QUANTITY SURVEYING PRACTICE

By the same author Building Quantities Explained, Third Edition Advanced Building Measurement Building Economics, Third Edition Building Technology, Second Edition Building Maintenance Civil Engineering Quantities, Third Edition Civil Engineering Specification, Second Edition Local Government Explained Municipal Engineering Practice Planned Expansion of Country Towns (George Godwin) Outdoor Recreation and the Urban Environment

QUANTITY SURVEYING

PRACTICE

IVOR H. SEELEY

BSc, MA, PhD, FRICS, CEng, FICE, MCIOB

Emeritus Professor of Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham and Consultant Chartered Quantity Surveyor

M MACMILLAN

© Ivor H. Seeley 1984

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission

First published 1984 by Higher and Further Education Division MACMILLAN PUBliSHERS LTD London and Basingstoke Companies and representatives throughout the world

Typeset in Great Britain by RDL Artset Ltd, Sutton, Surrey

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Seeley, Ivor Quantity surveying practice. 1. Building-Estimates I. Title 692'.5 TH435

ISBN 978-0-333-36858-9 ISBN 978-1-349-17599-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-17599-4

Colour photograph on cover by kind permission of J. A. Story & Partners, Chartered Land Surveyors, Mitcham, Surrey

This book is dedicated to quantity surveyors in private practice, public offices and contracting organisations throughout the world

'The old order changeth, yielding place to new' Alfred Lord Tennyson

Contents

Preface ix

Acknowledgements x

List of Tables xii

1 The Construction Industry 1 Nature and fonn of the industry; nature and scope of construction work; public and private sectors; types of contractor; effect of the construction industry on the national economy; effect of government action on the construction industry; clients' needs; statutory and other requirements; changing constructional techniques; productivity and quality control; trade unions; organisations connected with the con­struction industry; sources of technical infonnation.

2 The Building Team and the Design Process 25 The building team; nature and functions of professional and associated bodies; the design process; the role of the quantity surveyor.

3 Construction Contracts 54 Fixed price contracts; cost reimbursement contracts; target cost contracts; early contractor selection; continuity contracts; joint venture contracts; negotiated contracts; management contracts; design and build contracts; British Property Federation system.

4 Contract Arrangements 82 Tendering procedures; examination and evaluation of tenders; placing of contracts; general contractual arrangements; standard fonns of building and civil engineering contracts; nominated sub-contractors and suppliers; American bidding and contract documentation.

5 Contract Administration 113 Rights and duties of parties; architect's instructions; progress and site meetings and related matters; supervision of work on site; co-ordination of mechanical and electrical engineering services; contractor's program-ming and progressing; interim certificates and payments; liquidated damages; interim valuations.

viii QUANTITY SURVEYING PRACTICE

6 Variations and Final Accounts Adjustment of preliminaries; adjustment of prime cost and provisional sums; dayworks; variations and extras; fmancial statements; final account procedure; fmal certificate.

7 Claims and Insolvencies General background to claims; types of claims; additional cost for loss or expense; origination of claims; preparation of claims; disruption of the works resulting from variations, insolvency of building con tractors; insolvency of employers.

148

182

8 Cost Control of Construction Projects 213 Objectives of design cost control; implementation of design cost control; cost modelling; cost analyses, indices and trends; considera-tion of future costs; post-contract cost control; cost control by the contractor.

9 Quantity Surveying Organisation and Practice 240 Education and training; office and staffmg organisation; private practice; public sector; contracting; partnerships; advertising; appoint-ment of quantity surveyors and their fees; rules of professional conduct; professional negligence and insurance.

10 Future Role of the Quantity Surveyor 272 The changing scene; development appraisal; urban renewal and refur­bishment; mechanical and electrical services engineering; civil engineer-ing; heavy and process engineering; contracting and construction management; project management; life cycle costing; expenditure statements, technical auditing and cost accounting; valuations for insurance; arbitration; overseas work; research and development; use of computers.

Appendix A Formal invitation to tender (NJCC) 305 Appendix B Form oftender (NJCC) 306 Appendix C Agenda for site meeting 307 Appendix D Certificate for payment (RICS) 308 Appendix EValuation certificate (RICS) 309 Appendix F Statement of retention and nominated sub-contractors values

(RICS) 310 Appendix G Final certificate (RIBA) 311 Appendix H Initial cost plan and record of cost checks of social club 312 Appendix J List of probable activities to be performed in a quantity

surveying practice administration 313

Index 314

Preface

This book is aimed primarily at quantity surveying students on degree and diploma courses and those studying for the examinations of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in the Quantity Surveyors Division. Practising quantity surveyors and members and students of allied professions may fmd much of its contents of interest and value.

The many diverse aspects of quantity surveying practice are examined and described, with supporting examples included where it was felt they would be of particular benefit to the student.

A study of the construction industry provides a good backcloth against which the activities of the quantity surveying profession can be considered. The nature and interrelationships of the parties to construction contracts, associated profes­sional and other bodies, the operation of the design process, a comparison of the different contractual and tendering arrangements, and the main standard forms of contract are all considered in sufficient detail to meet students' needs. The contractors' organisational arrangements are also examined, and comparisons made with overseas methods.

