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CHAPTER 4
Methods of Measurements,
SMM7, NRM,and (CESMM 4)

4-1

Introduction
• In General , Standard provides :
– detailed information,
– classification tables and
– rules for measuring building works.
– Preparing Bills Of Quantities
• It is important that there is a uniform basis for
measuring building works ( civil engineering
works) in order to facilitate industry wide
consistency and benchmarking, to encourage
the adoption of best practice and to help
avoid disputes.
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Methods of measurement
• SMM7
• CESMM4
• Highways method
• New Rule of measurement NRM
• Common principles
– How to be presented
– How work to be measured
– How work to be described
– What work items are deemed to include
– How terms are defined

4-3

Measurement rules, cont.
• General rules
• Measurement rules
• Definition rules
• Item coverage

• Measurement Gross or net?

–Waste and its allowance
–Working methods and allowance
• Working space?
• Formwork?
• Enabling works?
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SMM7
• SMM7 is typically used in the preparation of bills of quantities,
documents that provide measured quantities of the items of
work identified by the drawings and specifications in tender
documentation.
• Bills of quantities are issued to tenderers for them to prepare a
price for carrying out works.
• SMM7 is accompanied by the Code of Procedure for the
Measurement of Building Works (the SMM7 Measurement
Code).
• Whilst SMM7 can have a contractual status on a project (for
example in the JCT Standard form of Building Contract), the
Measurement Code is non-mandatory.
• Work sections within SMM7 are classified according to the
Common Arrangement of Work Sections (CAWS).
• CAWS creates a consistent arrangement of work sections for
specifications and bills of quantities.

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SMM7
• It was first published in 1987 and was updated by the Construction Project
Information Committee (CPIC) in 1998 to align it with the Unified
Classification for the Construction Industry (Uniclass).

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4-7

SMM7-Phasing out
• SMM7 has been replaced by the New Rules of Measurement
volume 2 (NRM2) which was published in April 2012 by the RICS
Quantity Surveying and Construction Professional Group and
became operative on 1 January 2013. SMM7 should not be
adopted on projects after July 2013.
• NRM2 is accompanied by two additional volumes:
• NRM1: Order of cost estimating and cost planning for capital
building works.
• NRM3: Order of cost estimating and cost planning for building
maintenance works.
• It is suggested by the RICS that together, the new suite of
documents will better reflect the way the industry now works:
• Better meeting the needs of clients.
• Providing for more up-front detail.
• Allowing better consideration of the full costs of a construction
project (for example marketing costs, fees and charges, the cost of
acquiring land, planning costs, relocation costs, the cost of finance
and so on).

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SMM7-Phasing out
• Providing a better method for quantifying risk.
• The RICS also suggest that it will facilitate “...greater cross
industry working (and) the introduction of Building Information
Modelling” ref RICS.
• NRM has moved away from the Common Arrangement of Work
Sections (CAWS) to adopt its own system of indexing.
• Contracts that refer to SMM7 will have to be revised when NRM
is adopted on new projects.

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NRM2
• NRM2 is divided into three parts with supporting appendices:
• Part 1: General - places the measurement for works procurement in
context with the RIBA Plan Of Work and the OGC Gateway Process;
and explains the symbols, abbreviations and definitions used in the
rules.
• Part 2: Rules for detailed measurement of building works - outlines the
benefits of detailed measurement, describes the purpose and uses of
NRM2; explains the function of bill of quantities, provides work
breakdown structures for bill of quantities, defines the information
required to enable the preparation of bill of quantities, describes the
key constituents of bill of quantities and explains how to prepare bill of
quantities. Considerable space is given over to the codification of bills
of quantities and the use of the bills for cost management.
• Part 3: Tabulated rules of measurement for building works - comprises
the majority of NRM2 being the tabulated rules for the measurement
and description of building works for the purpose of works
procurement.

