General Flashcards
What are the purposes of Cost Planning?
- Ensure clients are provided with value for money
- Make clients and designers aware of the costs of the brief
- Guide designers so that they can design within budget
- Keep expenditure within the cost limit set
- Allows the client to make informed decisions
Why is location a factor when producing an estimate?
- Labour rates are higher in certain locations
- Access issues can lead to increased supply costs / material availability issues
- City centre projects can bring their own constraints i.e. storage space, road closures, affect methodology
How would you put a budget estimate together?
I would review the information available and speak to the Client to establish the project details, including:
- Property function
- Location
- Complexity of design
- Level of finish the client wants to achieve
- Rough indication of size
I would then use this information to calculate the cost on a m2 or functional basis.
What would you exclude from a cost estimate?
Site acquisition fees
Professional / legal fees
Insurances
VAT
S106 - mitigate impact on community / infrastructure e.g schools, etc
S278 - modifications of highways network e.g roundabouts
What is BWIC?
Work that is necessary as a result of other works. E.g:
Cutting, forming or drilling through walls, floors or ceilings to allow services to pass.
Ensuring structural integrity is not compromised.
Chasing block and brickwork for conduits or pipes.
Lifting and replacing floors.
Asbestos removal.
Plant moving services.
Sealing holes.
Reinstating fire, thermal or acoustic separation.
Constructing plinths.
Making good plaster and other finishes.
Maintenance access requirements such as access panels, decking, platforms, cat ladders and handrails.
What is first principles estimating?
Building up rates based on tasks / activities and pricing the constituent parts of that task / activity i.e. plant, labour, materials, consumables, OH&P
What is the minimum level of information you need to produce an estimate?
- Location
- Major site constraints
- Type of building
- Plans or areas
- Number of functional units
- Level of specification
- Programme i.e. start or end dates to allow for assessment of inflation.
What do your cost plans typically include?
- Measured works
- Preliminaries
- Risk allowances
- Inflation (if it isn’t excluded)
- Professional fees (unless excluded)
- Estimated contract duration
What is a base date?
NRM1 - for costs the base date is the date where rates and prices within the analysis are taken
Tender base date - depending on the contract. FDIC sets at 28 days before the latest date for tender submission. JCT D&B suggests 10 days prior to the date of return of tenders
How do you control costs of the design?
By breaking down the cost limit of the project set by my order of cost estimates into elemental target costs within my cost plans. This is then circulated to the design team to ensure they are aware of the constraints within which they can develop the design. As the design is developed I review the information and, if this causes a cost target to be exceeded, ensure this is raised with the relevant designer and, if necessary, the client to allow an informed decision to be made.
What would you typically include within a cost plan report?
- Executive Summary
- Status of the cost plan i.e. formal cost plan 1, 2 or 3
- Base date of the cost plan
- Basis of the cost plan i.e. information used
- Cost plan
- Assumptions, exclusions and clarifications
- Any changes since the previous report
- Value engineering options if necessary
What is the purpose if a cost estimate?
To establish if the proposed project is affordable, achievable and establish a realistic cost limit
Cost limit being the maximum expenditure the client is willing to make
What is benchmarking?
Benchmarking identifies what has been achieved in reality, recording factual outputs from completed projects to create realistic cost targets for similar planned projects. This then allows new achievable targets which are an improvement on what has gone before. Benchmarking can be seen as “the process of collecting, comparing and analysing data to identify the ‘best in class’ and the range of potential outcomes.”
Benchmarking vs Cost Analysis?
Benchmarking is the process of collecting, comparing and analysing data taken from cost analyses to formulate a range of potential outcomes, adjusting the data as appropriate to ensure it is on a like for like basis.
Cost analysis is an examination of the distribution of cost across the elements of a project. A benchmarking exercise is made up of a number of cost analyses
