Design Economics & Cost Planning Flashcards
What are your typical responsibilities on a project?
1) Manage risk allowance expenditure
2) Initiate action to avoid overspend
3) Prepare pricing documents for tendering
4) Evaluation of tender
5) Prepare interim valuations
6) Value variations
7) Negotiate and agree final accounts
8) Manage cash flow
9) Produce cost plans and OCE’s
What are some headings for Main Contractor’s Preliminaries under NRM 2?
1) Employer’s Requirements
2) Site accommodation
3) Site records
4) Completion & post-completion requirements
5) Main Contractor cost items
6) Management and staff
7) Site establishment
8) Temporary services
How do you deal with risk in a cost plan?
1) Percentage
2) Calculated
3)
What does Wall to Floor Ratio demonstrate? What is a good ratio?
Wall to floor measures the overall external wall area compared to the overall floor area, and therefore measures the efficiency of utilising the floor area.
A good ratio is 0.4.
Can you tell me an RICS practice info document you would refer to to assist with Cost Planning?
Cost analysis and benchmarking 2nd edition (August 2024)
PwC Leeds - what was the £ per sq ft, how does this compare to the market and why?
£265/ft2 including Client Directs. Around £150/ft2 for Construction costs, which is slightly higher than what I would typically see for a Cat B fit-out in Leeds, however there was an interconnecting staircase which increased the overall cost.
What are the advantages and disadvantages you should consider when implementing target rates?
The advantages are that it gives the design team something to target to get the project within budget.
The disadvantages is that it is a risky approach if the design team are unable to meet those rates, or if the Client is unwilling to compromise on changes to the scope.
On PwC Manchester, how did you identify that electrical installations were driving the cost?
I split the costs elementally and identified the cost/ft2 were higher than other elements.
Why was there insufficient VE and how did this inform the advice you chose to give?
There was insufficient VE opportunities due to the minimal scope of the project. There was no reduction in cost without compromising on quality or function, and so the only options to get the project to align to the budget was scope reduction or increasing the budget.
What was the outcome as a result of your advice?
The Client reviewed the advantages and disadvantages I proposed and decided to reduce the scope. The project completed late last year within the Client’s budget.
On PwC Leeds, you advised on adjusting the layout of the partitions. Are there any other elements that need to be considered when changing the layout partition?
Services.
How did you produce an elemental cost estimate using floor plans only?
I made assumptions based on benchmarked data and knowledge.
What is value engineering?
An approach that aims to reduce costs while maintaining quality and functionality.
How does value management differ from value engineering?
VM is the overall holistic approach to managing value on a project.
Value engineering is achieving the same quality or function typically at a lower cost.
An example of value management is what is the best mix of different sizes and types of housing units in a residential estate?
