Services
Six commercial tasks. Appoint the ones the project actually needs.
The practice works for employers and for contractors. Say which side of the contract you are on. The documents change, and so does the duty.
01
Estimating
A number is only useful if someone else can see how it was built. Estimates here are measured, elemental or trade-based, and accompanied by what was included, excluded and still unknown.
When to ask
Use an estimate when a design is still moving, when a funder wants a figure before a bill exists, or when a contractor needs a price they can stand behind in a tender.
Typical deliverables
- Order-of-cost or pretender estimate
- Assumption, exclusion and risk schedule
- Elemental or trade build-up
- Comparison against a budget or a previous issue
02
Bills of quantities
Bills and schedules of works describe the work that is drawn. Preliminaries are itemised rather than hidden in a lump, and the pricing preamble is written in plain language.
When to ask
Commission a bill when the drawings are stable enough to measure, and early enough that the tender is not a race to qualify everything.
Typical deliverables
- Bill of quantities or schedule of works
- Pricing preamble and a query list
- Take-off structured so it can be remeasured
- Notes where packages or trades meet
03
Procurement
Single-stage or two-stage, a main contract or separate packages. The advice follows the project, not a default form of contract carried over from the last job.
When to ask
Ask before the tender documents are written. Procurement chosen late becomes a set of qualifications.
Typical deliverables
- Procurement route note
- Package list and the gaps between packages
- Criteria for a tender list
- Draft contract particulars for the client or their solicitor to settle
04
Tendering
The recommendation says what was priced, what was qualified and what was left out. A low return that has excluded the frame, the temporary works or the out-of-hours working is not the low return.
When to ask
Tender management sits between a finished pricing document and a recommendation someone can sign.
Typical deliverables
- Tender documents and a query schedule
- Normalised tender comparison
- Recommendation, with qualifications called out
- Record of any post-tender adjustment
05
Quantity surveying
Post-contract commercial management for an employer or a contractor. Variations are assessed against the documents that were priced, not against whoever shouts last at the meeting.
When to ask
Appoint before the first valuation, not when the final account has already become an argument.
Typical deliverables
- Interim valuations and payment recommendations
- Change control and variation accounts
- Cost reports against the contract sum
- Final account
06
Project management
Coordination for clients and contractors who want the meeting, the drawing issue and the cost report to agree with each other. Scaled to the project, not dressed up as a large project-management office.
When to ask
Useful where the team is small, the building is occupied, or the programme has a date that cannot slip quietly.
Typical deliverables
- Project brief and a decision log
- Meeting records and action lists
- Programme commentary read against cost
- Handover and close-out schedule