Managing costs and maximizing value are crucial to the success of any construction project. It starts when testing the feasibility of a project and runs through its development to the completion and handover of the finished building.
To do this successfully requires experts to use their construction knowledge, experience of strategic and detailed cost planning, and knowledge of procuring construction services.
How we can help
Our Quantity Surveyors are highly trained in offering expert advice on construction costs and procurement options. We have an in-depth knowledge of construction design, costs and programs as well as having the all-important interpersonal and team-building skills needed on all projects.
Our Quantity Surveyors and Project Managers can also work seamlessly to provide a ‘one stop shop’ for your entire project and ensure it is delivered on time and to budget.
We have significant experience in the whole range of quantity surveying skills, such as design economics, procurement, contract administration, commercial management and life-cycle costing. Some examples of how we can help you include:
• Cost Advice
• Cost Planning
• Tendering Documents
• Obtaining Tenders
• Cost Control
• Valuations
• Final Accounts
Cost advice
At the very start of a scheme we can indicate the ‘ball park’ figure for a proposed project or say what you could achieve for a given budget. We can then work with you to prepare the budget for the project and then preliminary estimates to allow the financial impact of design decisions to be clearly understood.
Cost planning
We can prepare a cost plan from the designer’s preliminary drawings that allocates costs to a building’s different functional elements so you can understand the apportionment of expenditure over the various elements. We can also provide costings for possible design changes so their budget implications can be appreciated.
Bills of quantities
We have significant experience of quickly preparing bills of quantities so that all tendering contractors can price a project on the same basis. We can also use these bills as a basis for the project’s financial management, especially cost changes. We can prepare bills in trade packages or elementally and in a format that is easily imported into bespoke estimating systems.
Obtaining tenders
Once we understand your requirements for the project, we can recommend the most appropriate tender process for you and advise on the most suitable contractors to be invited to submit tenders. We can then help to assess these and help you choose the best contractor for the project.
Cost control
Once your project is underway, we can use the cost plan to estimate the cost of any proposed changes and their impact on your project’s overall cost. This will allow you to make any appropriate design decisions so that the overall project budget remains acceptable to you.
Valuations
We will measure and value the work carried out during a period and recommend a contractor’s payment on account to your project manager. This means that payments will only be made for work that has been performed and that is in accordance with the contract.
Final accounts
We will calculate the final cost of your project based on the original contract sum, as adjusted by any authorized changes, and agree this with the contractor. We can also provide you with any detailed analyses of the final account that you may require.