1.0 - Introduction An estimator can exist within any organisation which requires estimations of costs to provide a service or supply a product. An estimator can also be known as a Quantity Surveyor, but this term is exclusive to the construction sector and cannot be used to describe an estimator within any other sector. As stated on the RICS website ‘Quantity Surveyors are the cost managers of the construction industry. Within the construction industry the role of the estimator is to gather information regarding all costs associated with a construction project. These range from estimating the building works that are to be carried out to the costs and specifications of materials required for the build. They need to have good knowledge of the construction industry and all aspects of construction, they also need to be thorough with their costings and estimations of a project’s costs. There are different types of estimates that can be carried out; preliminary, feasibility, viability, authorisation and final budget. The type of estimate required depends on what stage of construction the project has reached. The initial stages of the project would only require rough estimates and as the start of construction gets closer the accuracy of the estimate must increase and when the construction process begins the costs must be controlled to ensure that costs do not exceed the final budget. The costs within this project will be obtained from similar projects that have been obtained from BCIS. Although, the project used for costs will not be exactly the same as the project proposed the costs will be multiplied by the assumed measures. Also, the project used as the base cost will not be built in the same area or during the same time period BCIS will rebase the costs to Swansea and also to the correct time period to provide a more accurate detail of costs. – Aim of the Report The aim of this report is to highlight and detail the costs of constructing a new build house in Townhill, Swansea. The estimate will be presented to CALA Homes to aid them with the construction process. The NRM order of estimate will be used to help create the final cost estimate for the client. – Assumptions Due to the nature of the drawings supplied some assumptions will be required as there have been no dimensions placed on the drawings. Element Assumption made Reasoning/Source Floor Space (m²) 120m² As per the David Wilson Homes website the average size of a semi-detached home in the UK is 1033 sq. ft. (96m2). https://www.dwh.co.uk/library/Average-UK-house-sizes/ This equates to 48m2 per floor. As there is also an attic room in the build required it has been assumed that the floor space on this floor is half of the other floors in the house which would equal 24m2. Therefore, Ground Floor = 48m² First Floor = 48m² Second Floor = 24m² Total = 120m² Construction Type (External Wall) Concrete block internal skin external wall. This has been chosen over a timber frame construction due to the lack of projects available on BCIS which provide costing information of this construction method. Access Existing infrastructure in place and space for materials to be stored and delivered easily. No details have been given regarding the site therefore this has been assumed. Also, this means that there will be no preliminary site works required. – Order of Estimate The NRM order of estimate will be used when working out construction costs of the build. As per the building method the order starts from the ground with the ground works and works up the building following the order in which construction follows. The NRM 1 order of estimate was made by RICS and was published in the New Rules of Measuring volume 1 in 2012. There are three methods of working out the costs of items using the NRM 1 order of estimate: The total internal floor area (m2) Functional unit method (Number of (Nr)) Elemental method. The internal floor area method uses the total m2 of the building to multiply the cost of an item by the total floor area of the build to work out the cost. The Functional unit method is best used for items such as windows and doors where it is easy to quantify the number of the item, the cost of the item will then be multiplied by how many of that particular item is required. The elemental method uses the costs of similar projects that have previously been completed to estimate the cost of the new project. The costs shown in the below table have been taken from a similar project that had been undertaken in the South Lakeland region in May 2015. As this is not in the same area or time period as the proposed build in Townhill, Swansea the costs have been rebased to reflect what the elements would cost in the area and to the fourth quarter of 2018 to give a more accurate