Construction World March 2016

QUANTITY SURVEYORS

WIDESPREAD CONSEQUENCES Poorly prepared tender documentation has become a major problem in the South African construction industry with tenders put out by municipalities, in particular, increasingly dropping in standard, warns Bert van der Heever, president of the Association of SA Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS).

“Instead, members of ASAQS are increasingly having to work with municipal tender docu- ments that are unclear and ambiguous. This, predictably, leads to inaccurate estimates, claims and disputes on contracts, to name just a few consequences. “Proper tender documentation helps to obtain competitive tenders that can be evaluated objectively to select a suitable contractor, but poor specification writing, disparities between bills of quantities, and dismal drawings and specifications are increasingly the norm in tender packages drawn up by local governments which, as repeatedly stated in the media, appear

“This has the potential of destroying emerging as well as established contrac- tors, and also leads to unnecessary wastage of time and money with escalating costs of building projects which South Africa's reeling economy can ill afford at present,” Van den Heever states. He says all tenders, whether from the public or private sector, should provide clear and consistent project information to assist building contractors in deciding whether to submit tenders, and then to enable quantity surveyors and project managers to exercise proper cost control on the projects involved. >

Bert van der Heever, president of the Asso- ciation of SA Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS).

to have too many inexperienced and unskilled staff in key positions. Then, to exacerbate the situation,there has also been so many reported cases of vested interests and corruption in the awarding of municipal tenders.” Van den Heever says the problem of poor tender documentation is not confined to South Africa but a universal headache for the building industry.”It makes it difficult for quan- tity surveyors to exercise proper cost control and manage a projecct, and also puts building contractors and subcontractors at risk because they often do not fully understand what will be required of them when pitching to handle a project that has been put out to tender. “A study by the UK's University of Reading, for example, showed that poor specification writing, disparities between bill of quantities and drawings and specifications, and poorly prepared tender documents are common problems associated with tender documents in the UK. Problems associated with technical information prepared by designers led to the appointment of a UK Co-ordinating Committee for Project Infor- mation (CCPI) which subsequently confirmed that the major problems were quality of draw- ings, poor specifications and bills of quantities, as well as late and wrong information, insufficient detail, impracticable designs, and requirements that were unclear, provisional, unco-ordinated and conflicting. UK contractors, in fact, identified poor tender documents as the second highest cause of inaccurate cost estimates. “In the USA, incompleteness of tender docu- ments, quality of design and unclear contract documents were significant factors that led to contractors' incorrect level of mark-up. In Australia, contractors identified quality of tender documentation as the third most signif- icant factor influencing a contractor's decision to bid for a job, while contractors in Singapore found that of 40 factors influencing bid/no-bid decisions, poor tender documents was the eighth most important. In China, also, contrac- tors reported that poor tender drawings was a significant risk factor for contractors in the local construction industry.” Van den Heever says it is in the national interest to ensure that South Africa does not fall deeper into this mire and embarks on a policy of not only stamping out corruption in the awarding of tenders but also implemen- ting measures, “mainly through the appoint- ment of qualified and skilled personel to compile tender documents” to ensure that invi- tations to tender are clear, so that contractors and quantity surveyors can work with proper documentation without having to resort to assumptions or guesswork.

ALLAYING GREEN BUILDING FEARS

Quantity surveying is a key component of the construction supply chain. Danie Hoffman, a professional member of the Association of SA Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS), says all chain members have to share commitment and combine forces to make sustainable building more acceptable in South Africa.

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Hoffman, the progamme leader of Quantity Surveying at the University of Pretoria's Department of Construction Economics, is currently leading a study by ASAQS of the true cost of green building for the Green Building Council of SA (GBCSA). The study, which is well advanced, involves comparative costing of around 55 Green Star SA office buildings certified by the GBCSA between 2008 and 2014. According to Hoffman, one of the greatest challenges facing green building in South Africa is fear of the unknown, particularly costing. He says green building techniques are often >

Danie Hoffman, ASAQS professional mem- ber: “One of the greatest challenges facing green building in South Africa is fear of the unknown, particularly costing,” he believes. “Life-cycle costing covers all the financial implications of building: fromconcept to end-of- life, and incorporates the costs of construction, materials, design, engineering, water and elec- tricity tariffs, heating and cooling, repair costs, and eventual disposal cost, or residual value. Quantity surveyors, as cost consultants, will play an increasingly important role to inform decisionmakers on green building. However, the responsibility for cost-effective green building solutions will have to be shared between quan- tity surveyors and the entire supply chain: devel- opers, designers, contractors, and end-users. “Quantity surveyors are essential links in the supply chain as they are involved from initial design stage to the conclusion of construction processes, and can advise on the specification of construction materials, prepare and control budgets as well expenditure,” Hoffman explains. He believes educational institutions also have an important role to play to promote the cause of sustainable construction by informing the entire industry of the availability of sustainable materials and technologies, and the benefits of best practice. perceived as expensive and challenging to execute, but this need not be the case, partic- ularly when full life-cycle costing of building is added to the equation.

CONSTRUCTION WORLD MARCH 2016