Blog Grid – Page 2 – Cost Planner

Design Contingency

A Design Contingency is included in a Cost Plan for minor changes during the development of the design and documents. It should be anticipated ...

Documents : “By Separate Contractor”…What does this mean?

Tendering is hard enough : deadlines – closing times – addendum – quotes coming in late – documentation overload – but it doesn’t help when you find ...

Bill of Quantities explained

A Bill of Quantities (BQ, or BoQ … and sometimes referred to as a Bills of Quantities) is prepared by Quantity Surveyors to provide an extensive ...

Options … or Pre-Priced Variations

As an estimator and a cost planner I’m not a big fan of including price options or alternatives in tenders … But I know they can be handy on occasion, and ...

Documents : Drawing Identification

Drawing identifications – numbers, letters, revisions etc. – are (in my opinion) put there to: Help find what you need easily, keep documents in order, and ...

Site Penalties : Hazardous Materials

Audits for hazardous materials (i.e. asbestos) may need to be completed on some older buildings or potentially contaminated sites (eg petrol stations ...

Sample Residential Schematic Cost Plan Report – July 2016

This sample cost plan report for a ‘typical’ residential alterations & additions project shows the format & content of a measured Schematic Design Stage Cost Plan report ...

Builder’s Preliminaries and Site Costs

A building site is a temporary outside factory... producing a million dollar, or more, prototype… so the cost of setting it up and running it is often bigger than ...

Sketch/Schematic Plan Specification Notes for Cost Planning–Residential

These samples provide an indicative format and content for some specification notes to be provided to the Cost Planner to help with preparing a Sketch ...

Goods and Services Tax (GST)

The Goods and Services Tax influences the way we do business and the cost of products, fees and services … and also cash flow. Consider this when ...

Site Penalties : Unstable, volatile or reactive soils

Locating a new building on unstable, volatile or reactive soils can really eat into a projects’ budget. This is a site penalty that makes the substructure often ...

Tendering Etiquette

Tenders may be conducted in many different ways. And sometimes the methods used can be a real concern. Tendering (for both the main contract ...