Debremarkos University

DMiT
Construction Technology & Management

Course: Contract, Specification and Quantities survey

chapter- 2. Quantities survey
Instructor: Amlaklesew A.

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 Introduction
There is an estimate of how much a civil
engineering project may cost, the actual
quantities of materials, labour, equipment
etc. that is needed for the construction
work must be calculated at the
beginning of the work.
Such work of calculating the
amount of materials and other
things necessary for the realization of
the work is called quantity surveying.
Quantity surveying is the application of
standard methods of measurement to
quantify the amount of various items in
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a construction project, for the undertaking
Cont…
The following tasks are covered in quantity
surveying.
Preparation of Specification
Taking measurements of civil works (Taking
off quantities and preparing BoQ)
Preparation of approximate (preliminary)
cost estimate at the very early stage of the
project
Preparation of detail cost estimate at
different stages (taking as built
measurements and preparing payment
certificates or approval of payment
certificates)
Valuation of property 3
 Purpose of Quantity Surveying
The purpose of quantity surveying hence the
preparation of Bill of quantities is:
Assist the client to have an accurate
estimate of the volume of work as well as
the required budget.
To assist in the accurate preparation of
tenders, by providing uniform measurement
of quantities.
To give an accurate checklist of work
accomplished.
To assist in the certification of payments.
To give insight into the required variation
work amounts.
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 Measurement of Civil Works
Measurement of civil works includes the
billing of each trade of work either from
drawings or the building.
In order to avoid ambiguity in measuring
quantities, there is now a recommended
principle of measurement in construction
activities.
The standard book, which is used in
Ethiopia, is Standard Technical Specification
& Method of Measurement for Construction of
Buildings by BaTCoDA, March 1991.
Ethiopian Road Authority Standard
Specification, 2002 is used for Road
Construction. 5
 Units of Measurement
the most common unit of measurement is
the International System of Units, or the metric
system of units in which the various items are
measured as follows:
• 􀂃 Weight -kilogram (kg), ton (ton)
• 􀂃 length- meter (m), centimeter (cm),
millimeter (mm)
• 􀂃 capacity- liter (lt)
• 􀂃 number- (no), pcs

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 What is necessary?
In order to have reliable estimate of a
building, the following are critically necessary;
• Complete and detail drawings of the
building are necessary with all the
necessary dimensions descriptions included.
• Market price of construction materials at
site of construction is necessary.
• Current labour cost at site of construction is
necessary.
• Current equipment and machineries cost
and availability.
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 The Process of Quantity Surveying
There are four clearly defined steps in preparation
of Bill of Quantities:
I. Taking off
II. Squaring
III. Abstracting
IV. Writing the final Bill of Quantity (BoQ)
I. Taking Off
This is a process of measuring or scaling dimensions
from drawings and recording all dimensions in an easily
understood format. This is coupled with the descriptions
in the drawings and specification.
In this task the quantity surveyor “take off” the
quantities from the drawings and determines the
volume of work to be done for the various
components. 8
 cont………….
These quantities are calculated in a
specially prepared format, as to aid
accurate preparation and enable
checking/rechecking or adjusting of
amounts and correcting errors if any. These
special formats are called “Take off
sheets” or “Dimension Paper”.

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Column 1 is used for stating the number of times
an item occurs and is called the Timesing
column
Column 2 is called Dimension column as it
is used to enter the dimensions of the items
of works.
- The dimensions are entered in the order
indicated below: Length, Width, Height or
Thickness.
Column 3 is called Squaring column. The
stated dimensions in column 2 are multiplied to
determine the quantity of the work either in ml,
m 2 , m 3 or in Pcs. or No.
Column 4 is called Description column and
description of the work item is briefly stated.
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 Types of Taking-off
• Mensuration
the calculation of geometric quantities such as
length, area, and volume, from dimensions and
angles that are already known.
• Centre line method
suitable only when the cross sections of all walls are
symmetrical.

