Estimating the value of a building is as easy as estimating the cost of baking a bread. Have you ever baked a bread?

Ingredients:

Half teaspoon active dry yeast; 1/4 cup warm water; Three tablespoons sugar; One tablespoon salt; Two tablespoons canola oil; 3/4 cup all purpose flour

Method:

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the sugar, salt, oil and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth Stir in enough remaining flour, 1 2 cup at a time, to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 and a half hours. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface divide dough in half. Shape each into a loaf. Place in two greased 9 x 5 in loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 45 minutes. Bake at 375 for 30 35 minutes or until golden brown and bread sounds hollow when tapped Remove from pans to wire racks to cool Yield 2 loaves (16 slices each).

If you know the ingredients of the bread and you know the method to bake the bread you can calculate the cost. Have you ever baked a bread? What type did you bake?

The Baker

Quantity Surveyors often hear the question: How much does it cost to build these days? or What is the going rate per m2 to build today? This is like asking a baker: What is the price of a bread? He / She will reply by asking: What type of bread? Corn, wheat or rye? White or brown? Gluten free? With raisins or without? Etc, etc.

When it comes to the cost of buildings, similar questions must be asked in order to provide an accurate estimated cost. Different buildings have different uses. Buildings with the same use could have different features. The m2 construction rate for the following types of buildings, as an example, will therefore differ due to the different uses of the buildings: residential houses, office blocks, retail centers, hospitals, ware houses etc. There are also factors that could cause similar building types to differ in cost due to the services accommodated in the building, the level of finishes used in the building, the shape of the building and the floor to roof height and/or floor to floor height of the building. Two residential houses with the same construction area could differ vastly in cost if the one has more expensive floor finishes, includes air conditioning, has a higher floor to roof height, etc.

Square meter rates

Many cost estimates are provided by using a m2 rate multiplied with the construction area of the building and then arriving at an overall cost after fees and general costs has been added. The specific m2 rate for specific building types are escalated as time goes on. These rates are checked over time by comparing it to the actual building cost of recently completed buildings. But what if you normally only work on retail buildings and office blocks. How will you come up with a m2 rate for a hotel if someone asks you: How much does it cost to build a 3-star hotel these days?

Elemental rates and quantities

When you make use of elemental rates and elemental quantities in your estimates you limit your risk and you limit your client’s risk. The Association of South African Quantity Surveyors https://www.asaqs.co.za/ provides a Guide to Elemental Cost Estimating.

The elemental rate for some elements might be similar for different building types but the elemental quantity for different building types will often differ. For example, in an office block you might have 1 sanitary fittings for every 100m2 of construction area but in a hotel you could have 3 sanitary fittings for every 50m2 of construction area.

With a little extra effort by measuring the floor areas, the external fa?ade areas the areas of the internal divisions, counting the sanitary fittings and doors and by applying sensible, calculated elemental rates to each elemental quantity more accurate and better explainable costs and rates will be arrived at.

MLC in its various offices on different continents has decades of experience and terra bytes of data on the costs for all building types imaginable. Let us assist you with your next cost plan.

More information about MLC is available on request: +267 395 1310 / +267 71 203 743 / www.mlc-group.com [email protected]

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