UNIT 3

Purpose Of Estimating
1. To ascertain the necessary amount required by the owner to complete the proposed work for
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his decision and arranging fund for the same.

To ascertain the quantity of materials required for programming timely procurement.
To know the number of different categories of workers that is to be employed to complete the
work within the schedule time of completion.
Estimate helps to assess the requirements of tools, plants and equipments required to
complete the work according to the programme.
To fix up the completion period from the volume of work involved in the estimate.

To draw up construction schedule and program and also to arrange fund required according to the
programming.
Factors To Be Considered During Preparation Of A Detailed Estimate
Quantity of materials: For a large construction, a large quantity of materials is required
and this can be purchased at a rate cheaper than the rate of materials required for minor
work. Therefore, rate of works should be framed considering the volume of work.
2. Availability of materials: Estimated cost of a particular item is higher than the scheduled
rate if there is no assurance that the materials will be available as and when required, and it
is detrimental to the progress of the work if the workers and maintenance staff remain idle
for paucity of materials.
3. Transportation of Materials: If smaller quantity of materials is required to be transported
to a considerable distance, the proportionate cost of transportation becomes higher in
comparison with the cost of a large quantity transported at a time.
4. Location of site: If the site of work is located at an odd place for which loading,
unloading, stacking and restacking of materials are necessary, several times, due to
different kinds of journey, the point of damage or loss in transit should be considered
carefully.
Local labour charges: Skill and daily wages of local labourer should be considered before
preparation of a detailed estimate.
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DATA REQUIRED FOR PREPARING AN ESTIMATE

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In order to prepare a detailed estimate the estimator must have with him the following data:
1. Plans, sections and other relevant details of the work.
2. Specifications indicating the exact nature and class of materials to be used.
3. The rates at which the different items of work are carried out. To enable an estimator to take
out the quantities accurately, the drawings must themselves be clear, true to the fact and scale,
complete, and fully dimensioned. The estimator has also to bear in mind certain principles of
taking out quantities.
STEPS IN PREPARATION OF AN ESTIMATE
There are three clearly defined steps in the preparation of an estimate.
1 . TAKING OUT QUANTITIES
In the first step of taking out quantities, the measurements are taken off from the drawings and
entered on measurement sheet or dimension paper. The measurements to be taken out would
depend upon the unit of measurement. Obviously, the unit of measurement in the first case is
cubic meter and that in the second case is square meter.
2. SQUARING OUT
The second step consists of working out volumes, areas, etc. and casting up their total in
recognized units.
3. ABSTRACTING
In the third step all the items along with the net results obtained in the second step are transferred
from measurement sheets to specially ruled sheets having rate column ready for pricing. The
second and third steps above are known as working up. All calculations in these stages and every
entry transferred should be checked by another person to ensure that no mathematical or copying
error occurs.