Pre-Contract Cost Advice

Cooper & Hall’s quantity surveyor Kieron Harvey explains the impact of early pre-contract advice on a project

Over the last few years, my role at Cooper & Hall has gradually transformed. Where I was primarily operating in the pre-construction phase on the production of bills of quantities, I am now increasingly involved in a variety of PQS and post-contract roles.

Recently, I have had the pleasure of being involved in a diverse range of projects including a new build cinema, several one-off bespoke luxury homes, and the refurbishment of an existing police station.

As part of our service, we have presented early cost advice to our clients in differing levels of detail to suit the client’s requirements. This has had a range of purposes including:

• To establish the feasibility of the project.
  • Is the project affordable and/or commercially viable?
• To compare various build options and establish which is most suitable for the client.
  • Is a larger scale project within budget?
  • Do we need to scale back our plans to meet the budgetary requirements?
• To allow us to work with the design team to alter the design/specifications to meet the client’s needs in relation to their time, cost and quality expectations prior to engaging in the tendering process.
  • How can we make alterations to the design to reduce the estimated cost to align with the budgetary requirements?
  • Are there changes that we can make to get better value for money?
  • What compromises can we make while still achieving the desired look and feel of the end product?
• To allow us to produce initial cash flow forecasts.
  • When do we anticipate that funds will need to be made available, and approximately how much?

By engaging in our services as early as possible in the project, we have been able to provide a positive impact and work alongside the design team to meet the client’s needs in relation to time, cost and quality.

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