22/07/2024

Long Live the Bill of Quantities!

As Mynott Bowers continues to attract new clients, as well as repeat business, confidence in the service being provided remains strong. There will always be a requirement for an accurate set of Bills of Quantities. It’s an essential document for controlling project costs.

Chris Bowers, Managing Director at Mynott Bowers has given his take on the headline, see below:

“On Jethro Tull’s (1967 British Rock Band) rather excellent ‘Bursting Out’ album, Ian Anderson introduces one of the songs with the words: “In the dim and distant past, in fact so long ago that it’s damned nearly …. In the year one!”. And it’s on those lines that I’m going to start today!”

“In the late 1970’s when I was at the then Trent Polytechnic, being taught measurement by the very upright Roger Winfield and when the head of faculty was Ivor Seeley (he of the measurement books), measurement was a subject that we studied every week of every term in our four-year sandwich course. It was central to what quantity surveying was at the time. Upon graduation I joined renowned northern practice Rex Procter and Partners where many surveyors spent much of our time producing BQs for the client, for all kinds of building and civil engineering projects. In about 1983 the company installed its first computer, and it was then that I first heard the words “this will be the death of BQs”, words that I have heard annually in the 40 years since then.”

“Throughout my career I have been involved with either the production, or the on-site use of BQs and they have always been central in the financial planning and control of projects. I’m not a dinosaur or a Luddite and I accept that at some point, probably after I’ve been settled into my box, there might be computers available to the ordinary contractor which will measure BQs quickly and accurately and AI may well hasten that arrival. However, and here’s the thing, our company produces many BQs using information that is a long way from complete, indeed some of which is down-right scary in its vagueness, and we use the building knowledge and skill of our staff to fill in the gaps that the design team simply haven’t had the time to include. The knowledge required therefore to produce a useable BQ is not simply a firm grasp of the measurement rules but is also the understanding of construction and the way that buildings work.”

“Working with our client estimators is always a collaborative process and one that builds trust and understanding in our relationships. Long may that continue and until the Hitch-hikers Guide “Deep Thought” computer finally arrives, we’ll keep producing high quality, well considered BQs for construction and Civil Engineering contractors worldwide.”

Mynott Bowers produces Bills of Quantities for contractors and consultants in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and the GCC, as well as exploring other growth markets. The different regions come with different standards of measurement. The teams at Mynott Bowers are well versed in SMM, NRM, POMI, ARM, ASMM, CESMM, MMHW and more. Examples of the variety of commissions can be found here: Explore Our Construction Portfolio: Mynotts Bowers (mynottbowers.com)