BILLOF QUANTITIES A bill of quantities sets out in a systematic manner, the lists of items with firm quantities and detailed descriptions of all the items of labour, materials and plant required to erect and complete a building or other works. The standard method of measurement of Building works and services (SMME) described Bill of Quantities shall fully describe and accurately Tepresent the quantity and quality of the work to be carried out. It further recognized that it may be Impossible to measure some works, such work shall © given as a provisional sum item. . Ittherefore means that a bill of quantities itemizedall ° uF pote to be carried out in a construction work, te accurate quantity of the work and detailed Sctiption of quality of labour requirement an F We at aha for such works, ofthe hee section of the bill give particulars °* contract adopted and details of general: which may affect the price of the pate cal bill of quantities for building wore eae i ‘ prise of A ing: the follO ruc on to tender ih Article of agreement iti preliminaries iv. Trade preambles Condition of contract Mi Measured work vii, Price Cost (PC) Sums viii. Provisional Sums ix. Appendices Instruction to tenderer ; the bill shoes the detailed information a tenderer This part or need . know about the contracts Article of Agreement This is the contract agreement that legally commit the contractual parties to the execution of the contract. For construction works, it most time states chat “The contractors undertake to execute and complete the work described by the tender documents supplied by the client while the client undertake to pay the contractor, the contract sums to be determined from the conditions or contract in consideration” Preliminaries These are cost-significant it particular item of work/work which are generally required to ensure the smooth ex' i the work but cannot be directly related or tied to a ae of work, Preliminary items cannot be presente ; Measurement but are estimated based on the ex ted work: (ie. the extent by which the item(s) will be ured on site), Section 1A part one of the Building, and Bineering Standard Method of Measurement third edition mel M3) details most of the item which would appear "7 oe inary section of a bill. Examples of ‘such items includes: annot be confined to a re items of work ecution of particular ems which c: section. They aa) Plant, tools and vehicles b) Scallfolding : : Site administration and security d) Transport for work people Water for the works f) _ Lighting and power for the work Temporary, road, hard standings, crossing and similay items h) Temporary accommodation for the use of Contractor i) Temporary telephones for the use of contractor j) Safety, health and welfare of workplace (cg provision of first aid). . k) Maintenance of public and private roads 1) Removing rubbish, protective casings and corenps and cleaning the works on completion. m) Temporary fencing hoardings Trade Preambles The preamble cleanses containing the specification of the quality of materials and standard of workmanship required in the erection of the contract. The specification information on the drawing and the specification notes are incorporated in the bills of quantities to for part of the contract. The clauses also contained other relevant information that the tenderer will need to know when pricing the bills of quantities. Preambles, like specifications, are usually presented on the basis of trade herding. Conditions of Contract The conditions of contract stipulate the legal rules that should be followed in execution of the contract. The responsibilities, duties and liabilities of the contractual parties are stated in the conditions of contract. It describe the contractual, financial prea iad i i ies to the contract, relationship amongst the part Measured Works ese are all the items of work measured/quantified from theand other contract docum: wing ments, It df of work been measured agains, its quent’, States the item ement in accordance with d uni reme the rel nit of ade asurement CAUSES. Cvant standard Method 0) +e Cost (P.C.) Sums rene cost rat (often abbreviated to included in a bill of quantities for work ow”. mecuted by a nominated subcontractor or gomees he be oods to be obtained from a nominated supplier, Te of will be the quoted sum from the subcontractor of sy " igh Excluding the main Contractor's profit, The Th contractors profit. The main contractors profit on fick goods and services and his attendance (where applicable) are separately added to the sum quoted as PC sum, General attendance are the