These explanatory chapters lead logically into an analysis of the main activities of the quantity surveyor, embracing the preparation of contract documentation, tender invitation and scrutiny, valuation of work in progress, pricing of variations, settlement of claims, cost control of projects and preparation of fmal accounts. The measurement for and preparation of bills of quantities are largely omitted from the book, as this subject is adequately covered in two other books written by the author.

Where the term 'quantity surveyor' is used, this refers to the employer's quantity surveyor as distinct from the contractor's quantity surveyor. Frequent references to the JCT Standard Form relate to the Standard Form of Building Contract 1980 Edition, Private with Quantities. The term 'employer' is generally used in preference to 'client' in order to maintain the same terminology as employed in the JCT Standard Form.

Finally, the book deals with office administration and management, quantity surveying organisation in public, private and contracting offices, partnership arrangements, quantity surveyor appointments and fees, and associated matters, and then leads on to examine the additional activities that the quantity surveyor may be expected to undertake in the future, including heavy and process engineer­ing and project management, and the use of microcomputers in his work.

Nottingham Spring 1984

IVOR H. SEELEY

Acknowledgements

The author is indebted to many quantity surveying offices who gave valuable information in such a ready and helpful way. The following persons and organisa­tions deserve special mention.

C.J. Vickers; E.C. Harris and Partners, Chartered Quantity Surveyors, London G.M. Townsend; Turner and Townsend, Chartered Quantity Surveyors,

Darlington P.R. Simmons and M.F.S. Cable; Stockings and Clarke, Chartered Quantity

Surveyors, Norwich K. Miles, Deputy Director, Quantity Surveying Directorate, Property Services

Agency W.N. Withers, Principal Quantity Surveyor, Greater London Council D. Hoar, Directing Surveyor, Nottinghamshire County Council W.R. Harlow, Chief Quantity Surveyor, Derbyshire County Council D.G. Manning, Chief Building Economist, Portsmouth City Council N.R. Neville, Regional Quantity Surveyor, East Anglian Regional Health

Authority C.S. Toh; C.S. Toh and Sons and Associates, Quantity Surveyors, Hong Kong R.B. Hanna, Government Quantity Surveyor, Public Works Department,

Hong Kong M.L. Smithson; Langdon, Every and Seah, Chartered Quantity Surveyors,

Singapore C.Y. Ng, Chief Quantity Surveyor, Public Works Department, Singapore 0. Gichuiri, Quantity Surveyor, Nairobi W.J.S. Campbell, Chief Quantity Surveyor, Government of Kenya, Ministry

of Works, Nairobi K. Holmes; Holmes, Cook, Hogg and Cardiff, Registered Quantity Surveyors,

Auckland, New Zealand

The author also expresses his gratitude to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors {Surveyors Publications) for kind permission to reproduce the forms in appendices D, E and F, and to the National Joint Consultative Committee for Building to reproduce the forms in appendices A and B. Reproduction of extracts from the JCT80 Standard Form of Building Contract and the RIBA fmal certifi­cate (appendix G) is made with the kind permission of the copyright holder RIBA Publications Ltd. P.S. Hawkins of the Department of Surveying at Trent Polytechnic kindly consented to the use of his diagram of sub-contractor nomina­tion procedures (table 4.4).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xi

The author benefited from and has drawn extensively upon the well establish­ed and instructive published works of The Aqua Group, the Society of Chief Quantity Surveyors in Local Government guide to The Insolvency of Building Contractors, and numerous authoritative reports published by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Various polytechnic surveying departments/sections have assisted with valuable thoughts and ideas, in particular those of Leeds, Portsmouth, Thames and Trent. The author has also benefited considerably from his associations with the University of Hong Kong and the National University of Singapore.

Finally, grateful thanks are due to John Winckler of Macmillan Press Ltd for all his help with the production of the book, Mrs. E.D. Robinson for typing the manuscript so efficiently and expeditiously, and to my wife, once again, for her continuing interest, kindness and patience.

List of Tables

1.1 Employment in the construction industry by size of firm 1.2 Distribution of work between firms 1.3 Wastage of materials on sites 2.1 Plan of work for design team operation 2.2 Maximum number of tenderers for different sized contracts 4.1 Correction of errors in priced bill of quantities 4.2 Report on tenders 4.3 Nominated sub-contract forms 4.4 Sub-contractor nomination procedures 5.1 Matters for which the architect can issue instructions 5.2 Typical architect's instruction 5.3 Typical breakdown of house type contract sum for stage payments 5.4 Typical interim valuation 6.1 Typical on-site costs to be included in Valuation nr. 1 6.2 Breakdown of preliminaries items over contract period 6.3 Typical daywork sheet 6.4 Daywork account 6.5 Variation dimensions book entries 6.6 Variation account sheet 6.7 Summary of variation account 6.8 Financial statement 6.9 Final account summary 7.1 Under-recovery claim 8.1 Examples of exceeded estimates