Quantity Surveying Project — SEG Awards Occupational Qualification Construction & Building Services Revision
This element assesses the learner's ability to integrate core quantity surveying competencies across the lifecycle of a complex construction project. Learn
Topic Synopsis
This element assesses the learner's ability to integrate core quantity surveying competencies across the lifecycle of a complex construction project. Learners must provide strategic procurement advice, develop approximate estimates for alternative designs, prepare detailed tender documentation, and produce commercial pricing and bidding strategies. Post-contract, they are required to manage cost control through interim valuations, variation assessments, and final account reconciliation, demonstrating professional judgment and meticulous attention to detail.
Key Concepts & Core Principles
- Cost Planning and Budgeting: The process of estimating project costs at various stages, from feasibility to detailed design, using techniques like elemental cost analysis and cost indices.
- Measurement and Quantification: Applying standard methods of measurement (e.g., NRM2) to accurately quantify work items from drawings and specifications for bills of quantities.
- Contract Administration: Understanding common contract forms (JCT, NEC) and managing variations, valuations, and final accounts to ensure contractual compliance.
- Procurement Methods: Differentiating between traditional, design and build, and management contracting, and selecting the best approach based on project risk and client needs.
- Value Management and Risk Analysis: Techniques to optimise project value by identifying unnecessary costs and assessing financial risks through sensitivity analysis and risk registers.
Exam Tips & Revision Strategies
- Structure all reports and documents professionally, adhering to the client's brief and industry conventions; clearly label sections and provide an executive summary where appropriate.
- For measurement tasks, strictly follow the prescribed standard method of measurement (e.g., NRM2) and double-check unit usage and arithmetical accuracy.
- When making recommendations, always provide explicit reasoning and link it back to the project objectives and client priorities—evidence of critical analysis attracts higher marks.
- In pricing and bidding, show all breakdowns and calculations; include a clear build-up of unit rates from first principles, considering labour, plant, materials, and overheads.
- For post-contract tasks, maintain a clear audit trail: reference contract clauses when valuing variations, and ensure interim valuations are supported by site records and measurement sheets.
Common Misconceptions & Mistakes to Avoid
- Misapplying measurement rules, resulting in inaccurate quantities that undermine the reliability of cost estimates and tender documents.
- Presenting generic procurement advice that fails to address the specific project context, client objectives, or market conditions.
- Omitting overheads, profit, or risk allowances in the pricing exercise, leading to an uncommercial bid strategy.
- Errors in interim valuations such as incorrect calculation of work in progress, double-counting materials, or failing to adjust for retention.
- In final accounts, neglecting to include all variations, claims, and fluctuations, or not reconciling the contract sum with the final cost properly.
Examiner Marking Points
- Award credit for a procurement and tendering strategy report that includes a robust evaluation of options, risk assessment, and clear client-centric recommendations with justification.
- Credit the preparation of approximate estimates using appropriate techniques (e.g., elemental, comparative) for alternative schemes, with a well-reasoned recommendation based on cost, time, and quality factors.
- Evidence must contain detailed quantities for a defined part of the scheme, measured accurately in compliance with a recognized standard method of measurement (e.g., NRM2), accompanied by complete tender documentation (e.g., BOQ, contract particulars).
- The pricing documentation should correctly apply unit rates to detailed quantities, and the bidding strategy report must demonstrate commercial acumen, covering profit margins, market competition, and risk allowances.
- Marks are awarded for producing accurate interim valuations that reflect actual work done, a forecast final cost that adjusts for current trends, proper valuation of variations with contractual backing, and a final account that fully reconciles all project costs.