of costs for this project. Item No. Group Element Element Required (Yes/No) Cost per M² Quantity (m²) Total Cost (£) 1.0 Substructure Yes £158.00 120 £18,960.00 2.0 Superstructure £0.00 2.1 Frame (Cost included within external wall) £0.00 2.2 Upper Floors Yes £22.00 120 £2,640.00 2.3 Roof Yes £139.00 120 £16,680.00 2.4 Stairs and Ramps Yes £14.00 120 £1,680.00 2.5 External Walls Yes £414.00 120 £49,680.00 2.6 Windows and external Doors Yes £70.00 120 £8,400.00 2.7 Internal Walls and partitions Yes £62.00 120 £7,440.00 2.8 Internal Doors Yes £26.00 120 £3,120.00 3.0 Internal Finishes £0.00 3.1 Wall Finishes Yes £45.00 120 £5,400.00 3.2 Floor Finishes Yes £17.00 120 £2,040.00 3.3 Ceiling Finishes Yes £27.00 120 £3,240.00 4.0 Fittings and Furnishings No £0.00 5.0 Services £0.00 5.1 Sanitary Appliances Yes £22.00 120 £2,640.00 5.2 Services Equipment No £0.00 5.3 Disposal Installations Yes £8.00 120 £960.00 5.4 Water Installations Yes £41.00 120 £4,920.00 5.5 Heat Source Yes £39.00 120 £4,680.00 5.6 Space Heating and Air Conditioning Yes £30.00 120 £3,600.00 5.7 Ventilation Yes £23.00 120 £2,760.00 5.8 Electrical Installations Yes £44.00 120 £5,280.00 5.9 Fuel Installations No £0.00 5.10 Lift Conveyor Installations No £0.00 5.11 Fire and Lightning Protection No £0.00 5.12 Communications, Security and Control Systems No £0.00 5.13 Special Installations No £0.00 5.14 Builders' work in connection with services Yes £10.00 120 £1,200.00 6.0 Prefabricated Buildings No £0.00 7.0 Works to Existing Buildings No £0.00 8.0 External Works No £0.00 Total Building Cost £145,320.00 2.0 - Cost of Craftsman When calculating the cost of craftsmen for work there are a number of elements that need to be considered. Firstly, it is needed to calculate their hourly labour rate which then is multiplied through to work out their weekly wages. The average working week for a craftsman is a 39-hour week which equates to 7.8 hours per day. Then, the craftsman’s National Insurance needs to be factored in. Rates and percentage contributions have been taken from the BCIS Builders BATJIC and the BCIS National insurance documents. In 2018 the average weekly wage for an advanced craftsman was £485.55. As this was in the wage bracket of £162.01 - £866.00 the weekly national insurance was required to be 12%. From the 25th June 2018 the weekly holiday pay required for employees was 12% of their weekly wage. The below table works out the cost of one craftsman for 50 weeks and then the cost is multiplied by 4 to work out the total cost of 4 craftsmen for the duration of the scheme. Element Cost per hour Cost per day Cost per week 50 Weeks Labour £12.45 £97.11 £485.55 £24,277.50 Percentage of weekly wage contribution Weekly contribution National Insurance 12.00% £58.27 £2,913.30 Holiday Pay 13.05% £63.36 £3,168.21 Total cost of craftsman for 50 weeks £30,359.01 Total cost of 4 craftsman for 50 weeks £121,436.06 It has been assumed that no overtime work will be required and the craftsmen will only work the normal 39-hour week. If overtime was required the first hour after the 39 hours would be at the normal hourly rate but anything further would require more than the normal hourly rate. Also, it has been assumed that none of the craftsmen will require any sick days therefore the additional costs of sick days have not been factored in. 3.0 - Source of Information The main source of information used in this report was the BCIS website. To gain information regarding the cost of the build a project was found in the database of the website which included all costing aspects of the build. While the information has been rebased to the same time period and region for the proposed project it would have been more accurate to base this estimate on a project that had been undertaken in Swansea. This would have given an even more accurate cost details to base the price on rather than relying on a formula to work out an estimate. The drawings used have also hindered the accuracy of the estimate as there were no dimensions included on them. As this was the case the floor area had to be assumed based on the average house sizes in the UK. If the drawings had been more accurate then a clearer idea could have been had to calculate the costs that would have been more accurate for this build. Although suppliers’ quotes have not been used to calculate this estimate they are another potential source of information. If merchants’ quotes would have been used for this estimate a potential shortcoming of this could have been that they had an offer on at the time and when it comes to constructing the house this offer may have expired and the cost detailed in the estimate would not be accurate and would end up costing more and being over budget when it comes to construction.