CCWFL – WTF?????

Cee-cee-wiffel – say that to a QS and it is like saying ‘Bonjour!’ to a French person who thinks you only speak English! I know right… you’re thinking that’s it! Vic’s finally cracked! What an earth is she talking about…..?

CCWFL is a fabulous acronym for the framework a quantity surveyor uses to build up a rate for something, and we use this when we are pricing elementally. The term can also be described as a ‘sandwich rate’ and the idea is that it is based on a description of work, rather than itemized measuring. It’s a quick way to pull pricing together with as much accuracy as possible.

The acronym is broken down as follows;

C – Cost

The cost of the materials within the description, broken down into the unit specified, ie /m2

C –  Cartage

The cartage allowances to bring the material to site, including extra value such as carting by hand on a steep section etc.

W – Waste

Generally the waste allowance for a particular item, depending on the material type and job type given as a percentage and calculated as a unit.

F – Fixings

The fixings allowance for the materials, glues, screws and nails. Materials not usually itemized, unlike bolts for instance.

L – Labour

The labour allowance for each material type, broken down into a per unit basis. Labour constants are based on the average guy doing the average job on the average day.

An example of a description that you might be using could be;

10mm plasterboard to 90mm internal timber framed walls with 2.4 stud including insulation.

So why do you care about this? A few reasons.

You care because you want to know that if you are using a QS and you ask for an estimate or an elemental report, this is the theory behind why we do what we do. QS’s get accused all the time of overcooking a price and it coming in too high, but as you can see if we are using the CCWFL theory that is not the case at all, it is simply to do with covering you financially and giving accurate expectations to your client.

The other reason is if you are putting together pricing exercises like this yourself, this theory is handy. Make sure that if you are building up rates it covers everything in the acronym so that you aren’t catching yourself short. Personally I think that there is nothing worse than promising a client you can do something for a particular value, then having to reneg on it when true costs are apparent. It’s a quick way to lose trust and professionalism!