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WENDWESEN F. 12
13
II. Squaring
The dimensions entered in Column 2 are squared or
cubed as the case may be, multiplied by the timing
factor, and the result entered in Column 3. This task is
called squaring.
All squared dimensions should be carefully checked
by another person before abstracting, and if correct
the item should be ticked with red.
Use two decimal places.
III. Abstracting
The squared dimensions are transferred to abstract
sheets and all similar dimensions are collected in the
same category to obtain the total quantity of each item.
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IV. Writing the final bill
After the abstract sheets have been completed
and checked, the final bill of quantity is written.
The description of each item in the final BoQ
should be short, precise and descriptive as per the
specification.
When writing bill of quantity the following worksheet
[format] is most commonly used:
Item Descriptions Unit Quantity Rate Amount

19mm 107mm 18mm 18mm 18mm 36mm

A. Substructure
[Link] for earth
1.1 work 15
16
 Works to be estimated?

• The works incorporated in all building

are not the same.
• They vary depending on their type
but most buildings have similar
works, and the most widely expected
are out lined below classified in to
two categories.
A. Sub structure
B. Super structure
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 A. SUBSTRUCTORE
• This is part of building, which is located below the grade
beam or the ground floor level or floor finish level (FFL),
Which is usually assumed as foundation work.
The works that are categorized in the substructure are:
1. Earth work: this incorporates all works related the
earth or soil. It consists the following primary works.
1.1 site excavation : before any construction is taken at
hand, the construction site should be cleared from derbies,
dirt collection, trees, bushes and organic materials with the
depth of 20 cm up to 30 cm from natural ground level
(NGL).
• Is made over the entire plinth area of the building by
giving a minimum of one meter clearance gap around
the perimeter of the building.
• Unit: the unit of measurement for site clearing is square
meter (M2) 18
1.2. Bulk excavation: excavation is made in
large horizontal size than its vertical size or
depth. It is usually made for:
a) Removal of poor soil from the site to
replace with selected material.
b) Mat foundations
c) Allowing hard core under ground floor slab.
• Unit: the unit of measurement for bulk
excavation is
1. square meter (M2) if the depth is less than
or equal to 30cm
2. cubic meter (M3) if the depth is greater
than 30cm
• The working space shall be determined by 19
1.3. Deep excavation: this excavation is made for
foundations.
Pit and trench excavation shall be measured by
adding 250mm to each side of the dimension
giving the surface area of the volume to be
excavated
It may be different for different types of
foundations, but the most popular types are:
1.2.1 Pit excavation: which is made for footing
1.2.2 Trench excavation: This is made for
foundation wall.
• Such excavation has their depth greater than
their width that is why they are called deep
excavation.
• Unit: the unit of measurement for deep
excavation is cubic meter (m3) 20
1.4. Back fill: This is the soil that is filled back to
an extra excavated space in the foundation. Some
time, when soil at construction site is very poor, it
is dangerous to fill back excavated soil. Therefore,
filling selected material is recommended.
• In both cases the volume of open spaces around
footing and trenches is calculated.
• Unit: the unit of measurement for back fill is
cubic meter (M3)
• There are two methods of calculating the
volume of back fill.
1. The total volume of work is deducted from the total
volume of excavation.
2. The exact space is directly calculated from the
drawing.
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1.5. Cart away: this is disposing off
extra-excavated material away from the
site.
• Cart away is calculated by deducting
the back fill from the total volume of
excavated.
• Unit: the unit of measurement of cart
away is cubic meter (M3)

