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EXAMINING THE CURRENT STATE OF THE BOQ
By SARACCA
HVAC contracting , the BOQ and the Association of South African Quantity Surveyors ’ standard system of measurement for building work .
The purpose of a Bill of Quantites ( BOQ ) is to set out the work to be done , or initially tendered on as indicated on the drawings and as contained in the specification in accordance with a predetermined set of rules .
The preparation of the BOQ , in the case of an HVAC project , is normally undertaken by the HVAC Consulting Engineer and the importance of a well described and accurate BOQ cannot be understated . This document goes beyond being a tender summary , but should be drafted in order to be utislised for project cost control during the execution phase of the project .
A well described BOQ will provide the work detail split in to sections , relating to different components of the overall project for example : ducting , piping , equipment , etc , and will provide the tender adjudicator with the comfort that the work scope is understood by the tendering company . Essentially taking the ‘ guesswork ’ and risk out of the tendering process .
A BOQ should be set out in the following format :
• Item no
• Description
• Quantity
• Unit
• Rate
• Amount
Descriptions should be specific with relevant information , properly described and units must be in accordance with the standard system of measurement to assist the contractor in understanding the items and how they are measured .
The first standard of measurement for building work in South Africa was published in 1906 by the Transvaal Society of Quantity
The importance of a well-described and accurate BOQ cannot be understated .
Surveyors , and thereafter standard systems were published on a national level with the seventh edtion being released by the Association of South African Quantity Surveyors in October 2015 .
The very first HVAC ‘ Model Bill of Quantities ’ with a standard system of measurement was drawn up in the early 1980s in a joint effort between Consulting Engineers and the South African Refrigeration and Airconditioning Contractors Association ( SARACCA ), and in subsequent years a number of revisions were made by sub-commitees of SARACCA and Consulting Engineers . There has unfortunately been very little collaboration between SARACCA , Consulting Engineers and the Quantity Surveyors Association since these early interactions , however today the standard system of measuring HVAC work is encapsulated in the Association of South African Quantity Surveyors “ Standard System of Measuring Building Work ” ( seventh edition ), under the mechanical work section and does set out rules for measurement .
It is evident that current practices by some consultants and quantity surveyors is to pay less attention to the descriptive requirements or the rules in the standard system of measurement , making it increasingly difficult for all parties to comprehend the “ BOQ ” produced for tender .
Many BOQ ’ s produced today are really no more than a price schedule of the work which still needs to be measured off drawings in order to accurately assess the quantities and work scope . This practice also reintroduces the geuss work and risk that a well defined BOQ removes for the contractor .
The adjudicator of the tender would also have no idea of how to compare the rates inclued under each item , as inclusions and exclusions to these rates would likely differ vastly between all parties submitting tenders .
www . hvacronline . co . za RACA Journal I March 2021 45