Chapter 01 Review of Specifications and Plans/Details

• The ability you need in order to perform efficient and useful quantity survey is the ability to read plans
• Specifications describe the products, materials, and work required by a construction contract.
• Specifications do not include cost, quantity, or drawn information, and so need to be read alongside other information such as quantities, schedules, and drawings.
• Construction specifications are a part of the construction contract.
• Construction specificatins detail the work, materials, and installation required to complete a project
• The Specifications are a subcontractor’s field guide on what materials to use, how to install them, and the desired level of quality.
• Prescriptive specifications provide step-by-step details and instructions on how the types of materials to be used and the desired installation methods.
• General Provisions. These provisions will reference national or state building codes and standards that must be complied with
• Required Products. Lists the type of products and materials required, based on the performance and structural requirements.
• Execution Procedures. Details the methods of installation and how to measure quality or effectiveness.
• Performance Specifications provide all the operations requirements to complete a project.
• Instead of giving detailed instructions on how to achieve the desired final product, performance specifications will describe the anticipated result.
• Performance specs will invariably include extensive testing provisions to ensure that the project meets all the operational requirements
• Proprietary Specifications are the rarest of the breed
• Proprietary Specifications are used when a specific type of product or material is required for installation.
• Proprietary specs are used when doing renovations to an existing structure, and the client needs to match the improvements to the completed portion.
• Quantity Surveying is concerned with controlling and managing the costs of construction projects
• The total probable expenses to be incurred is known as estimated cost of work
• Under Estimate: May result to client setting an unpleasant shock when tenders are opened and drastically modifying or abandoning the work at an early stage
• Over Estimate: May lose job or the client
• Purpose of Estimating

  To give a reasonable idea of the product cost

  It helps the client decide whether the work can be undertaken as proposed or curtailed or abandoned
• Factors to be considered when doing estimates:

  Materials

  Labor

  Plant

  Time
• Plant pertains to the kind of equipment and machinery needed to compute work
• Approximate or Finger Roll: To have an approximate cost in short time
• Detailed Estimates: Best and reliable form of estimates
• Two Ways of Detailed Estimates:

  Unit Quantity Method

  Total Quantity Method
• Unit Quantity Method: Divided into as many operations or items required
• Total Quantity Method: Taken out in the proper unit of measurement
• Bill of Quantities: A document used in tendering in the construction industry in which materials, parts, and labour (and their costs) are itemized.
• Bill of Materials: A list of the raw materials, sub-assemblies, intermediate assemblies, sub-components, parts, and the quantities of each needed to manufacture an end product.
• BOQ: Basis for bidding
• BOQ: Usually done by Architects and Engineers
• BOQ: Based on per unit of work
• BOM: Basis for purchasing
• BOM: Usually done by the General Contractor
• BOM: Very detailed list of actual materials to be used or to be ordered in the depot
• Bid Solicitation: In this step, the project owner or general contractor sends out the invitation for bid (IFB), request for proposal (RFP), or request to tender (RTT)
• Invitation for Bid, Request for Proposal, Request to Tender: These comprehensive documents will describe the project in detail
• An owner must make three important decisions before issuing the bid solicitation:

  The project delivery method

  Procurement method

  Contract type
• Subcontracting: After the owner sends out a bid solicitation, the subcontractors will review the project scope. Then, the subcontractors will bid for certain areas of work.