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NRM2
• Strictly speaking, NRM2 is a set of
measurement rules rather than a
classification system.
• However, it does provide a system of
indexing. This system is a departure
from both the common arrangement of
work section (CAWS) and Uniclass, but
it can be mapped against the them:

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NRM2
1 Preliminaries
2 Off-site manufactured materials, components 23 Windows, screens and lights
and buildings 24 Doors, shutters and hatches
3 Demolitions 25 Stairs, walkways and balustrades
4 Alterations, repairs and conservation 26 Metalwork
5 Excavating and filling 27 Glazing
6 Ground remediation and soil stabilisation 28 Floor, wall, ceiling and roof finishings
7 Piling 29 Decoration
8 Underpinning 30 Suspended ceilings
9 Diaphragm walls and embedded retaining walls 31 Insulation, fire stopping and fire protection
10 Crib walls, gabions and reinforced earth 32 Furniture, fittings and equipment
11 In-situ concrete works 33 Drainage above ground
12 Precast/composite concrete 34 Drainage below ground
13 Precast concrete 35 Site works
14 Masonry 36 Fencing
15 Structural metalwork 37 Soft landscaping
16 Carpentry 38 Mechanical services
17 Sheet roof coverings 39 Electrical services
18 Tile and slate roof and wall coverings 40 Transportation
19 Waterproofing 41 Builder’s work in connection with mechanical,
20 Proprietary linings and partitions electrical and transportation installations
21 Cladding and covering
22 General joinery
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SMM7 VS NRM2
• For comparison between NRM and
SMM7
• https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wi
ki/Comparison_of_SMM7_with_NRM2

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CESSM3(4)
• This standard is prepared by the Institution of Civil
Engineers jointly with association of Consulting Engineers
and Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors;
• The Scope of this document Covers Civil Engineering
works and simple building works incidental to Civil
Engineering Works;
• CESMM 3 does not deal with the preparation of B.O.Q for
complex building works or complex Electrical or
Mechanical Engineering works which is seldom
encountered in civil engineering contracts

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CESMM3 Objectives
• It is to enable the preparation of B.O.Q. and
provide rules for measuring and calculation
quantities of work to include the following :
A. How to divide work into separate items
in B.O.Q;
B. The information to be given in item
description;
C The units in which the quantities are to
be expressed;
D. How the work is to be measured.

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Items Coding and Numbering

• The works covered in Civil Engineering
are divided into (26) main classes;
• Each class comprises up to (3) division
which classify work at successive
levels of detail;
• Each division comprises a list of up to
eight descriptive features of work;

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Items Coding and Numbering

• When a feature of an item is not listed
in the work classification the digit (9)
shall be used in the appropriate
positions in the code number;
positions.
• In case an additional description is to
be the given for an item, then the item
should be numbered by adding a 4 th
digit.
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Work Classification
• Class A: General Items
• Class B: Ground Investigation
• Class C: Geotechnical and Other
Specialist Processes
• Class D: Demolition and Site
Clearance
• Class E: Earthworks
• Class F: In Situ Concrete

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Work Classification
• Class G: Concrete Ancillaries
• Class H: Precast Concrete
• Class I: Pipe Work – Pipes
• Class J: Pipe Work - Fittings and Valves
• Class K: Pipe Work - Manholes and Pipe
work Ancillaries
• Class L: Pipe Work - Support and
Protection, Ancillaries to Laying &
Excavation

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Work Classification
• Class M: Structural Metalwork
• Class M: Structural Metalwork
• Class N: Miscellaneous metalwork
• Class O: Timber
• Class P: Piles
• Class Q: Piling Ancillaries
• Class R: Roads and Paving
• Class S: Rail Track

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Work Classification
• Class T: Tunnels
• Class U: Brickworks, Block work and Masonry
• Class V: Painting
• Class W: Waterproofing
• Class X: Miscellaneous Work
• Class Y: Sewer and Water Main Renovation
and Ancillary Works
• Class Z: Simple Building Works Incidental to
Civil Engineering Works
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Example: Class H (Precast Concrete)

• The three digits refer to the following:
1) Type of Precast unit;
2) Different units by dimension;
3) Different units by Mass.

