The details about bills of quantities

With the measurement of quantities, the total price can be evaluated more elaborately & precisely to give cost feedback on the job, that at the same time can be applied numerically in cost planning of other works.

Bills of quantities offer the best possible ways to manage the cost of variations in the contract. It is extensively utilized for various post-tender work like material scheduling; construction planning; cost analysis; and cost planning.

The method of working out the quantities prior to tender is a crucial test regarding what is drawn and stated can in fact be built. By examining the drawings and reviewing the construction in detail is definitely helpful in recognizing the issues which may be omitted initially.

The direct costs & indirect costs should be taken into consideration for determining the entire cost of the project which are included in various segments of the BOQ.

As the cost is identified prior to commencement of the construction, a superior level of price certainty is maintained for the construction project.

Facilitates to provide a low tender price.
Accommodates with design changes and assists the cost management process.
Provides superior quality of tender document.

Minimize the risk of contractors managing the information in the BQ for their own purposes.
Bypass the risks with regard to both time and cost since the projects are calculated on the basis of the overall floor area.
The valuation of progress payment becomes simple with detail information as given in BQ.

May pass up the tendency of contractor to build up a conspire group and bid high for projects.

Video Source: Civil Engineer

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.constructioncost.co
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Download Civil Engineering Building Codes

National Building code is actually bunch of rules which signifies the minimum standards of constructed as well as non-constructed objects. The main reason of building codes are to defend public health, safety and general welfare as they narrate to the construction and tenancy of buildings and structures.

The building code becomes law of an existing jurisdiction when officially enacted by the proper governmental or private authority. It has become law now.

Building codes square measure usually meant to be applied by architects, engineers, constructors and regulators however are used for numerous functions by safety inspectors, environmental scientists, land developers, subcontractors, and makers of building merchandise and materials, insurance firms.

The codes regulation the planning and construction of structures wherever adopted into law. Codes in developed western nations may be quite advanced and complete. They began in past and are developing ever since. Within the USA the most codes square measure the International industrial or Residential Code [ICC/IRC], electrical codes and plumbing, mechanical codes. Fifty states and also the District of Columbia have adopted the I-Codes at the state or territorial level.

Different codes could embody fireplace, health, transportation, producing, and different regulations/regulators/testers like UL; Underwriters Labs. In essence they're minimum standards of style and implementation.

Designers use ICC/IRC standards out of considerable reference books throughout style. Building departments review plans submitted to them before construction, issue permits and inspectors verify compliance to those standards at the positioning throughout construction.

There square measure usually further codes or sections of constant code that have a lot of specific needs that apply to dwellings or places of business and special construction objects like canopies, signs, pedestrian walkways, parking tons, and radio and TV antennas.

• Download - National Building Code (Group 1)
• Download - National Building Code (Group 2)
• Download - National Building Code (Group 3)
• Download - National Building Code (Group 4)
• Download - National Building Code (Group 5)

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Published By

Rajib Dey

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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30-story building built in 15 days

The Chinese sustainable building company, Broad Group, has yet attempted another impossible feat, building a 30-story tall hotel prototype in 360 hours, after building a 15-story building in a week earlier in 2011.

You may ask why in a hurry, and is it safe? The statistics in the video can put you in good faith. Prefabricated modular buildings has many advantages over conventional buildings.

The building was built over last Christmas time and finished before New Years Eve of 2012.

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Published By

Arka Roy

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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Construction Specifications

A specification (often abbreviated as spec) can be termed as a type of a technical standard to be referenced by a contract or procurement document. It contains the necessary details concerning the specific requirements to be persuaded by a material, product, or service. The specifications are considered very important for suppliers, purchasers, and users of materials, products, or services in engineering, manufacturing, and business as these specifications cover up a extensive collection of general issues like definitions, bidding requirements, legal responsibilities, claims & payments; with details on specific items with respect to all construction project.

CSI (Construction Specifications Institute) is a renowned association that provides the standardization of construction language related with building specifications. CSI offers prearranged instructions for composing specification in their Project Resource Manual. CSI published MasterFormat, an indexing system for categorizing construction data as well as construction specifications. It consists of 50 Divisions, to be applied for integrating facility life cycle and maintenance information into the building knowledge base. Almost the entire CSI approved sections contain performance and safety obligations produced by agencies like the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and several other federal and professional organizations. CSI also publish GreenFormat, an online database that includes sustainable product attributes. Manufacturers associated with the construction industry will be able to register product information based on 5 categories in a widespread online questionnaire. All kinds of product information referenced by MasterFormat divisions and titles will be available to designers, specifiers, and building constructors. Given below the detailed lists of construction specifications :-

General Requirements - Division 01

This specification will include particular administrative and procedural requisites that belong to all of the Technical Specification sections. The General Requirements consist of specifics relevant directly to a particular project and written independently for each project. These will develop the expansive administrative and procedural conditions inscripted in the General and Supplementary Conditions documents. These will be applicable to the work of ALL Technical Specification sections. This document also sum ups the scope of work, exercise of the site, owner occupancy of building throughout construction, Phased construction activities, numerous prime contract requisites and eliminations and additions to be connected with the Plans. The General Requirements narrate the Contractor's administrative, procedural and other activities which should be submitted by the Contractor. In General Requirements section the following categories will be available.

