Luxury Residential

Advising on unrealistic budgets and preventing cost blowouts by being engaged early in conjunction with the Architect

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Early Stage Schematic Designs

Preparing budget estimates of the expected development costs for different design options, allowing informed decision making by the homeowner. We also apply our construction knowledge of potential site-specific risks (e.g. contaminated soils) and required construction methodologies (e.g. fixed crane for material movement), which provides confidence in the budget being set.

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Development Approvals / Construction Certificates

Preparing detailed QS Cost Reports for submission to council. Without a report prepared by a registered AIQS (Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors) member, councils will calculate their Section 94 Development fees based on their own discretionary m2 build costs, which can result in higher fees being paid by the homeowner.

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Builders' Tender Prices

• Establishing and documenting the scope of works by preparing a BOQ (Bill of Quantities), an accurate and comprehensive measurement of the trade items detailed in the tender documents. This ensures that all the builders who are tendering truly understand what the project involves and are not adding contingency or overly inflating their tender price for "unknowns".

  • Having a BOQ as part of the tender documentation avoids the conflict and uncertainty surrounding variations during construction and keeps the final build cost down.

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• Reviewing the tender documents for completeness and advising on appropriate provisional sum amounts for works not clearly defined, so that the budget reflects all the works.

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• Advising on builder selection by analysing each builder's tender clarifications, inclusions and exclusions, provisional sum allowances, programme durations, construction methodologies and differences in trade amounts. We will also highlight potential mistakes they may have made in their pricing to ensure that these errors aren't carried over to a contract with the builder having to cut corners in time and quality to negate their loss.

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Construction Documentation Phase

Providing value engineering (cost savings) advice on proposed finishes, fittings, fixtures and equipment, technical specifications and structural systems.

Leveraging our relationships with subcontractors of key trades (such as joinery, windows, services etc.) to provide benchmarking and market checks against the budgets, keeping the build under budget.

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Construction Phase

Assisting the architect in administering the cost component of the contract and preventing blowouts by:

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• Providing immediate cost advice on design or scope changes

• Negotiating variation costs and provisional sum amounts with the builder

• Assessing monthly progress claims and forecasting final development costs