Schedule of Works
Why do I need one of those?
Many clients will hand over the Approved Technical Package (usually a series of PDF plans, calculations and written details) to a contractor and ask for a quote. Whilst you may gain a quote this way, the range of variables is huge. The plans alone can never express exactly what is, or is not going to be included in the contractor's quote. The technical package, even when expertly executed, does not describe exactly what should, or should not be included in the contract, leaving vast differences in what you may expect to be included and what the contractor has actually included. Most ‘in build’ disputes between contractors and their clients stem from a misunderstanding about what the contractor had or had not included in their quote due to a lack of explicitness and detail. This is completely avoidable with a detailed Schedule of Works.
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We firmly believe no building project should ever proceed without this type of Schedule of Works, it removes a huge amount of unknowns, protects you against unfair variations to the contract, reduces disputes and delivers a smoother, more stress free project for clients and contractors alike.
Nailing down costs
A detailed Schedule of Works will describe not just the technical aspects of the works, but also the finishes, products that you may wish to supply, exact products that you want the contractor to supply or PC Sums (Prime Cost Sum) which set out realistic provisional costs for items you may not have selected yet. Contingencies are built in with sums set based on experience of similar projects or challenges, to ensure the final build total is as close to the tender sum as possible. Specific considerations are also made to reflect your life and your home, like how the site will be kept secure, how will children and pets be excluded from the work areas when unsupervised, where will the contractors park, how will deliveries be made etc.
Accuracy
All this contributes to a tender sum that is both accurate and realistic, which is a huge advantage once works commence on site and also when comparing tenders from different contractors, ensuring the quotes you get a truly comparable and not disparate works of fiction.
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Itemisation
Other advantages of a detailed Schedule of Works are the detailed, itemised costings. This means that you can easily review any tender to see what parts of the project represent good value to you and what you may choose to omit to wrestle the budget into shape before agreeing a contract sum.
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Eradicating excess
Clear Surveys specialises in taking in all the architectural and technical packages to draw up a detailed Schedule of Works. We take time to listen to your wants, needs and concerns so that Schedule of Works reflects what you really want from the project. We review the details to ensure there are no overlapping demands (that increase your build costs) and to remove gaps between specialist subcontractors works (which can lead to cost increases later). Each Schedule of Works we produce is a bespoke document for you and your project, not a cut and pasted generic document.
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This document not only means you can have confidence in the quotes you receive which is invaluable in selecting the right contractor, but you also have a working document to benchmark costs against and check for inclusions/exclusions, meaning you can easily measure the fairness of any cost variations during the build. The Schedule of Works forms a key part of the Tender Stage