SMM7 bills of quantities for industrial redevelopment

We supported a main contractor tendering for an industrial redevelopment valued at around £10 million. The scheme involved four new buildings across three sites. We prepared three bills of quantities, combining detailed measurement with clearly identified pricing points and a record of the assumptions the estimating team needed to consider.

Background

The proposed works involved demolishing existing industrial buildings and constructing replacement units with associated drainage, landscaping, utilities and access works. The client needed quantities in a form that fitted its estimating process and allowed each site to be priced separately.

The tender information brought together architectural, structural, civil engineering and building services designs, specifications and site investigation reports. Some details were incomplete or inconsistent. Our role was to turn this information into usable bills while making the basis of the measurement clear, so that outstanding design matters could be considered in the tender.

Our approach

We first agreed the bill structure, measurement rules and interfaces with the client. SMM7 was the required basis, with electronic files suitable for its estimating system as well as Excel outputs. Groundworks, partitions and warehouse slabs were identified as priority packages.

We measured the drawings in Bluebeam and developed the bills in Vector, adding descriptions that explained the work to be priced. The three bills followed a consistent structure covering substructures, internal works, finishes and external works. Specialist packages, including the frame, main roofing, cladding and building services, were identified as pricing points where the client intended to obtain package quotations.

This distinction needed care at the boundaries between trades. For example, we clarified whether a steel flashing belonged with the cladding package or the blockwork inner skin, and how fire stopping, rainwater drainage and builderswork were to be allowed for. We also recorded where an internal fit-out sat under a separate contract. These decisions helped the estimator understand where each allowance belonged.

We maintained a schedule containing more than 70 queries and clarifications, with the client's responses recorded alongside them. Missing details were raised as the measurement progressed. Where detail remained incomplete, we recorded the assumption, exclusion or separate pricing allowance so the estimator could decide how to address it in the bid.

Groundworks required particular attention to the relationship between the drawings and the site investigation information. We recorded assumptions about excavation, fill, foundation reinforcement and pavement construction, and explained the basis of the quantities when the client queried them. The bills distinguished measured work from provisional quantities for matters such as breaking out obstructions and working around existing services.

The external works extended beyond general landscaping. We measured drainage by pipe size and trench depth, with chambers, bedding, surrounds and associated work described separately. Highway access alterations under Section 278 were also set out as a separate section, including changes to the existing entrance, kerbs, footpaths and road surfacing.

We provided interim drafts and responded to the client's detailed review. Revised Excel sections marked amendments clearly, while the document register identified the design information and tender addenda used. The supporting take-off drawings retained the measurement behind the bills.

Outcome

We delivered three bills of quantities with supporting measurement drawings, a document register, and the schedule of queries, clarifications and exclusions. The electronic and Excel outputs gave the client a structured basis for pricing each site and incorporating the measured work into its tender.

The estimating team could see which work had been measured, which packages required separate quotations, and where assumptions or incomplete information still needed a commercial decision. The supporting records also allowed it to trace the quantities and review the basis of its allowances.