QUANTITY SURVEYING.

Northern Advocate, 22 August 1924, Page 3

QUANTITY SURVEYING.

ADDRESS TO MASTER BUILDERS At a meeting of master builders held n Whangarei on Tuesday evening Mr rames A. Stewart delivered an address n which he dealt with the principle of ;endering upon a schedule of quantities supplied by a quantity surveyor along with plans prepared by an architect, Mr A. Y. Provan was in the chair and presided over an attendance of the folowing building contractors: —Messrs W. Durham, J. P. Rive, W. D. PMlpot, VI. B. Blake, W. Lees, G. Colebrook, F. 3ut forth, G. Windust and F. L. Gunn, secretary. Mr Stewart dealt with a schedule of specifications which had been drawn ip by him upon plans of premises which Messrs R. B. and J. O. Owen and A. P. Morgan had prepared for a building to be erected in Bank Street for Mr S. C. Tounneaux. The site of the proposed building is adjoining the Public Trust office now in course of erection. The principal conditions were that the job was to be completed in 10 weeks with a penalty of £10 a week for nonperformance. The contractor was requested to make a. personal inspection of the plans and to satisfy himself about all matters relating to the nature of the site, the means of access, rights and interests which may be interfered with by the execution of the works, and all other matters referred to in the plans which might influence the contractor in.making his tender. The contractor was to find all implements and to provide tanks, pipes, scaffolding, carting, cleaning, etc., at his own expense. It was pointed out that any :loviations from the contract would be measured when the work was finished •snil their value would be determined >y application of the rates quoted by he contractor in the schedule, and any ncrease or diminution of the work as >riginal]y contracted for would not en■itle the contractor to any claim foe•oiid that based on the original rate. The chairman, when extending a wel■ome to Mr Stewart, stated that the Vhangarei builders were being given m advantage not shared by Auckland on tractors in having the quantity sysem explained to them. Mr Stewart declared that once conractors had priced one of his schedules if quantities they could work upon hat schedule for future jobs, and he >ointed out that no builder was under .jiy obligation as to Vhe correctness of he .scheduled quantities. If short of he actual quantities required, payment t the rate tendered would be made, f more than necessary were quoted it. k'ould not be paid for. All the builders iad to do was to price on the quantiics quoted, and they would be paid for lie actual work they did. Mr Stewart tated that he had visited Whangarei o explain the Scottish mode of meaurement, which was that adopted li rough out Great Britain, and in which e had been trained. He declared that ii England there was no architect or milder who did not call for a schedule f quantities, but it was an innovation ii New Zealand. The time would come ihen builders in this country would not 10 able to afford the risk of taking out uantities for themselves. They always ad the risk of making an error. He, s a quantity surveyor, knew what that isk was; so did the builders. To him he cost of the building was immaerial, but he was responsible for uantities. Mr Stewart then proceeded to deal liecemeal with the items of the comirehensive schedule. He declared that t was not only one of quantities, but f specifications as well. Measurements' or foundations were net. The builder i-ould have to take out more, he knew, tut that was the builders' concern. Phut had to be made clear, as also the 'net that builders had to estimate the 11 (Terence between excavating in, say, olid rock and ordinary earth. hut no builder, Mr Stewart conniued, wfl.s asked to do anything for milling. Ho would be paid for all he lid, but only at the iate quoted by him n the schedule for that particular voik. The price schedules were not ieeded by him, except, from the sueeessul tenderer, who was required to ddfic thorn with the quantity surveyor. The tender was to be made in the first instance in a lump sum. Mr Stewart leelnred that the prices for section? of [lie work did not interest him. All he wanted was that the contractor who got the job should supply his prices, wVifh would be carefully gone through. The speaker recounted cases in his experience of having found one or two it<MiiK in a tender erroneously assessed and very low. Under the quantity system as "operating in Great Britain these were pointed out to the biril'Vr, v,ho was asked if he could carry on at the prices quoted. If he were satisfied no alteration was made, but no man was asked to attempt what was impossible. Referring to concrete. Mr Stewart made it clear that when a certain mix was jtskod for it had to be supplied. TTe asked several questions as to what w\v< meant by the demands and empha-

siscd the point that a builder at all times had to allow for shrinkage. For instance, in a six-to-one mix he expected 'Vj bags of cement to the cubic yard. In connection with, brickwork, Mr Stewart pointed out that builders had the option of quoting by the yard or the number of bricks, but he advised them to adopt the former principle because the difference in the thickness of a wall to be bulit was the main factor when the cost of labour had to be ocnsidered. Actual cost of laying was the basis of computation of price tendered. In connection with the work of carpenters and joiners, Mr Stewart paid that in his schedules the measurements of fill scantlings were to the nearest foot. This meant a saving, because, as workmen frequently did, it prevented them from cutting off, say, a 10 foot length from 18 feet and leaving the 8 feet as waste. Another point was that pricing should be done on the basis of lineal measurement instead of superficial, because the saving in labour the larger the timber used was a big consideration. Mr Stewart then asked what was generally understood .by the term "daylight measurement" of glass, ant! explained that it was really overall size of the sashes; not only the glassthrough which daylight could be seen, In reply to a question by Mr Lees Mr Stewart said that the quantity surveyor was paid by the property owner. The speaker contended that what he was endeavouring to do was to convince contractors that quantity surveying- was in their interests. As for work on hand he had plenty. The point to be made clear was tiiat contractors were paid simply for what they did, even if more or less than the schedule showed but at the rate at which they tendered. The items were to be taken as read and not to be presumed as of stock styles; doors foi instance. He smphasised the point that all measurements were absolutely net. By keeping all schedules priced, Mr Stewart pointed out that a contractor vracluully .built up a number of volumes ivliifh would be invaluable for pricing ruturo schedules. Everything should oe pi iced as they were stated in the schedule. Timber should be priced tnd ordered by the running foot, although the mills sold it at superficial measurement. As for lodging price schedules it was essential that contractors should be prepared to lodge :liem if called upon to do so. They night never be sought at nil, but no :ender would.be accepted except upon ;he schedule forms, while only the schedule of the successful tenderer ■voulrt be retained. At the conclusion of the address, iml after a number of point* of a purey trade nature had been dealt with, lie chairman moved a hearty vote of ;hanks to Mr Stewart for his very lelpful .address, which he declared was nuch appreciated. Mr Stewart acknowledged the thanks Hid said that if at any time he could iclp the contractors or give them good idvice he would be willing to do so.