Abstract

An approach for enhancing the production efficiency of bill of quantities (BQ) used on
construction projects is presented. The approach was developed to integrate the quantities obtained
from a building information model of the project into a suitably prepared electronic format of BQ
with 3D views. In this format of BQ, the building information modeling (BIM) technology
provides enhanced functionality to a contractor’s quantity surveyor whose primary task is to
accurately determine the quantities from the project drawings. A review of the traditional BQ
preparation methods is presented to highlight their characteristics and to reflect on their benefits
and barriers. Questionnaire surveys were conducted with various groups of respondents to obtain
their opinions about the proposed BQ format. They included experienced quantity surveyors from
the public and the private sectors, postgraduate, and undergraduate students studying in BIM-
related courses. The results of the questionnaire survey showed mostly a positive view toward the
proposed BQ format. Slight differences in the opinions of these three groups were also present. It
is expected that the approach as presented in this paper for the development of BQ with 3D BIM
views could usefully be incorporated into the standard quantity surveying practices for quantity
takeoffs in various countries.
Introduction
In a traditional construction project setting, a bill of quantities (BQ) is prepared based on
detailed drawings and specifications. BQ is a document which is usually prepared by professional
quantity surveyors on behalf of the client (owner and/or contractor) [1]. BQ provides a structured
estimating framework for construction projects and is the part of the materials management plan
of the project [2]. In the pretender stage of a project, the BQ are mainly used for cost estimating
and comparing tender prices submitted by various contractors [3]. For post-tender work, BQ has
applications for cost planning, cash flow projection, budget allocation, interim payments, and
variation order valuations and final account settlements [4]. Information from BQ has also been
used for the estimation of construction and demolition waste volume generation in new residential
buildings [5]. Despite many uses of BQ, its application needs a lot of rework to suit the needs of
construction projects [6]. Bandi et al. [7] found that the computerization of BQ has not led to any
increased transference of data from the quantity surveyor to the contractor, so that while the
efficiency of BQ production has increased, the overall effectiveness of the BQ has not increased.
Moreover, Davis et al. [8] reported that the use of bill of quantities prepared in accordance with
the standard method of measurement is on the decline and only useful as a tool for post-contract
control. There is therefore, a need to improve the effectiveness of BQ for its use on a construction
project.
The production of BQ is normally based on information extracted manually from two-
dimensional (2D) drawings and text-based specifications with little or no presence of three
dimensional (3D) visualization aids of the project facilities to be constructed. The provision of 3D
visualization aids in preparing and maintaining a BQ can be an indispensable capability. Better
visualization in 2D design practice is often difficult to achieve. Modeling tools which can provide
enhanced visualization of the building projects early in the project lifecycle can be used in
preparing BQ. These tools have great potential for quantity surveyors in costing building works
and can change the design work culture [9]. Building information modeling (BIM) can be one of
those tools which can produce useful data for building costing purposes. BIM software can provide
estimating data and 3D visualization which can be used by the quantity surveyor to produce a BQ
in a suitable electronic format. In this paper, it is proposed how to use the estimating data from
BIM software in an easy to use electronic format which has a wide acceptability in the industry.
 The portable document format (PDF) as a content sharing tool is widely used at almost all
computing devices and is a well-accepted standard solution for electronic content sharing over the
Internet. Various software exist which can create PDF documents. The recent releases of Adobe
Acrobat (version 9 or later) provide more graphical features such as 3D model and Flash content
support. This has enabled these graphical features to be stored in a PDF file or portfolios and to be
easily shared with other parties. Therefore, the ability of BIM to produce interactive 3D models
can be combined with the enhanced sharing ability obtained with PDF format to use it as an
assistive tool in BIM applications.
In this context, this paper shows how the new features of electronic document format (such
as PDF) can be adopted to produce BIM-based 3D views in an easily shareable format and enhance
the production and usage of bill of quantities in quantity surveying practices. In this paper,
Autodesk Revit was used to create 3D model and perform material takeoff, while Microsoft Word
and Adobe Acrobat were used to create BQ. The aim of this paper is to present an enhanced
approach to quantity surveying practice by demonstrating an innovative use of BIM and the
electronic document format to cater for the changing demands created by the introduction of BIM
in project lifecycles. This format provides a BQ solution with BIM views and is tested on a building
extension project in Hong Kong which is presented as the case study in this paper. The results
from a questionnaire survey conducted in Hong Kong about the proposed format are also presented
from the views of experienced quantity surveyors and university students learning this BQ format.
The survey also highlighted the benefits and barriers of using BIM for BQ production, and
recommendations were made for improving the existing practices of works measurement in
quantity surveying.
Literature Review
In a traditional project setting, BQ is used in a tender process for a contractor’s selection.