Administrative

01010 Summary
01020 Allowances
01030 Alternates
01040 Coordination
01060 Regulatory Requirements
01080 Identification Systems
01090 References
Procedural
01025 Measurement and Payment
01035 Modification Procedures
01050 Field Engineering
01100 Special Project Procedures
01200 Project Meetings
01300 Submittals such as Construction Schedule, Logs
01400 Quality Control
01600 Material and Equipment
01650 Facility Startup/Commissioning
01700 Contract Closeout
01800 Maintenance
Temporary Activities
01500 Temporary Facilities
The Contractor's Responsibility is to comprise these items in Overhead.
Technical Specifications
Divisions 02 - 16 is known as the Technical Specifications. These construction specifications consist of the written description of the specific requirements regarding with a specific product or system. The specification provisions characterize and set up the quality level processes, standards of work and material standards. Each subsection will describe the scope, technical requirements, performance requirements, material suppliers, and quality requirements. The Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) has build up the following standard MasterFormat numbering system that includes the following Continue

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Published By

Tuhin Maity

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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70% Global Construction Growth Expected by 2025

Based on the research and analysis by Global Construction Perspectives and Oxford Economics, the world’s largest construction markets rank in the year 2025 are expected to be China, U.S., India, Japan, Indonesia and Russia.

This report, sponsored by Aconex, estimates that the construction volume all over the globe will grow up to $15.0 trillion in 2025, as the industry’s contribution to the worldwide gross domestic product (GDP) increases from 12.2% to 13.5%.

Global Construction 2025 considers construction markets in 46 countries that create 85% of world output. It is a precise report with 328 pages including 683 charts and tables, besides the executive summary offers a comprehensive overview in a quick read.

The regional forecasts of the report reflect the trends seen in the business scenario over the years. As per the report China, India and the U.S. are the three countries that will be accountable for 60% growth from 2012 to 2025, with China being responsible for more than 25% of the global volume. India is expected to grow faster than China, overtaking Japan for the third position. By 2025, the report predicts, Indonesia will grow annually by 6% to attain the position of world’s fifth largest market. Australia is forecasted to expand at 1% annually as the mining activity shifts from infrastructure development to production.

The North American market is also supposed to grow by about 40%, representing a rebound of construction in the U.S. as well as the improved infrastructure and oil & gas related building in Canada. The Western Europe is supposed to contract by almost 5% from its peak in 2007, with the U.K. as the only area of growth, at more than twice the average for the complete region. The Eastern Europe as well is said to grow by almost 5% on an annual basis, driven by Turkey and Russia. Besides, Russia is supposed to become the world’s sixth largest market. The report projects, Qatar and Nigeria as the world’s fastest growing construction markets for 2025 with a growth of 10% and 8% per year, respectively.

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Published By

Tuhin Maity

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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Dawlish Rail Repair to Complete by Mid April

The railway line at Dawlish in Devon, which was severely damaged during the recent storms, is expected to be repaired by the middle of April. It was originally planned to be repaired by March, but further storms delayed the work and besides has caused more damage to the site.

Various seawalls next to the line were destroyed by the recent storm. Part of the temporary seawall of stone-filled shipping containers that was erected after the first part of the seawall collapsed at the start of the month, was also destroyed.

The Dawlish railway line is considered as a significant link between London and the far south-west of England. The route managing director of Network Rail Western, Patrick Hallgate, said that its engineers would be "working night and day" to complete the work.

Managing director of the First Great Western train company, Mark Hopwood, said that it will run trains between Exeter and London and between Newton Abbot and Penzance joined by bus services. He also added that this will permit them to repair the train services that link London and Exeter with Torbay, Plymouth and Cornwall.

Network Rail is putting efforts by working round the clock to open the line so that the services can be resumed at the earliest. Till the reopening of the lines, the train services are running between Exeter and London and between Newton Abbot and Penzance. Besides, bus services are linking these stops for the convenience of the passengers.