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 2. Concrete work:
• Is the work incorporates all items related
with concrete. It consists the following
substructure works.
• 2.1 Lean concrete: this is a thin layer of
low class concrete discharged under footing
pads, ground floor slab and foundation
trenches for purpose of leveling the ground,
detaching the ground from organic soil.
• Unit: the unit of measurement for lean
concrete is square meter (M2).
• The area of lean concrete is calculated for
– Footing pad
– The foundation trench. 23
2.2 Footing Concrete: the footing composed of
footing pad and footing column, which are altogether
transmitting the superstructure load safely to the
supporting ground.
• The footing is taken as that located below grade
beam level.
• Unit: the unit of measurement for footing pad
concrete is cubic meter (M3)
• The footing pad and footing column are separately
estimated and finally added together.
2.3 Grade beam concrete: is a line of reinforced
concrete member constructed around the ground floor
slab of the building.
• Unit: the unit of measurement for grade beam
concrete is cubic meter (M3). Sometimes where lump
sum method of estimation is adopted, grade beam
can be measured by meter linear (ml). 24
2.4 Ground floor slab: the ground floor slab is the final
concrete work in the substructure. It incorporates filling of
concrete floor over a leveled crushed stone called Hard core.
• Unit: the unit of measurement for ground floor slab
concrete is;
– Cubic meter (M3) if the thickness of the slab is greater than 10cm
– Square meter if the thickness of the slab is less than or equal
10cm
2.5. Form work: it may be either steel or timber formwork.
Standard thickness of timber formwork is 2.5cm.
• Unit: the unit of measurement for formwork is square
meter (M2)
5.6 Reinforcement -The reinforcement bars are tied by 06
mm mild steel wire and measured in kg.
• Differentiation is made as to the diameters and where used
(Sub and super structure) and Weight per unit length for 06
is 0.222 kg any other diameter d2 with weight per unit
length W2:
25
W2 = (d2 /6 ) 0.222
2 2
 3. Stone work:
This work incorporates items of works related with stone.
It consists of the following works:
3.1. Foundation wall/ masonry work: it is undressed
stone walls constructed under grade beams for the
purpose of supporting the grade beam; and stiffening the
grade foundation.
• Unit: the unit of measurement for masonry work is
cubic meter (M3)
• The volume of masonry/foundation wall is calculated by
taking the lean concrete or length of grade beam equal
to foundation wall or masonry wall.
3.2. Hard core: It is the crushed stone provided under
ground floor slab to give uniform support for the slab.
• It is usually constructed with a thickness of 25cm.
• Unit: the unit of measurement of hard core is usually 26
square meter (M ) 2
 B. Superstructure works:
• The works categorized in the superstructure
of the building are:
1. Concrete work
1.1 Column concrete: estimation for the
super structure columns may be made by
taking all the floors as one. If not it creates
complication for bidding, as the cost of
construction ground floor columns and floor
columns are not the same.
• Therefore, it is suggested that estimation
shall be made for each floor separately.
• Unit: the unit of measurement for column
concrete is cubic meter (M3) 27
1.2 Beam concrete: shall be made for intermediate
and top tie beams.
• Note great care should be taken in order not to
repeatedly calculate the volume of concrete at the
intermediate point of beams
• Unit: the unit of measurement for beam concrete is
cubic meter (M3)
2.3 Slab concrete: slab concrete can be two types as
floor slab and roof slab.
• The volume of concrete for slab of each floor is
estimated separately.
• The clear length of slab in between beams is
multiplied with clear width of the slab and its
thickness.(L*W*T)
• Unit: the unit of measurement for slabs is:
– Cubic meter (M3) for thickness greater than 10cm
– Square meter (M2) for thickness less than or equal to 10cm
2.4 Stair cases concrete: staircase is the successive
arrangement of steps to facilitate ascending and descending
floor to floor. Staircase, for estimation purpose, is classified in
to three parts as
 steps,
 slab/soffit and
 landing.
The volume of concrete for steps, slab/soffit and landing is
calculated separately and finally summed up together.
a. Steps: the steps are first made identical triangles. And
the total volume of concrete for all steps is calculated at
once.
b. Landing: the volume of concrete for the landing is
calculating just like the slabs. The length of landing is
multiplied width and thickness.
c. Slabs/soffit concrete: the slab is the soffit of the stair
case. Pythagoras theorem is used to calculate the actual
length of the slab under the steps because it has inclined 29
length.
2. Masonry work: This work incorporates all works related
with construction of walls for superstructure part. There are
many types of masonry work based on the type of masonry
unit used some of the are:
a) Block masonry: these are concrete blocks. Hollow
concrete blocks (HCB) and solid concrete blocks (SCB)
are usually used in different sizes such as
40cmx20cmx20cm, 40cmx15cmx20cm, 40x10cmx20cm
and others.
b) Brick masonry: clay bricks are used for the walls.
Standard size of bricks, 25cmx12cmx6cm is used in
various bonds to construct boundary and partition walls.
The wall may be constructed 12cm in stretcher bond,
25cm in Flemish or header bond and so on.
In any case, the masonry is measured by square meter (M2)
c) Stone masonry: stones of various patterns are used for these walls.
Usually measured by cubic meter (M3) unless if it is used as facing work in
thin layers over boundary walls (in the case of cladding). 30
 3. Roof work:
3.1 Roof cover: Is the top cover of building. Roofing
materials can be corrugated iron sheet (CIS), Asbestos,
tiles, brick, concrete.
• The most widely used roofing material is CIS. Mostly
CIS roofs are inclined at some slope and hence; it is
necessary to calculate the actual length of the sloped
roof by using Pythagoras theorem but most
commonly measured in the horizontal projection.
• It is measured by square meter (M2).
3.1 Gutter: it is used to transfer rain water from roof to
down pipe. It is first developed in to its full width and
the total length of the gutter is used for measurement.
3.2 Down pipe: is used to transfer rain water from
gutter to ground or ditch. It is measured by linear
meter (LM) like that of gutter.
4. Finishing work
4.1 Skirting: is the line of tile or timber provided at the junction point of
a floor and a wall to protect the wall from splash of water and
deterioration of painting near the floors. It is measured by meter linear
(ML) by taking the internal perimeter of the building.
4.2 Floor finish: this is the finishing which is provided to floor, such as
terrazzo tiles, ceramic tiles, poly vinyl chloride (PVC) tiles or rubber. The
total area of the room is calculated, and deduction is made for partition
walls, it is measured by square meter (M2).
4.3 Plastering: plastering is the application of thin layer of mortar on
walls for the purpose of creating smooth surface for painting. Plastering
can be applied to wall externally or internally. 12mm, 15mm, 20mm and
25mm thickness is practicable. It is measured by square meter (m2) by
multiplying the height of the wall by its length and deducting the area of
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openings (doors and windows).
• 4.4 Painting: it is measured by meter square (m2).
The area of painting is equal to the area of plastering.
• 4.5. Rendering work: rendering is similar to
plastering except that the mortar used for rendering is
produced using coarser fine sand particles. The unit of
measurement for rendering is square meter (M2).
• 4.6. Window sills: window sills are measured by
meter length by assuming 2.5cm bearing in to window
edge. The width and thickness of the window sill
material is specified with its length.
• Generally, the above works are usually found in the
construction of normal building. If other works in
special constructions are found, then the estimator
shall take the necessary measures to adopt a unit
suitable for measuring the work at construction sites.