facilities already provided by the main contractor for his own use but are normally available for the subcontractors use, General attendance include the use of temporary roads, Standing scallfolding, supervision, provision of temporary lighting and water supplies, provision of space for the subcontractors supplies, Other attendance (often called special attendance) are special, services or to the subcontractors outside his normal site responsibilities such facilities as voted in SMM6 includes: i) Special scallfolding or scallfolding additional to the contractors standing scallfolding. : ii) Unloading, distribution, hosting and placing in Position, giving in the case of significant items the ... Weight and or size. itl) Provision of ‘temporary accers road etc. PC Sum) is a sum Provisional Sum iti v'sional sums are sums included in a bill of qualities for et yrich full extent and character cannot a precisely ned at the time bills of quantities is prepared. wean ard method of measurement of building works and aumces sixth edition (SMM6) defined a provisional sum, 7 a Provided for work or for costs which cannot be entirelyforeseen, defined ss detailed at the time the tend, documents re Contract Tribunal) standard foy, Thg The es Architect the power to execute such cost COntraoy cee or by a nominated subcontractors oy Subjegre Main a petitive bidding of different contractors, Sd to, c dices : | Asante section in a bills of quantities Contains som. additional information which was used in the Preparation ofthe bill but cannot be incorporated, inserted or stated in the main content of the bill but cannot be incorporated, inserted or Stated in the main content of the bill. Appendices are a Sort of annexures to the bill, attached at the end of the bill, attached at the end of the bill of quantities, Item the list usually contains some ofall of the following. AppendixA: Schedule of Basic Rates. AppendixB: Schedule of Dangote Rates. AppendixC: Listof Prime Cost (PC) and provisional sums. AppendixD: Listof Drawings used for the bill preparation.-: ec ee en PREPARATION Mr : i ae four basic methods of’ BToDs i) Traditional method Cutand shuffle or cord and Billing direct and Use or pee ae traditional and cut and shuffle or ¢ 5 be manually while the billing direct and mec oge method methods involves some electronics processes, The la ta computer in recent ycars are now carried-out with the aid of several software, such as Masterbill, WinQS, CATO etc, : Preparation: they are: i loose methods iii) The Traditional Method The traditional process of bills of quantities preparation hi been in use for decades that the profession started The se involves basically three processes of taking-off, working-up (Squaring and abstracting) and billing, oe processes are briefly discussed and explained as follows: Taking - Off Taking-off is a process whereby dimension extracted or obtained from drawings are booked in the dimension column ofa specialized paper (called dimension or taking-off paper) and properly described in the description column of the sheet inaccordance with the standard method ofmeasurement. _ Any dimension that cannot be directly read from drawing must be shown on the waste calculation. The descriptions can bewritten in an abbreviation format. i A typical taking-off paper contains the taking-off Sonn Squaring columns and the description columns. La ; illustrate atypical taking-off paper. The Ad sheet is rule Font and back and each page of the sheet contains two pages > ing-off sheet, In accordance with the eee in Quantity Surveying stationaries (BS3327 of 1970) ean 'SSmm, timesing column is 14mm, the dimension oo Re ‘Smm,” and the squaring column 1s 16mm wi scription column is 55mm AWTimesing Column Dimension Column Squaring Column FIG 1. Description Column Page 1 Timing Column ao Dimension Column Squaring Column Description Column Page 2ay ' ' oreo working-up is sub-divided into squari he pring. Squaring is the product of he des and rd “n the dimension column and the feu ons peoorde column of the taking-off sheet fora particular iin the mesing booked dimension can cither be chiens wo 1s) length (metre), area (m2) or volume (m3). Figeres um on in the timesing column are added together before einiplying with the cee linear, area or cubic dimensions recorded on the dimension column of the taking- offsheet. The value after the multiplication is recorded on the squaring column which is the quantity measured for that particular item of work. ' Abstracting involves transferring the description and squared dimensions from the taking-off paper