June_1971 — Page 40

Standardising

Bills of Quantities

by Alex Bunting, M Arch, DPA, FRICS, ASVA

Lecturer in Building Economics, Department of Architecture, University of Hong Kong.

Alex Bunting

SOME years ago the RICS Working Party on Quantity Surveying Tech- niques arrived at a conclusion that: "The principal use of the bill is to ob- tain competitive tenders: for this pur- pose bills should be as standardised as possible in method of measurement, format and layout'.'

In most countries which have adopted something similar to the 'Bri- tish' style of building contract docu- mentation the first requirement of the Working Party has been achieved by the creation and use of a recognised 'method of measurement'. On first con- sideration this would perhaps appear to be the most difficult to reach of the Working Party's suggestions, yet while most areas have gained some measure of success in this requirement, it is un- common to find any great measure of attainment in its other proposals the standardisation of format and lay-

out.

An examination of a number of bills of quantities from any particular area will

will reveal a variety of ap- proaches, and while the professional quantity surveyor may regard these varieties of approach as matters of almost trifling insignificance, it must always be borne in mind by the sur- veyor that it is his duty to serve the building industry, and any matter - however trifling - which detracts from the quality of the service provided, should be identified, considered, and, if possible, amended to improve the efficiency of the whole operation.

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A typical bill of quantities usually contains a number of reasonably clear- ly defined features. For example, it is fairly usual to find that a bill of quan- tities follows a sequence somewhat tities follows a sequence somewhat after the following.

Instructions to persons tendering Articles of agreement Conditions of contract Bill No. 1 ... Preliminaries Bill No. 2 Preambles Bill No. 3 ... Trade Bills Bill No. 4 ... Site Works

(some London trained quantity sur- veyors habitually refer to the pre- liminaries simply as 'bill number one'), but tradition should be abandoned if its continuance only serves to create confusion.

The confusion may be heightened when reference to a particular item in a bill is necessary. A method com- monly in use is to give each item on a bill page a letter from the alphabet, the first item on each page being given the letter 'A'. To identify a particular

Bill No. 5... Provisional and P.C. item the information required is bill Sums

General Summary

This general sequence is derived from a popular formula for bills of quantities produced in the South of England, and, even without the aid of an index, anyone versed in the use of the bill may hope to find, for example, the 'preliminaries' section without much difficulty when he encounters a new bill.

—

While this is true, difficulties may be created by the ways in which the various sections themselves are ar- ranged even the use of the word bill' to describe a part of a bill of quantities is a possible source of mis- understanding. There is no reason for the persistent use of the word 'bill' to describe part of a whole bill. The parts could be called 'sections' or simply 'parts'... and possibly not given any number.

This would mean a departure from conventional South of England jargon

number, page number, item letter. This is an unnecessary complication; one which could possibly lead to errors.

In some countries the system of numbering the bill items in simple numerical sequence is adopted*: this means that each number is identified by a number only with no need to refer to bill or page numbers. This system may have some 'nuisance' at- tached to it during the bill compilation process, but it may easily be carried out by a low salaried junior.

Variations

One of the difficulties quite com- monly encountered in using a bill of quantities is that of finding some parti- cular piece of information within the document. This difficulty is brought about to some extent by the wide.

* This system is often a necessity when the computer is used in bill pro- duction.

Far East BUILDER, June 1971

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variety of names which may be found at the headings of trade bills.

There is a broad general framework - the sequence of trades usually fol- lows the sequence of trades in the method of measurement, and this sequence is, in turn, broadly based on the sequence of trades in the conven- tional programme of construction, but the clarity of this sequence is becom- ing blurred with the progress of the technology of construction.

For example, some 50 years ago, the sequence of trades in a typical building could be:

Excavator

Concretor

Mason and Bricklayer Carpenter and Joiner Roofer

Ironmonger

Plumber

Plasterer

Painter

With the passage of time and the changes of technology the sequence has altered and new 'trades' such as bituminous felt roofer have appeared, while other traditional trades, such as 'mason' have usually diminished in financial significance, and all but dis- appeared.

Variations in trade headings may be found within British practice, be- cause the ways in which the various trades have combined varies in differ- ent parts of Britain, and this is reflect- ed in the ways in which bills of quanti- ties are presented.

For example, it is not uncommon to find the trades of Carpenter, Joiner, and Ironmonger in the same bill. This is quite logical, as it is likely that the carpenter and joiner work will be done by the same firm, and it is equally like- ly that the joiner will 'fit and fix' the ironmongery.

No uniformity

In some parts of Britain it is not uncommon to find a 'Builder Work' bill, in which all excavator, concretor, bricklayer, and drainlayer work is col- lected together... because it is anti- cipated that the same contractor will carry out all these phases of the work. Some trades found in bills in some parts of Britain will simply not appear in bills from other areas. The 'trades' of Pavior and Roofer found in some bills would be replaced in other areas by placing the work of the pavior in the Bricklayer or Plasterer bill and by including the Roofer under appro-

Far East BUILDER, June 1971