Task: Factors affecting cost 34
Question: Labour productivity 38
Task: Pricing a BQ 38

CHAPTER 3

Exercise: Sequence of dimensions (measurement

format) 45
Exercise: Dimensions and quantitites (BQ format) 46
Exercise: Squaring (metric) 53
Exercise: Wall Finishings 59
Exercise: The Group Method 65
Exercise: Geometric forms 67, 69 70
Exercise: Trigonometry and Pythagoras 7
Exercise: Gradients 73
Group Exercise: Irregular areas 76
Exercises: Centre lines 78, 80, 82, 85, 87, 90
Exercises: Interpolation of levels 94, 95
Exercises: Running track 99
Kitchen yard retaining wall 99

133
 Index
nn

ABSTRACTING Drawings 109

dimensions 49 general 104
procedure 66 product data 105
samples pages of a specification and of BQ’s 121-3
ACCOUNTS 27 sectors of the building industry
from suppliers ‘Specification’ or ‘Measurement’ 112
VAT
COST ANALYSIS
“ALL IN’ RATES see ‘Elements’
for labour 2)
task 26
COSTS AND PRICES
APPROXIMATE ESTIMATING cost, price and value: examples
example and exercise definitions
units of measurement task
general
ARCHITECT
Architect’s instructions 109, 118 DESCRIPTION
choice of communications mode 110 abbreviations
drawings 109 as part of an item
in tendering procedure 16, 35 aspect of measurement
use of product data 105 BSS’s and BSCoP’S
tasks
BILLS OF QUANTITIES
advantages/disadvantages 114 DIMENSIONS
Bills of Approximate Quantities 117 ‘anding-on’ (the ampersand)
content of H2, 113 brackets, use of
drawings used 109 constant dimensions
format 116 correction of errors
Elemental Bills 116 Cubic Concept, the
sample page 123 deductions
features 117 ‘dim’ paper, format and setting out
Locational Bills 116 ‘dotting-on’
Locationally Annotated Bills 117 location notes
‘Operational’ and ‘Activity’ Bills 117 multiple quantities
Work Section Bills 116 rounding-off
sample page 122 sequence of
function at tendering, contract and production stages 118 exercise
preliminaries, costs 30 squaring
production procedure 66 exercise
sample pages 14, 122, 123 ‘timesing’
specification, distinction from bt2 Wants and Voids, the Golden Rules
unit rates 22 ‘Waste’ calculations
use in tendering 16, 118 use of scale rules
use in civil engineering 119
DOCUMENTATION
BSS’s AND BSCoP’s general 117
general 108 see also under Communications
task 108
DRAWINGS
CIVIL ENGINEERING WORK contract 109
nature and documentation 119 detail design 109
function at tendering, contract and production 118
COMMUNICATION production 109
BQ formats 116
BSS’s and BSCoP’s 108 DUO-DECIMALS
Design Information 110 general 128
Civil Engineering work 119
classification and retrieval 107
description aspect of measurement 2 ELEMENTS
documentation at tender, contract and
BCIS standard list
production stages 117 cost analysis
134
 definitions 8. iS examples of use: approximate estimating
Elemental BQ’s 116 bill of quantities
sample page 123 cost recording
measurement by operational estimating
resource allocations
ESTIMATE Group Method, the
quotation/tender, distinction from ‘items’ generally
modes of, three main
ESTIMATING of operations
definitions of ‘work-in-place’
factors affecting, cost Squaring and billing procedure
task symbols, metric
Head Office overheads and profit Trade by Trade Method; the
labour ‘constants’ and costs unit and mode, choice of
mechanical plant uses of, general
‘preliminaries’ and ‘project’ overheads see also under ‘ Dimensions’
programming, distinction from see also under ‘Mensuration’
suppliers and supplies
task MENSURATION
tendering, distinction from as aspect of measurement
unit rates centre lines and corner adjustments
VAT angle allowances
compensating angles
ESTIMATOR final exercise
role, generally four-sided figures
see also under estimating non-symmetrical sections
use of measurement re-entrant angles
simple shapes: exercise
FACTORS AFFECTING COST symmetrical sections
general formulae for regular geometric forms
task general
geometric forms
‘FLUCTUATIONS gradients
in cost of labour Interpolation of levels
spot levels and contour lines
FORECASTING Irregular areas
estimating by QS compensation lines
units of measurement group exercise
use of measurement triangulation
More difficult mensuration exercise
GROUP METHOD, THE Running Track
adjustments exercise: Retaining Wall
definition and generally worked example
dimensions: deductions see also under ‘ Dimensions’
Trigonometry and Pythagoras
IMPERIAL UNITS AND DUO-DECIMALS
general OPERATIONS
definitions
ITEMS operational BQ’s
component parts of unit, choice of
dimensions exercise
format of: in BQ
in ‘taking-off’ OPERATIONAL ESTIMATING
example and task
LABOUR problem
‘constants’ and costs 24 methods, distinction from other
in unit rates 22, 24 see also under ‘Operations’

MATERIALS OVERHEADS
in unit rates 22, 24 Head Office: general 3]
see also under ‘Suppliers and Supplies’ Preliminaries
unit rates, in 22, 24
MEASUREMENT
as a link PLANT
task general 30
checking of unit rates, in 22, 24
135
 PREAMBLES
SI SYMBOLS
content of 113 measurement, units of
presentation, rules of
PREDOMINANT DIMENSIONAL NATURE
unit of measurement, guide to
SPECIFICATIONS
PRELIMINARIES BQ, as an alternative to a
content of iis advantages, disadvantages
general 30 content of
pricing of
PRICES sample page
task
Estimator’s role generally aA

see under‘ Cost and Prices’ SUB-CONTRACTORS

direct/nominated 28
PRIME COST discounts 21,20
definition 28
SUPPLIERS AND SUPPLIES
PRODUCT DATA general 26
general 105 product data 105
ICI sample 125
TENDERING
PROFIT definition
tendering, in 17 documentation for
unit rates, in 22, 24 estimating, distinction from
estimate/quotation, distinction from
information sources
PROGRAMMER measurement, use of
role generally definition
procedures, general
PROGRAMMING open
tendering procedure, in negotiation
selective
two-stage
PURCHASER
programming, role of
role generally P| Selective Tendering, Code of Procedure for
see also under ‘Estimating’
QUANTITY SURVEYOR
estimating by 37 UNIT OF MEASUREMENT
measurement by, uses of 2,4 accommodation, units of
product data, use of 105 choice of, general
tendering procedure, in
examples of use of
QS/PQS/Contractor’s QS 16 ‘item’, as part of an
predominant dimensional nature
QUOTATIONS symbols, imperial
definition 19 metric
units, ‘elemental’
RATES unit rates
see under ‘Unit Rates’
UNIT RATES
compilation of: chart
RECORDING
example calculation
example 13 general
measurement, use of 3-4 see also under ‘Estimating’
RESOURCE ALLOCATION
VALUE
example
definition 9
measurement, use of 3-4 examples
~

19
unit, choice of
task 21
see also under ‘Estimating’
VAT
SCHEDULES
general 28
general: task 120
WORK-IN-PLACE
SCHEDULE OF RATES definition
accompanying a specification 2 use of nt

136
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