unto specially ruled abstract paper. These items are collected together under their appropriate trade or work section and arranged in a systematic order. Abstracting includes totally the quantities of each item on the abstract paper, subtracting the deductions and converting the final quantity to the nearest whole unit. FORMATS OF BILL OF QUANTITIES. Usually, measured items are grouped appropriately in sections, in the bill and each section starts with a number of preamble clauses describing the quality of the materials to be used and the standard of workmanship. At the end of the bill of quantities there is a summary to which the section totals are tansferred for addition to give the contract sum. Typical items 1 the summary of the bill of uantities may include, xcavation and earthwork, blockwork, concrete, etc; or in the ormatas: BILLNo. 1, BILLNo. 2, BILLNo. 3, ete. tu con the building industry relies largely on craft ones into tractors, estimators usually prefer the work to 7 a ttades. Contractors often find it convenien! ant Jasterers, halt One or more of the trades ¢.8- ple work ‘reach Toofers, etc. it is advantageous ! AOtrade is grouped in separate sections together with the; preambles so that they can casily be extracted from the ban” photocopied and sent to the various subcontractors for Priei 0 Format | illustrates this type of bill. ing, FORMATI: TRADE SECTION BILL OF QUANTITIR¢g EXCAVATOR Qty _[ Unit [ Rate [Neo A. Excavate to reduce ee levels starting at formate | 15 m’ levels and maximum dept not exceeding 1.50m. B. Excavate foundation trenchds 3 m starting at reduced level and not exceeding 1.50m depth. CONCRETOR C. Plain in-situ concrete 35 | m’ (1:3:6/ 19 aggregate) in foundations D. Reinforcedin-sitconcrete] 4 | m’ (1:2:4/20mm aggregate) incoloumn bases To Collection — Work Sections The standard method of measurement is divided into work | sections and these are now being widely adopted by quantity surveyors instead of trades. The work section do, howevet follow the general order of trades. In some, it is merely a ca8¢ of using the work section headings of the standard metho! ‘ measurement, e.g. excavation and earthwork, concrete Wor and brickwork i.e, three work sections instead of two tra of The main exception to this approach is the work section ° anork and other floor, wall and ceiling finisho« te ae ha abs hic cot “But it should be noted that there is no reason why th ‘ ect! " should not be sub-divided into trades for the benefit of sr imatoF Anexample of this bill is shown in format 2. d! foRMAT 2: WORK SECTION BILL OF QUANTITIES EXCAVATOR Qty | Unit | Rate }N | K vation And Earthwork It Excavate For Foundation | 45 ' Starting At Formation L.50m And Not Exceeding 1.5m Depth. B. Return, Fill And Ram | 17 m Selected Excavated Material Around Foundation. C. Beds Of Approved Soft | g5 m Late Rite Filling To Make Up Levels Under Well Rammed And Consolidated Brickwork And Block Work | 30 m D. 150mm Sandcrete Hollow Block Work Incement And Sand Mortar (1:6) E. 225mm ditto 2 collection ie eo iments 1 element: ig /S method, the selecti resent functional elements i , the selections rep’ © parts of the building which always perform the same tion irrespective of the type of construction. For example,f provides horizontal protection from the a roo! ion i Weather truction is used, Therefo es ans hat form of constr : ane EGE the roof are billed aia a billed tage cons' tion of roof, The items within eac| Section or dee in one oof element may consist of asphalt roofing, seregge 8, aid pecaal concrete hollow slab roof and &, bed; : Concrete Cased tt is, beams set out under suitable headings, eq] No lems , this form is the most Convenient for the Purpos cota cost data for cost analysis and cost planning mu ma popular among estimators, since there 1S a great deal repetition due to the appearance of the same of works different elements. This type of bill is illustrated by format 3 , ot FORMAT 3: ELEMENTALBILLOF QUANTITIEs EXCAVATOR Element No.3 External and internal walls Sandcrete hollow block work in cement and sand mortar (1:6) A. 225mm wall B. 150mm dilto C. Extra over 22mm lockwall for solid top course D. Ditto 150mm E. 250mm approved | 15 Pattern screen wall To summary—« tional = Ope perational bill is a form of tender document which has een developed by the Building Research Station in the United Kingdom. The bill is set out in operational items i.e. in the way the work is to be carried out on site. Operations may be scribed as the work done by a man or gang of men during some definite stage in the building