For this assignment, you are required to submit online via Turnitin:
- a take off and briefing note as one PDF file.
Further information to support you with this assignment:
- is available within the study materials for this module on the VLE and in the relevant ‘Assessment preparation’ week.
- will be provided in the Assignment briefing webinar (see ‘Webinar schedule’) and
Assignment forum (in the relevant ‘Assessment preparation week’). Use these opportunities to ask any questions you may have about the assessment.
Quick links to guidance
- Generative AI student guidance ( UCEM)
- Word count and overwriting
- Academic integrity (avoiding academic misconduct)
- The UCEM Guide to Referencing and Citation .
Scenario for Task 1 Only
You are an assistant quantity surveyor working for a large quantity surveying practice called PHR Associates. You are working with your manager on the preparation of tender documents for a project to construct a new private boarding school for a client who is new to the construction industry. As part of the project the school is also building two houses to accommodate staff that will be working at the school.
You are currently working on the substructure for one of the houses on the project. The drawings include plans, sections and details, with some specification details, further specification is provided below.
As part of the traditional procurement route, you have been asked to take-off quantities for selected substructure items for House A to progress the preparation of tender documents.
The PDF drawings listed below are available on the VLE.
Task 1
Your director has asked you to take off quantities for selected items of construction works for House A. A take-off template including a query sheet is available on the VLE. You should use this template to complete your take-off. You should ensure that you have completed all the tabs of the template.
Using a Standard Method of Measurement (SMM) and following the traditional method of measurement, take-off quantities for the following substructure items as shown on the drawings:
- D0752 GF Plan
- D0753 FF Plan
- D0759 Cross Section
- D0760 Section GF details
- D0761 Section FF details D0763 Section roof details.
List of items to be measured:
- Topsoil excavation
- Topsoil retention
- Reduced level excavation
- Disposal of excavated material
- External trench excavation
- Concrete in trench foundation
- Disposal of excavated material
- Brickwork to outer layer of cavity wall below DPC (up to DPC level) Brickwork to inner layer of cavity wall below DPC (up to DPC level).
Your submission should include:
- A taking off list
- Marked up drawings
- A query and answer sheet
- Measurement in the traditional format.
Specification
600mm wide x 1500mm deep C20 mass concrete foundation footing. Taken down to 2.2m below structural floor level.
Walls below ground 100mm semi engineering brick outer leaf. 100mm standard dense concrete block inner leaf bedded in 1:3 cement mortar.
Notes
Assume the construction of the walls below ground is the same all the way around the building.
A bill of quantities is not required.
Scenario for Task 2 Only
You are lead Quantity Surveyor on a mixed-use development project procured under the traditional procurement route with a JCT Standard Building Contract. You are working with a junior apprentice to support you with your role and you are required to provide them with training by explaining the processes that you are undertaking. The project is at RIBA Stage 5 Manufacturing and Construction in the post contract stage of the project.
You worked on the precontract stage of the project developing cost plans, advising on the procurement strategy and selecting the valuation mechanism. Some key decisions made during the Pre contract stage were:
- Allocation of the budget to the various elements to produce a detailed cost plan.
- Selection of the traditional procurement route with single stage tendering by selective competition.
- Selection of the JCT Standard Building Contract.
- Production of a Bill of Quantities which was filled in by the contractor’s organisation as part of the tendering process. Selecting the valuation mechanism as monthly valuations for timebased payments as opposed to stage payments.
- The use of BIM on the project as the project team are located in multiple locations and a key objective for the client is to make the project as sustainable as possible. They are hoping to achieve BREEAM excellent for the building.
The contractor has submitted their latest valuation which includes noticeable increases in claimed works and associated costs compared to the previous valuations. Upon reviewing progress on site and digital project records including schedule linked outputs from the BIM model, you find that several elements have been overstated.
Privately, the contractor reveals they are experiencing financial difficulty, and they have overestimated the amount to be paid. They ask you to overlook this and agree the valuation.
The junior apprentice is aware of the situation and has asked you to explain how the issue would be managed and what the appropriate reporting channels are.
