Bills of quantities for a university research facility

We supported a main contractor tendering for a specialist university research facility on the site of former modular buildings. We prepared ten bill sections aligned to the tender pricing structure, with detailed measurement of the building and external works and explicit pricing points for specialist packages and gaps in the design information.

Background

The client had a four week tender period and needed bills that its estimating team could use alongside the employer’s Contract Sum Analysis. Groundworks were the first priority, followed by internal finishes. The scheme included a specialist cleanroom, building services and external plant, with several interfaces between the main building works and specialist packages.

The proposed reuse of existing modular foundations added a particular measurement challenge. The tender information needed to be read alongside the existing site layout, foundation details and enabling works assumptions. Some drainage and foundation information was incomplete, so the quantities also needed to show where the estimator would have to obtain clarification or make a pricing allowance.

Our approach

We agreed SMM7 as the measurement basis and arranged the bills to follow the Contract Sum Analysis. The electronic outputs were prepared in CITE and Excel formats for use with the client’s estimating system. A package checklist established which work needed detailed measurement and which elements would be priced through specialist quotations.

The cleanroom required careful definition of the boundary between specialist and general building work. We clarified the treatment of its walls, doors, ceilings, floor finishes and services, and distinguished these pricing points from the measured work elsewhere. Structural steelwork, roofing and principal building services were also treated as specialist packages, with associated work identified separately where required.

For the substructure, we measured new foundations and alterations around the retained foundations, together with the suspended composite floor construction of around 300 m². The query process addressed differences between drawing levels, the extent of earlier foundation removal, missing reinforcement details and the treatment of existing plinths. Agreed assumptions were recorded so the estimator could understand the basis of each allowance.

We maintained a schedule of 60 queries and clarifications. One example concerned existing pavement that required investigation before its suitability for heavier vehicle loading could be confirmed. We identified a separate pricing point for that investigation. This kept a requirement contained in the design notes visible in the bill.

Drainage needed a different approach because some runs lacked pipe sizes, depths and bedding details. We measured the runs separately and identified the missing specifications, allowing the client to raise tender queries and complete the descriptions as information became available. Later revisions incorporated additional drainage details and expanded the attenuation tank description, while retaining qualifications where information was still outstanding.

The same discipline carried through the internal works. We separated general finishes from cleanroom requirements and described items such as raised access flooring, doors, joinery and sanitary installations in their relevant sections. Marked up drawings, measurement backups and a document register provided a route from the bill items to the information used.

Outcome

We delivered the ten bill sections with CITE and Excel outputs, supporting measurement records, a drawing register and the queries and clarifications schedule. The documents brought the measured scope and specialist pricing points into the structure required for the client’s tender.

The estimating team had a basis for pricing the works that showed both the quantities and the assumptions behind them. It could identify package boundaries, follow up missing information and incorporate later clarifications without losing sight of the original measurement.