Don’t be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated; you can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps ~ David Lloyd George.
In this section a breakdown is made of different houses in order to determine a perceptual analysis of typical costing elements the cost of completed dwellings. Obviously the costs will vary depending on circumstances. Therefore the cost per square meters is irrelevant and will not be used. The dates of the building contracts vary, going as far back as 2006; there is no limit to the number of building site locations, etc. The variance in the different contracts should however have no or little effect on the perceptual values of the elements in the individual houses.
Traditionally bills of quantities for building contracts, also those for houses, are divided into the following trades, where applicable, for tendering purposes:
- Preliminary and General
- Alterations
- Excavator
- Shuttering and Shoring
- Piling
- Concrete Formwork and Reinforcement
- Precast Concrete
- Bricklayer
- Rubble Walling
- Masonry (Stone. Marble and Slate)
- Waterproofing
- Roofing
- Carpenter and Joiner
- Floor Covering
- Plastic Lining, etc
- Ironmongery
- Metalwork
- Plasterer and Paver
- Tiler
- Plumber and Drain Layer
- Electrician
- Glazier
- Painter
- Road Works
- Fencing
There is no point in discussing the traditional arrangement in further detail for the purpose of house building.
For the purpose of determining the element costs, the priced bill of quantities of twelve completed houses were kindly loaned to us for analyzing. Due to the confidentiality of these documents, which in fact, form part of the contract documents of the different contractors. Also, due to the fact that the documents studied comprised approximately 2600 pages, copies are not included in this study. The background of these contracts is shortly mentioned here:
In most of the houses in the different contracts have the same type of out buildings and the site works measured as a unit. These items were then divided by the number of houses in order to determine a price for an individual house.
The Preliminary and General items in the Bill of Quantities is proportionally added to the different elements. In some contracts for example separate provision was made for the Foreman’s salary, Insurance Policies, Site storage sheds, etc.