DEBRE TABOR UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTEMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

Contract, Specification and Quantity

Survey

CHAPTER 4
Quantity surveying
ABADI TIEUMAY
ŠIntroduction
 ™ In a civil engineering activity, the owner
Promises to pay the contractor an amount
for the work that he does.

 This would then require that the actual works

done be some how estimated or measured for
Payment purposes.

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 To estimate how much a civil
engineering project may cost, the actual
quantities of materials, labor &
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 incidentals
necessary for the realization of the work
is called quantity surveying.
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 The following tasks are covered in quantity
surveying:
1. Preparation of Specification
2. Taking measurements of civil works (Taking off
quantities and preparing BOQ)
3. Preparation of approximate (preliminary) cost
estimate at the very early stage of the project
4. Preparation of detail cost estimate at different
stages (taking as built measurements and
preparing payment certificates or approval of
payment certificates prepared by taking
measurements)

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Measurement of civil works
 ŠMeasurement of civil works includes;
the billing of each trade of work either from
drawings or the building itself for defining the
extent of works under each trade.

The standard book, which is used in Ethiopia, is

standard technical specification & method of
measurement for construction of buildings by
BaTCoDA, March 1991.

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Specification Worksheet (BOQ form)
 It is the format which is used in a bill of quantity
to list (include) a short description of the
specification along with its measuring unit,
quantity and unit prices to determine the total
cost for each trade of item.

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 ŠThere are four clearly defined steps
in preparation of Bill of Quantities:
1. Taking off
Š2. Squaring
3. Abstracting
4. Writing the final Bill of Quantity

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Taking off
 Is the 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 specifications. Š
 The standard form used for entering the
dimensions taken or scaled from drawings
to determine the accurate quantity in each
trade of work, except reinforcement steel, is
called Take Off Sheet or Dimension Paper.

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 Š Column 1 is called the timing
column and is used for stating the
number of times an item occurs.

 Column 2 is called dimension

column as it is used to enter the
dimensions of the items of works.
Š The dimensions are entered in the
order of: Length, Width, Height or
thickness.

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 Š Column 3 is called squaring column. The
stated dimensions in column 2 are
multiplied to determine the quantity of the
work either in m, m2, m3 or in Pcs. or No.
 Š Column 4 is called description column
and description of the work item is briefly
stated.

A separate sheet (Bar Schedule) is used to

prepare reinforcement quantities.

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Squaring:
The process of multiplying, adding, subtracting
or dividing the recorded dimensions for the
purpose of obtaining linear measures, areas,
volumes etc
 ŠThe 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.
 All squared dimensions should be carefully
checked by another person before abstracting.
Use two decimal places.

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Abstracting:
 Š 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.
Writing the Final Bill
 is the process of collecting and entering to an
accepted format all the measured quantities, by
trade and work type, and filling in the total
amount by multiplying with the unit rates.

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BOQ

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 A typical building project will have the
following work items.

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A. Substructure
1.Excavation and earth work
1.1. site clearing
to remove the top 20-30cm soil
a working space of 1m is required on each side
Measured in m2
1.2. bulk excavation
for building underground structures
Working space of 25cm is required on each side
Measured in m3 if depth of excavation is more
than 30cm.

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1.3. Pit excavation
For isolated footing
Expressed in m3
Working space of 25cm is required on
each side
1.4. trench excavation
For foundation wall
Expressed in m3
 working space of 25cm is required on
each side

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1.5. back fill
 Net volume to be filled
 Working spaces need to be filled
Total excavated= site clearance+ pit
excavation+ bulk excavation+ trench
excavation
Cart away= total excavated – back fill
 It is expressed in m3

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2. Concrete work
2.1. lean concrete
 To protect structural concrete from
damage (under footing pads and
foundation wall)
 It expressed in area, m2
2.2. concrete for structures
 for footing, grade beam, ground floor slab
 Overlap should be deducted
 Measured in m3

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2.3. formwork
 A temporary structural element, which
supports slabs, beams in casting concrete.
 Measured in m2
2.4. reinforcement
 measured in kg
 Length of the bar is taken from the drawing
and multiplied by weight per unit length to
get the weight of the bar.
e.g. weight per length=(d2 *0.617)/100
for Ф6= 0.222kg/m

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3. Masonry work/Stone work
 For foundation wall (measured in m3)
 hard core (measured in m2)

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B. Superstructure
1. Concrete work
1.1. concrete
 For slabs, beams, columns, staircase
 Measured in m3
1.2. formwork
 Measured in m2
1.3.reinforcement
 Expressed in kg.

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2. Masonry works
 Measured in m3
 Commonly used for walls of buildings.

3. Roofing
 Roof cover is measured by area(m2)
 Items like downpipes are measured by
length(m)

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4. Carpentry and joinery work
 Carpentry: -work on timber intended for
structural purposes eg columns, beams,
truss etc
 Joinery: - work on timber intended for
finishing purposes eg floor finishes, doors
and windows, ceilings, Cupboard etc

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5. Steel structural work
 for beam, column, slab, truss, connections
etc
 Usually measured in weight (kg)

6. Metal works
 Includes aluminum and iron works
 For door and window frames
 Measured in area

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7. finishing work
 Plastering
Measured by area (m2)
 Floor and wall finish
Measured by area (m2)
 Painting
Shall be measured in area (m2)
Special application to the edges should be
measured in length.
8. Glazing
 Glazing shall be measured in area(m2)

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THANK YOU!

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