Plan, manage and control the commercial outcome of your project
COST PLANNING - typically 80% of project costs is defined in the first 20% of the design phase. Cost checking during this phase is critical to managing the project costs. This process begins with the initial feasibility and progresses through the design stages providing feedback on cost at each design stage to allow the owners or developer to make informed design choices with minimal cost impact. Typically we provide cost plans at Concept Stage, 25% Design, 50% Design & 100% Design whereupon a detailed pre-tender estimate is prepared.
REGISTERED QUANTITY SURVEYORS REPORTS - NSW councils require a Quantity Surveyor to prepare a cost report to accompany development applications for projects over $500,000 in value. We are able to provide these from the smallest to the largest projects.
REPLACEMENT COST ESTIMATES - Need to understand the replacement cost of your building? We can make an assessment of like for like replacement for insurance purposes including for demolition, re-construction and all associated professional fees.
COST MANAGEMENT - Our cost management services include tendering support, management of the variation process, valuation of monthly or stage payment claims, and assessment / preparation of time or productivity related cost claims. On ‘cost-plus’ projects we provide reports which reconcile the cost of what has been built with the value to identify potential budget blow outs early in the project while there is still time to put recovery measures in place. These "CV" reports are what the lenders rely upon when assessing amounts to release for payment to the Contractor.
CONTRACT SELECTION - Which form of contract? Which procurement method? Lump sum, schedule of rates, cost plus, target cost, we can provide the risks and opportunities for each and comment on which may be the best fit for your project. What information should be sent to the tender list and what information should be requested in return? We can assist with preparing the tender schedules, analyzing the tender submissions and compiling the stage payment and variation pricing schedules and 'rules of credit' for the contract which would include defining "cost" in "cost plus" contracts.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT - All projects involve changes and some of these changes will affect the contract price and the time allowed for completion. Dealing with these variations in a timely manner is critical to keeping a handle on project costs and forecasting. We can assist with managing the whole variation account or individual variations on an ad-hoc basis, setting out the contract entitlement and the valuation, referencing contract rates, established rates or market rates as appropriate.
PROVISIONAL ALLOWANCES - When the full design or specification is unknown at the time of contract, provisional allowances may be used. We can review the design and comment on which items should be provisional, the appropriate provisional value and the contractual mechanism for converting the provisional allowances into fixed sums.
PAYMENT VALUATIONS - How much work has been completed? Does the cost reflect the value? What is the Contractor entitled to be paid? Well it depends on the contract. Lump sum & schedule of rates contracts will be governed by the payment schedule, QS' valuation or a schedule of rates. Cost plus agreements can result in a divergence between cost and value and this problem needs to be arrested early. We provide cost value reconciliations to identify problem cost areas and facilitate discussions on why items of work are costing more than planned.
