Standard Methods of Measurement and Quantity Surveying Documentation
This domain covers the documents that fix how measurement is done and the paper trail a quantity surveyor must be able to produce. It is examined through questions on which method governs, what the preambles must state, how a taking-off sheet is kept, and how a revision is proved.
The standard method in force
- Cyprus practice descends from SMM7; NRM2 is increasingly quoted for building work, and CESMM4 governs civil engineering. The method actually in force must be named in the preambles, with any departure listed as a stated deviation.
- The method fixes units, deduction thresholds, the classification of work sections and what is deemed included in a rate. Where the method is silent, the specification and the conditions of contract govern.
Taking-off discipline
- Traditional dimension paper carries a timesing column, dimension column, squaring column and description column; waste calculations are kept on separate sheets so the bill quantity can be audited.
- Every dimension must be traceable to a drawing number, revision and grid reference.
- Query sheets (RFIs) record each ambiguity, the date raised and the answer received; they protect both the measurement and the later valuation.
The document set
- Drawing register and revisions; specification; schedules for doors, windows, ironmongery and finishes; bills of quantities; preambles; preliminaries; conditions of contract.
- Preambles are the measurement and description rules. Preliminaries are site-specific and time-related cost items. Confusing the two moves money into the wrong section of the bill and is a classic exam error.
Worked example
A slab is revised from 100 mm to 150 mm at revision C. The take-off records 24.000 m² × 0.100 m = 2.400 m³ originally and 24.000 m² × 0.150 m = 3.600 m³ at revision C. The variation is 1.200 m³, valued at the bill rate. Because the query sheet records the revision date and the drawing number, the change is provable; without that reference the 1.200 m³ is difficult to recover at final account.
Traps that cost marks
- Citing 'the SMM' generically without naming the edition or method.
- Mixing preliminaries items into measured work, or vice versa.
- Missing a drawing revision and measuring superseded work.
- Describing an item without the clauses the method requires, so the rate is ambiguous.
- Keeping no query sheet, leaving variations unprovable.