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 5. Carpentry and joinery
5.1 Ceiling work: measured area. The
area of the ceiling is equal to the area of
floor finish excluding the portion under
door.
5.2. wood truss: measured by number,
5.3 fascia board: measured by linear
meter
5.4 wooden doors: measured by number
5.5 purlins, common rafter: measured
by linear meter
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 6. Measurement of Plumbing Installation

• Plumbing installations in domestic buildings involve a

number of different systems associated by the supply,
distribution and disposal of water within and out of a
building - above the ground and below the ground.
• Order of Measurement
– Connection to water authority’s main and all work up to
boundary of site
– Underground service and rising main from site boundary
up to cold water storage tank
– Branches to rising main
– Cold water storage tank or cistern and associated work
– Down services with branches
– Sanitary appliances such as sinks, wash basins, baths and
water closets
– Discharge pipes – waste, soil and vent pipes
– Any other work connected with the plumbing installation 35
6.1. Pipe work
• Pipes are measured in linear meters over all fittings and
branches, stating the type, nominal size and the method of
jointing and fixing.
• Fittings are enumerated and measured as extra-over the pipe
work on which they occur.
6.2. Sanitary Appliances
• This includes washbasins, urinals, baths, shower trays and
sinks. These appliances are enumerated giving details in the
description of their type, size, capacity and method of fixing.
6.3. Waste pipe work
• It embraces all the pipe work and fittings that are associated
with the disposal of used or soiled water, and vent pipe. Drains
include excavation of pipe trenches, drain pipes and fittings.
• The following diameters of pipe are required for the different
appliances:
– Washbasin -------------- 32 mm dia.
– Bath/shower/sink -------- 40 mm dia.
– Water closet (WC) -------- 110 mm dia.
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• Waste pipe work is measured in linear
meters, giving in the description details of
the type of the pipe, its nominal size, the
method of jointing and the type of pipe
brackets.
• Fittings – elbows, tees and the like – are
enumerated as extra-over the pipe work
on which they occur.
• The excavation, concrete work, brickwork
and rendering associated with manholes
and septic tanks are measured in
accordance with the rules for the
appropriate work section. 37
7. Measurement of Electrical Installation
• Electricity can only be transmitted through a
conductor when there is a complete circuit from the
source .
• Cables are identified by the cross sectional area of
the conductors and this is expressed in mm2.
Cabling
• Conduit and cable are each measured separately in
linear meters stating in the description column the
type and size of cabling.
Switches, Socket outlets and Light Points
• As a separate enumerated item socket outlets, light
points (luminaries) and other accessories should be
enumerated in pcs
Appliances
• Separately fused circuits will be necessary for the
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Thank
YOu!
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