Task 2
You are required to produce a briefing note for the junior apprentice that:
- Outlines the process for producing interim valuations and critically discusses how interim valuations contribute to effective financial management in a construction project. With reference to the scenario, explain how decisions made during the precontract stage influence post contract valuation accuracy, cashflow and stakeholder confidence. As part of your discussion include critical commentary on how digital tools such as BIM may support this process from client and contractor perspective.
- Critically discusses how the quantity surveyor should manage the issue with regards to the overvaluation. You should make reference to the five rules contained in the RICS Rules of Conduct 2021 as part of your discussion.
The conclusions and recommendations sections of your briefing note should discuss the advice your will provide to the client.
Reference list and Bibliography
You should include a reference list with a minimum of six separate relevant and appropriate sources that you have written about and cited within your work.
A bibliography of uncited sources is not required.
Marking Guidance for this Assignment
This guidance is designed to help you to do as well as possible in your assessment by explaining how the person marking your work will be judging it.
Your work will be assessed in relation to the requirements set out in the assessment criteria marking guide shown below and the grading guidance section below.
It is recommended that you read both of these sections before starting your assessment to learn what will help you to achieve the highest marks. Before submitting your assessment you should review it to check you have produced what is required to achieve the highest marks.
When you receive your feedback from your tutor you should be able to see where you gained marks and, where relevant, recommendations about how to improve your performance going forward.
Grading Guidance
This grading guidance section explains in more detail what a submission for this assignment should include in order to achieve a mark at the threshold, good and excellent standards.
Threshold – Threshold submissions should provide:
Task 1
- Adequate presentation of dimensions consistently with sufficient booking of dimensions, use of timesing, use of decimal places, use of underlining and correct squaring of calculations.
- Adequate presentation of waste calculations and annotation of dimensions that is sufficient to be understood.
- Adequate interpretation of the drawings and specifications to sufficiently identify the measured items.
- Adequate use of the Q&A sheet to progress the measurement of the identified items.
- Completeness of measure with some items missed.
- Adequate use of description information on dimension sheets following SMM requirements, to distinguish between items measured in the take-off.
Task 2
- Demonstrate adequate critical appraisal on the process for producing interim valuations and how interim valuations contribute to effective financial management in a construction project. Demonstrate adequate understanding of how decisions made during the precontract stage influence post contract valuation accuracy, cashflow and stakeholder confidence.
- Demonstrate adequate critical appraisal how digital tools such as BIM may support this process from client and contractor perspective.
- Demonstrate adequate awareness of ethics as it relates to the ethical dilemma in the
- Limited discussion on the 5 RICS Rules of Conduct 2021 rules.
Good – Good submissions should provide the following in addition to the ‘threshold’ requirements
Task 1
- Presentation of dimensions consistently with the correct booking of dimensions, use of timesing, use of decimal places, use of underlining and correct squaring of calculations with few errors. 2. Clear presentation of waste calculations and annotation of dimensions which reflects the requirement to measure for different items.
- Competent use of the Q&A sheet to ask relevant questions to progress the measurement of the identified items.
- Competent interpretation of the drawing and specifications to distinguish the measurement requirements for most items.
- Completeness of measure with only 1 or 2 items missed.
- Consistent and correct use of description information on dimension sheets following SMM requirements.
Task 2
- Demonstrate competent critical appraisal on the process for producing interim valuations and how interim valuations contribute to effective financial management in a construction project. Students could consider cashflow and valuation timing as part of the discussion.
- Demonstrate competent understanding of how decisions made during the precontract stage influence post contract valuation accuracy, cashflow and stakeholder confidence.
- Demonstrate competent critical appraisal how digital tools such as BIM may support this process from client and contractor perspective.
- Demonstrate competent awareness of ethics as it relates to the ethical dilemma in the scenario. Good discussion on the 5 RICS Rules of Conduct 2021.
Excellent – Excellent submissions should provide the following in addition to the ‘Good’ requirements
Task 1
- Clear, accurate and excellent presentation of dimensions and waste calculations with no errors in dimensions or waste calculations.
- Completeness of measure with no items missed, but slight computational errors.
- Excellent use of the Q and A sheet to progress the measurement of the identified items.