process. The sequence of operations is given in the bill on a “precedence diagram” which indicates their relationship to one another. The operational bill does not follow the principles of measurement laid down by the standard method of measurement of building works in that the content of each operation is given_as an item against which the estimator inserts a lump sum price based on the time required for an appropriate gang of men to carry out the work. Materials are given separately and a breakdown of the total quantity is listed toassist the contractor in arriving at his estimate. Itis however, possible to measure the work in accordance with the standard method of measurement of building works and arrange the items in the order of operational bill should this be desired. The operational bill requires a full pre-planned, design and the requirements of a precedence diagram are new areas; the preparation which is a new activity for quantity surveyors and therefore calls for a detailed knowledge of site procedures. Format 4 is an abstract of this type of bill. The Sequence of operations on site is not binding on the contractor, nevertheless, a precedence diagram and estimated labour Tequirements are both necessary information for the Preparation ofa critical path analysis for the project.= --- ~> XYANLITIES Operation No. 6 Construct Blockwork in Foundations Labour A. Construct Blockwork in cement and sand mortar including filling with weak concrete G gang s See and unskilled labourers will take 50 hours). 1,500.00 Materials B. 225x225x450mm Sandcrete hollow block (4400 Nos) 500.00 C. Cement and sand (1:6) for ber 1,500.00 building blocks 100.00 D. ieee concrete (1:3:6/19mm_ aggregate) 6,600.00 for filling To Collection Activity ue work in an activity bill is grouped in more or less the same order as the operational bill although, traditional units 0 measurement are used, e.g. brickwork — sq. metres, structural qinbers— in meters, etc, ile the idea of the operational bill was accepted by many # an incommae arrangement majority of estimators found | with the normally accepted estimating methodsactivity bill was therefore develo, ed t ide ” disadvantages of the Operation fe ment aie oe q Trangement along with its of measurement acceptable to the estimators ss fe hon intee ators. An abstract FORMATS: ACTIVITY BILLOF QUANTITIES Operation No. 6 A. Construct 225 x 225 x 450mm _sandcrete hollow block work in cement and sand mortar (1:6) in foundations B. Fill Cavity of block work with weak in- situ concrete (1:3:6/19mm aggregate) as the work proceeds. To Collection At present, there are two schools of thought petitive i data which should be made available to : ao Mae lest agree that he should be furnished wit ‘ ay ae tfering _ information regarding the contract ut tbe made available. opinions as to when this information should De ee a icing first opinion favours maximere ational bill. The second Stage and this ultimately means an operatior al bil nd this can avours the ideas of the right informant” UN cade bills for Loe a u of ss er cost analysis, and tendering purposes, elemeactivity bills for management purposes. : : mputer, facility this is no great problem a Where there alt arrangements can all be produced from aset of the di ions. As far as both operational and activity bills are paneer the greatest problem is matching the order operations to what favoured by the contractor selected for the job. For this reasons, they have proved most successful onl where the contract has been negotiated with the contractor, PURPOSE OF BILLOF QUANTITIES ' The following are some of the main purpose of Bill of Quantities in contract administration: I. _ It enables all the contracts tendering for a contract to have a uniform basis for pricing and exactly the same information. ii. It provide a coordinated lists of descriptions and quantities to enable contractors prepare tenders efficiently and accurately. iii. It provides a consistent basis for obtaining competitive bids iv. Itprompts the clients and design team to finalize most project particulars before the bill is prepared. V. It provides the basis for preparation of cash-flow forecasts. vi. It provides the basis for valuation of work executed __ _ forthe purpose of interim payment. Me Also Provide basis for valuation of variations and - adjustment for final account. viii. Itisa source of real-time cost data, which can be used meee, a, pe of future building, Industrial projects, It could form a checklist for ordinary materials and ee and also assessing labour requirements ni Programming of work. ix,