However, it is also used for a contractor’s post-tender procedures such as purchasing, planning,
and controlling. [10]. Pasquire and McCaffer [11] categorized the information contained in a BQ
into the preliminaries, preambles, and bills. BQ has also been used as a source by the researchers
to identify safety risks for construction activities [12]. Kodikara et al. [4] recognized the use and
extent of use of various forms of information contained in the BQ and concluded that the critical
areas where attention is required in order to reduce the repetition work in the post-tender use of
the BQ are the ‘quantities’, ‘quantity units’ and ‘unit rates’ in the BQ. Odeyinka et al. [13]
investigated the discrepancies between the budgetary figures from the BQ and the actual
accounting data for various types of projects. They found that the discrepancy increased with the
complexity of the projects making traditional BQ data less reliable for complex projects.
Regarding the use of traditional form of BQ, many problems have been identified by
researchers. Nelson [14] remarked that the information from BQ cannot be readily used, and a lot
of rework in the form of information seeking, assembling, and interpreting data from drawings and
recalculation of dimensions is required. This is attributed to uncoordinated information; quantity
takeoff not in the sequence of site operations and a need to convert units before use in BQ. In this
way, both the operational and elemental format of BQ were deemed inadequate [4]. Besides, the
format of BQ has been attributed to make the projects costly by using detailed pattern of individual
specialists, specifications, and schedule of rates [15]. Vine-Lott [15] pointed out that the computers
could be used to great advantage to store information and present data to the user in a suitable
form. Therefore, the manual approaches for quantity surveying have been replaced by automated
techniques that have changed the way estimates are being produced within last three decades. This
will continue to change as new software and techniques are being developed.
One of the early approaches to use computers in quantity takeoff required to prepare BQ is
the use of computer aided drafting (CAD) systems [16,17]. Electronic spreadsheets are also used
for the preparation of pricing sheets to quickly perform all mathematical steps for which a quantity
estimator spends hours in preparation and checking the calculations. Some of the commercially
available estimating software can take the quantities determined either manually, from a CAD file,
or with the assistance of digitizer and apply a database of unit prices to calculate the total cost.
Saleh [16] recognized the limitation of the standard CAD systems which was incapable of
extracting the project data pertinent to performing an automated bill of quantities and therefore,
developed a computer program using C-language to automate the production of BQ from the
standard AutoCAD system.
The use of 3D models for cost estimating to generate a bill of quantities was highlighted by
Hartmann et al. [18] to result in time savings and the increased accuracy in the estimating process.
BIM-based tools, for example, were shown to decrease the time to take off the quantities to
generate the bill of materials, schedule, and estimate [19]. Moreover, the BIM-assisted estimate
demonstrated better performance over traditional estimating methods for the entry-level user.
More complex the estimating tasks, the clearer the advantages were of using BIM-based
estimating tools instead of traditional estimating methods [20]. Geographical Information System
(GIS) was employed by Cheng and Yang [17] in combination with other software for cost
estimation. They developed a GIS-based tool to assist planners in quantity takeoff and assessing
materials layout design. The tool uses GIS in combination with CAD systems to compute quantity
takeoff based on the dimensions of the drawings as well as to generate bill of material (BOM) by
using Map/Info and Microsoft Access. GIS improved construction planning and design efficiency
by integrating spatial and attribute information in a single environment. However, visualization
using GIS is difficult to achieve [21].
In the traditional BQ preparation process where paper based BQ preparation is adopted, BQ
is firstly prepared by the consultant’s quantity surveyors. Depending on the type of works and the
owner’s requirements, the consultant uses a specific format for the preparation of BQ. For
example, in Hong Kong, HKSMM4 (or its earlier version) [22] is widely used as the guiding
document for preparation of BQ for building works in Hong Kong. The current edition of this
document adopts a tabular format for the presentation of various items which describes the rules
for defining the item, measurement, coverage, and supplementary information. The tabular format
is implemented on spreadsheets programs for ease in filling the items and their respective
quantities. Another format is from the Architectural Services Department of Hong Kong [23]
which itemizes various costs according to a total project cost model for a typical building to be
constructed by this department. Similarly, for civil engineering works, the Institution of Civil
Engineers had developed a format for BQ which is called CESMM3 [24]. The produced BQ in
current practice are mostly paper based and not very suitable for electronic transfer from one party
to another. Usually, the electronic format of the prepared BQ is shared through compact disk media
which although is faster than a complete paper-based format but much slower than if it is to be
shared by using computer networks in electronic formats.
A number of research and application efforts have been made and presented in the last 5
years for utilizing BIM concepts for cost estimating, quantity surveying, and quantity takeoff [20,
25–35].Without the use of BIM or other automating techniques, most of the time spent by the
estimator to create a cost estimate is on quantity takeoffs. BIM can eliminate manual takeoffs, save
time, cost, and reduces potential for human error. BIM can help tap the abilities of estimators
toward improving the estimates through focusing on higher value project-specific factors by
making them to think less about just the simple but tedious tasks of counting and measuring items.
From the above review of different approaches to preparing BQ, it is evident that BQ in its
traditional format has many drawbacks; most of which result from its lack of interactivity,
repetitive works and lacking visualization. The automated approaches using CAD, GIS, and
spreadsheets try to overcome these difficulties. However, these approaches do not fully address
these problems. A BIM-based approach carrying the portability of pdf document viewer may
provide such solution which is explained in the following sections.