星空传媒

鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to be cheerleader consultants, just selling good ideas,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e need to show how to implement and measure things.鈥�

Earl warms to his theme. 鈥淚t disappoints me how people view measurement, almost as if it鈥檚 the job of a technician. People miss the advantages of doing good measurement.鈥�

For Earl this is damaging the position of the profession within the wider industry. 鈥淔rom a professional point of view we have lost the authority to persuade clients about the importance of quantifying things. If we focused on doing the basics well and continue to develop the add-ons, such as tax advice and sustainability, then we would have a higher standing (in the industry) than we have at the moment.鈥�

As Earl sees it a general sloppiness has emerged with regard to measurement since the RICS produced its last standard, SMM7, in 1988. At the extreme end, this manifests itself in how QSs measure schemes and how contractors do under design and build contracts. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a fundamental gap there,鈥� he says, pointing to the difference between the rules for a Bill of Quantities, where all individual components are measured, and builder鈥檚 quantities which measure in more general terms (sq m of a cavity wall, for example). 鈥淭here are no common rules here,鈥� he says. The railway industry is an extreme example of this anarchy, Earl argues. 鈥淚t鈥檚 suffered with having no standard rules so QSs have created their own versions, but there is no consistency.鈥�

We don鈥檛 want to be cheerleader consultants, just selling good ideas. We need to show how
to implement and measure things
Stuart Earl, partner, Gleeds

Earl is a great believer in B of Qs. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an invaluable tool to use as a health check before you get anywhere near a contractor.鈥� He contrasts this with 鈥渉aving a bit of design and sending it out as a specification and drawings to a contractor鈥�.

鈥淲e are not helping our clients here. With spec and drawings, that data is not captured. You can鈥檛 compare it with other projects. The B of Q is set in stone.鈥� It may take longer to carry out but that can be a fruitful exercise, Earl argues. 鈥淲e did a school recently. There was a sudden desire by the client to go to tender. At the last minute we decided to do a bill. We discovered the drawings were very bad. The billing process extended the time by three or four months but the advantage for the client was that when he went out to tender there were decent drawings and schedules of works. We saved probable delays later.鈥�

Earl hopes the initiative will create a consistent approach from the top of the supply chain down to the bottom so everyone will be confident that what is in a cost plan or estimate matches the more detailed work later on. Areas such as external works and prefabrication will also become more consistent. 鈥淲e will be able to create a better relationship between the layers so that B of Qs are expanded versions of the cost plans.鈥�

This back-to-basics approach appears to be generally supported by the industry. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had positive responses so far,鈥� says Earl. He鈥檚 now hoping to meet with contractors and subcontractors as well as approaching the major design institutions with the work. 鈥淚 think there is a degree of misunderstanding of what is needed in terms of the detail of schemes,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou can go out to tender at any level but there has to be a clear understanding about the level and criteria of detail that is needed.鈥