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Published By

Tuhin Maity

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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Labour Cost Estimation

Labour cost estimation helps in understanding how much hiring and paying a labour influences the employer’s benefits costs, insurance premiums, payroll tax contributions and others. Estimating direct cost estimation includes various methods following which the entire procedure becomes much simpler. Following the below mentioned instructions would help in estimating labour charges accurately and preparing a precise budget for a project:

• It is crucial to estimate the number of labour required to complete the project. The estimation should be created with regard to each phase of construction.
• Apart from number of labour, labour hours required for the completion of each phase of the construction, should also be estimated. Labour hours should be multiplied by the number of workers required to complete each steps. This would help in attaining a detailed list of each step and the probable time needed for completion of each.
• Calculation of the wages paid to the labour ought to be done as wages are a part of direct labour cost. Wages vary for each labour, like an experienced and skilled framer would receive higher wage than an inexperienced helper. Labour hour should be sorted as per wage level and should be assigned to each worker performing the work.
• Before preparing a labour estimation, cost estimator should always consider unforeseen issues that may arise. This helps in handling unknown issues and saves expenses and prevents delay in completing the project. It is one of the most critical part of estimating, one cannot judge what kind of issues may arise and at what level of the construction. If certain material is unavailable, labours at work may not be able to work but nevertheless, they must be paid their wage.
• Non- building labour hours that include, workers sent to get extra materials like, paint, nail etc. should be considered while estimating labour cost and hence a reasonable number of hours for non-building requirements must be added.

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Published by Tuhin Maity
CAD Drafter & Designer
www.quantity-takeoff.com
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Trimble makes an integration among all its estimating software applications

Trimble just introduces software data assimilation aptitude connecting its all planning, estimating and management software applications. The general contractors as well as capital construction project owners will now be capable of developing more preciousness and clarity regarding conceptual, detailed time and cost-modeling estimates. Trimble is introducing most updated five new software versions under Trimble Buildings' Design-Build-Operate (DBO) portfolio offering huge scopes to plan, record and acquire cost and work frameworks before, during and after construction projects. These newly launched products will facilitate the general and building contractors to retain their projects on track, on schedule, and within budget.

The details of the newly launched software applications are given below :

• WinEst 15.0 -- It is a database-motivated software that includes a extremely adjustable spreadsheet for generating, fine-tuning and providing cost estimates.

• Modelogix 3.2 – It is ideal for accumulating and evaluating past-project data and creating extensive cost models for forthcoming projects.

• Prolog 9.6.1 – It is a project-management and cost-control software which provides great benefits to general contractors (GCs) and construction managers by systematizing project workflows and giving access to information from any place.

• Proliance 5.5 Office Application Pack – Microsoft Office extensions for Proliance software, amalgamating capital planning, program as well as project management skills. 

• Vico Office 4.2 – It is a virtual construction software, expanding 3D models with constructability analysis and coordination, location-based quantity takeoff, 4D (time) scheduling and production control, and 5D (cost) estimating.

These new versions of WinEst, Modelogix, Prolog, Proliance and Vico Office and any further information regarding these products can be accessed at www.meridiansystems.com. Updates on Vico Office will be available at www.vicosoftware.com.

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Published by Rajib Dey
Content Writer
www.quantity-takeoff.com (An information hub for construction estimating)

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Construction Scheduling is the most effective method to streamline a construction process

Planning, scheduling and control of the functions, operations, and resources related with a construction project can bring great benefits to the construction ranging from conception to post-construction analysis.

A construction schedule consists of a sequence of work tasks that are linked to each other in a logical manner. With a well-planned and realistic schedule that includes as many variables as possible the construction managers get updated with the new information. They are able to make adjustments instantly by rearranging the schedules and reduce hindrances and streamline a construction process.

The schedule is also utilized to track bids from original invitation or analysis during the hand over of the final bid.

Scheduling is needed in the following cases of a construction project :-
a) hierarchical breakdown of the project
b) integration of risk and improbability during activity time and cost estimate
c) modeling of dynamically allocated resources.

There are many factors like size and degree of difficulty of the structure, site and weather conditions, material and contractor accessibility, crew sizes, effective scheduling and communication, the number, timeliness, and complexity of the changes to the original contract etc. which may affect the actual scheduling of completion for a specific project.

The construction scheduling can bring so many benefits to contractors - find out critical paths and their dependencies for completion of a project on schedule, set up a comprehensible storage area of requirements, a workflow to attain it and follow any alterations to the set path, help track supply orders and control construction personnel as well as sub contractors.

With over ten years of experience in construction & scheduling and by applying state of the art technologies & cost estimating software, we will provide you a scheduling solution with which you can organize, schedule and control a single or multiple construction projects, take control of the scheduling process, reduce liability by saving Time and $ Money on your communication overhead.

We will help to complete every project on time and ensure you meet those project deadlines, pass your inspection.

In brief, our service can bring you the following benefits:-
• Control Time
• Reduce Liability
• Generate accountability and increased Profits
• Automate the projects control deliveries
• Capability to know your cash flow
• Increase Communication and manage the workload
• Adjust Profit Margins Resource Management
• Reach Purchasing Power Satisfied Customers

Rajib Dey
The construction estimating