Why engage a Quantity Surveyor?
Getting the figures to work at the outset is crucially important, ideally before planning permission is applied for. This can save a huge amount of time in re-planning and re-tendering if accurate costs are not ascertained at the outset.
It’s equally important to manage costs through the whole process to ensure that the final costs comes within the original budget. Each step of the process is as important as the next to make sure that there is cost discipline exercised at every stage.
This process is the same for a small project as a large one. Getting accurate figures for feasibility studies based on past projects and industry databases is crucial.
All too often we have seen where clients have started out with the incorrect data before consulting with us. It’s often too late to undo the damage at this point.
MMC Quantity Surveyor Workflow
Once the initial feasibility study has been completed and approved, the next stage is to manage the costs through the design development process.
Regular cost plan updates for the various stages of design are required to achieve this. This is often not done on projects, leading to significant cost over-runs at tender stage requiring substantial re-design and lost time in an effort to bring the project back into viability.
At MMC, we always have a live and updated budget estimate for each stage of the design culminating in a detailed Pre-Tender Estimate (PTE) of the completed bill of quantities which is used as the basis for tender reporting and comparisons.
During the course of the design development stage, we are often engaged in value management. In this process, the client, design and cost requirements are ordered in order of priority so that the most cost effective solutions can be found to keep a project within it’s budget.
Once the optimal solutions are arrived at from all stakeholders perspective, the project is ready to go for tender. The most common form of procurement is a re-measurable contract where the bill of quantities forms the main reference document. Other forms of contract include drawings & specifications where quantities do not form part of the contract, various forms of design and build contracts and various forms of management contract.
Once a contract is issued for tender to suitably experienced and qualified contractors and returned, we then proceed to analyse the tenders for consistency, errors and omissions. This is to ensure all contractors are being compared on the same basis. Once this analysis is completed, a contract is signed and the project may commence.
On site, we value the work monthly for progress accounts to ensure that a contractor is not over-paid at any stage. We also agree the value of variations as they arise and manage the contingency sums within the contract through monthly cost reports with a view to bringing the completed project within budget.