- Drawings clearly and neatly marked up to indicate the items to be measured.
- Measured items accurately and completely described according to the SMM.
- Ability to interpret the drawings and understand the specification for all items that need to be measured.
Task 2
- Demonstrate excellent critical appraisal on the process for producing interim valuations and how interim valuations contribute to effective financial management in a construction project. Demonstrate excellent understanding of how decisions made during the precontract stage influence post contract valuation accuracy, cashflow and stakeholder confidence.
- Demonstrate excellent critical appraisal how digital tools such as BIM may support this process from client and contractor perspective.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of professional ethics to the PCM/QS, client, project, and stakeholders, in relation to the scenario. Excellent discussion on the 5 RICS Rules of Conduct 2021 enhanced by assumptions.
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA MARKING GUIDE
Criteria 1 and 2 relate to the measurement in Task 1 and criteria 3, 4, 5 and 6 relate to the briefing note in Task 2.
| LEVEL_7_QSP7PCM | ||||||||
| _Ass_2_2021_SEP | ||||||||
| 1. PRESENTATION OF
MEASUREMENT AND CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY |
10 | 0–1
Inadequate |
2–3
Limited |
4 Below threshold | 5 Threshold | 6
Good |
7 Excellent | 8–10
Outstanding |
| Provision of Q&A sheet, take off list (SMM), Marked up drawings, Bill of Quantities, where relevant | Presentation format is inappropriate and communication is obstructed | Presentation format is ineffective and communication is hindered.
|
Presentation format is confused and communication is only partially effective | Presentation format is satisfactory and communication is sufficient to meet the learning outcomes | Presentation format is effective and communication is sound. | Presentation format is sophisticated and communication is articulate. | Presentation format is innovative and communication is insightful. | |
| Understanding of construction technology, materials and related specification content structure. | Inadequate understanding of construction technology, materials and related specification content structure. | Limited understanding of construction technology, materials and related specification content structure. | Insufficient understanding of construction technology, materials and related specification content structure. | Sufficient understanding of construction technology, materials and related specification content structure to meet the learning outcomes. | Good understanding of construction technology, materials and related specification content structure. | Excellent understanding of construction technology, materials and related specification content structure. | Outstanding understanding of construction technology, materials and related specification content structure. | |
| Clarification of assumptions and linkage between elements of the submission | Inadequate
clarification of assumptions and approach made. |
Limited clarification of assumptions and approach made. | Insufficient clarification of assumptions and approach made. | Sufficient clarification of assumptions and approach made to meet the learning outcomes. | Good clarification of assumptions and approach made. | Excellent clarification of assumptions and approach made. | Outstanding clarification of assumptions and approach made. | |
| Minimal cross referencing of information to support the measure. | Ineffective cross referencing of information to support the measure. | Inaccurate and inconsistent cross referencing of information to support the measure. | Satisfactory cross referencing of information to support the measure. | Clear and competent cross referencing of information to support the measure. | Complete and accurate cross referencing of information to support the measure. | Comprehensive and thorough cross referencing of information to support the measure. | ||
| 2. ACCURACY OF
DESCRIPTION AND MEASUREMENT |
20 | 0–3
Inadequate |
4–7
Limited |
8–9
Below threshold |
10–11
Threshold |
12–13 Good | 14–15
Excellent |
16–20
Outstanding |
| All items have been measured properly in
accordance with the SMM |
Measurement of items is inaccurate, minimal and do not comply with SMM requirements.
|
Measurement of items is unsatisfactory and ineffective and has limited compliance with SMM requirements. | Measurement of items is inconsistent and inaccurate and only partially complies with SMM requirements. | Measurement of items is sufficiently clear and accurate, and sufficiently complies with SMM requirements to meet the learning outcomes. | Measurement of items is competent and clear. Compliance with SMM requirements is mostly correct with minor omissions or errors. | Measurement of items is complete and accurate. Compliance with SMM requirements is correct with minimal omissions or errors. | Measurement of items is comprehensive and thorough. Full compliance with SMM requirements. | |
| Adequacy, clarity and completeness of descriptions in accordance with the
chosen and approved SMM |
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