 Precast concrete H
1(First division) 3(Second 6 (third division)
division)
BEAM LENGTH 7-10 M MASS 5-104

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• Items in this class in a BOQ format could be for example:

Code Description Unit Qty Unit Amount

Price
F156 Provision of ordinary prescribed m3 50
concrete mix grade C25, sulphate
resistant maximum aggregate size
14mm
F413 Placing of mass concrete for m3 50
blinding of thickness not exceeding
150mm
F524 Reinforced concrete for footings m3 32
thickness exceeding 500mm
F663 Pre-stressed concrete for beams m3 29
cross-sectional area between 0.1 –
0.25m2

To be inserted by contractors
nOnce all possible items have been measured, they are assembled
together with other tender documents ready for the invitation of
contractors to tender.
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Bill Of Quantities (B.O.Q.) Components

• The B.O.Q. should be divided in the following

sections :
A. List of principal quantities;
B. Preamble;
C. Day work schedule;
D. Work items (grouped into parts);
E. Grand summary.

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Bill Of Quantities (B.O.Q.) Components

• List of Principal Quantities

– It should include list of principal
components, components of works with
their approximate estimated quantities to
give an idea to the tenderers prior to the
to the examination of the remainder of
the B.O.Q.

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Bill Of Quantities (B.O.Q.) Components

• • Preamble
– This should state the methods of
measurement, other than CESMM3,
which have been adapted in the
preparation of B.O.Q. and are to be used
for the measurement of the work including
the definition of rock in case of
excavation.

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Bill Of Quantities (B.O.Q.) Components

• Day work schedule
– Which should comprise a list of
various classes of labor, materials
and plants for which day work rates
or are to be inserted by the tenderer

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Bill Of Quantities (B.O.Q.) Components

• Division of the bill of quantities into points

– The BOQ may be divided into numbered parts to
distinguish– The BOQ may be divided into
numbered parts to distinguish between those
parts of the work where the nature, location,
access, limitations on sequence or timing or any
special characteristic is thought likely to give rise
to different methods of construction org y g
consideration of cost

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Bill Of Quantities (B.O.Q.) Components

• Heading and subheadings may be

added and are read as part of the item
description to which they apply and
part of the item description to which
they apply and should be repeated;
• All works shall be itemized in
accordance with the work classification
but further itemization is possible.

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Bill Of Quantities (B.O.Q.) Components

• Items description is further

complemented by drawings,
specifications and conditions of
contract;
• Prime cost items are those who
correspond to the works carried out by a
nominated subcontractor and shall be
mentioned in B.O.Q. as such;

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Bill Of Quantities (B.O.Q.) Components

• Provisional sums.
• Provisions for contingencies shall be made
by giving provisional sums in the B.O.Q. and
not by increasing quantities of the work
expected to be required;
• Quantities shall be computed net using
dimensions from drawings unless directed
other wise by CESMM 3 rules or contract

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Bill Of Quantities (B.O.Q.) Components

• Quantities should be rounded to one

place of decimals;
• No allowance should by made for
shrinkage or waste in BOQ

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Millimeter mm
Meter m
Square Millimeter mm2
Square Meter Sm or m2
Cubic Meter Cm or m3
Hectare Ha
Kilogram Kg
Ton t
Sum sum
Hour Hr.
week wk.
Linear meter lm

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Bill Of Quantities (B.O.Q.) Components

• Works affected by water (a body of
open water other than ground water)
which is on site or at its boundaries
should be identified in preamble of
BOQ;
• A reference is to be given to the level
of each body of water or the
anticipated range of fluctuation in the
water levels.

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Bill Of Quantities (B.O.Q.) Components

• The commencing surface of ground

and excavation levels for different types
of related works should be mentioned
in the description of related works

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Bill Of Quantities (B.O.Q.) Components

• Form and Setting
– The BOQ should be set out on A4 size paper
with columns headed and ruled consecutively as
follows:
Number 20 mm
Item description 90 mm
Unit 10 mm
Qty (Quantity) 20 mm
Rate 20 mm
Amount 20 mm

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Cont’d: B.O.Q. Components

Grand Summary
• A provisional sum for a general contingency shall
be given in the grand summary;
• An adjustment item should be inserted as a lump
sum addition or deduction;
• Total of the Priced Bill of Quantities should be
inserted of the total of the amounts brought forward
from the Part Summaries.

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Method Related Chargesg

• A tenderer may insert in the BOQ items

for method related charges to cover
items of work related to his intended
method of executing the works, the
costs of which are not proportional to
the quantities of other items and are not
allowed in the rates and prices for the
other item

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END OF CHAPTER

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