Estimating Seminar

Danielle Yoong . Chung Hui Ping . Tan Jing Yi

Ng Wei Lin

You are currently working as a trainee at Taylors QS

Consultant. You are required to provide an estimate for a
medium cost housing development in Petaling Jaya
based on a set of preliminary sketch drawings. You are
given a day to complete the task.
a. Explain the various methods of estimating
b. Select the appropriate method/s of estimating that you
will apply for the task and justify your selection

Question 5

Key Words
Trainee ( No Experience)
Medium Cost Housing Development
Preliminary Sketches Drawing
One Day to complete task

Methods of estimating
a. Single rate estimating
b. Multiple rate estimating

Square Meter

 One of the popular methods for estimating due to its

simplicity.
This method measures the gross internal floor area (GIFA
) and making rates derived from experience or data
from past projects.
GIFA = Area of a building measured to the internal
surface of the perimeter walls at each floor level

Definition

 All floors must be included, no deduction made for

stairwells, lift shafts
External works and non-standard are calculated
separately

Requirement

 Previous project construction cost / GIFA current

project= cost per unit area
This can be apply to future projects to estimate their
construction cost.

Calculation

Advantages

Disadvantages

Produce an estimate
quickly
A very minimum data
required to estimate
Has a huge amount of
data is published based
on square meter cost
Easy to communicate to
layman

Can be accurate only if

very similar building is
compared with

Single rate: Functional

Unit
Definition: Commonly used by National Bodies such as
educational and health sector.
What is Functional unit?
A method use to estimate cost based on the functional units of a project.
Unit cost:
School-cost per pupil rate/ cost per class
Hospitals-cost per bedroom
Theatre-cost per seat

Requirements:
a) Client has a budget set for the project.

b) Project closely similar to the previous

project.
c) Experience or data from previous project.

How to obtain?
Cost is obtained by comparing previous projects
of similar nature and dividing the total cost by the
number of functional units obtained.

Calculation:
Example 1:
A school cost MYR 5,000,000 and provided 1000
student places the functional unit cost is MYR 5000
per school place.
Example 2:
From previous experience, the cost of a 50 bed
hospitals has been constructed for MYR 60 millions
(60,000,000). Hence, the unit cost = MYR 60
million/500beds=MYR120,000 per bed. Thus,
estimated 40 bed wing hospital will be 400 x MYR
120,000=MYR48 million.

Advantage:
Produces estimate very quickly
A minimum data required
Easy communicate to layman
Disadvantages:
Low level of accuracy
No breakdown of the single rate, not useful for cost
control.

APPROXIMATE QUANTITIES

Measured quantities based on item from the drawing

Most reliable method
Compare cost when sufficient details available
Time involve: the whole project life cycle

Approximate quantities

measurement
substructure

External
work

Superstructure

Internal
finishes

Fitting and
furniture

preliminaries

contingencies

Advantages

Disadvantages

Quantities based on planned construction,

not previous job

Higher chances of getting underestimates

(solved with contingencies for small
components, fitting, fixing)

Allowance made on plan shape, height, type

of ground and quality of finishes.

Calculation:

A cavity wall measured and priced with both skin included in the
unit rate. The rate includes forming cavity, wall ties, plastering
and pointing (according to the specification). If the previous
project does not include plastering and pointing, adjustment must
be made accordingly.

Elemental Cost
Estimating

Definition
Using the Elemental Cost Analysis (ECA) to estimate a
building cost.
Requirement
Basic size and shape of building (Preliminary sketch)
Purpose and location of building
Historical cost data of similar buildings constructed at the
same general location

Advantages
More accurate than square meter method
Only needs a very minimum information to prepare
the estimate, hence can be used as early as feasibility
stage of project

Disadvantages
Faster but less accurate than approximate method

Requires access to ECA

Part B
Scenario 1
If the trainee has access to ECA and knows how to utilize
the information extracted
Elemental Cost Estimating is the most suitable method
It takes into account all the elements of the building
Information is easy to find since its a typical medium
cost development
Takes a minimum time to complete the estimate since its
only taking the GFA of one house and multiplying it to
the cost per m2.

Scenario 2
If the trainee has no experience on using the ECA or have
no access to it
Square meter method is most suitable
A very minimum data required
A lot of data are published based on cost per square meter
Very straight forward, easy to understand

Questions
1. What are the factors to choose which
method of estimating to use?
2. Why is elemental cost more accurate than
square area method?