Quantity Take-offs

Construction methods certainly have an impact on how we generate quantity take-offs. Case in point, steel structure design is thoroughly different from wood structure design, as well as when compared with concrete structure design. On structural integrity alone, steel framing has a higher strength-to-weight ratio than wood framing, and generally has higher purchase cost than the latter option. It is also worth mentioning that when life cycle assessment (LCA) is factored in, steel is excellently 100% recyclable and wood can be prone to termites and rotting. On top of inflation, this could spell great impact on the cost variances of your building project.

Such discrepancies range from the methodologies and materials used, and all these elements should be factored in when you decide who can give you the highest output value on quantity take-offs. How a construction method is chosen for a building project depends on the type of building project, structural loads, seismic factors, site location, availability of local materials, project budget, construction timetable, zoning ordinances and all other factors that can form the complexities of a building project.

If these factors are not considered, you subject your building project to construction risks and error-prone endeavors—leading you with increased costs down the line when your initial intention is greater savings and returns. Better to pay for expensive upfront costs and be guaranteed with quality rather than correlate lower prices for better value.

It only goes to show that only professionals certified in their expertise can perform competitive quantity take-offs, since quantity take-offs per se carry so much weight as the reference cost point in the cumulative construction process. At Nearby EngineersNew York Engineers, one of our dictums is to provide a direct correlation between specialization and construction methods through quantity take-offs.

We take reference from the CSI Master Format where Facility Construction Subgroup and Facility Services Subgroup mainly cater to architectural and engineering disciplines, respectively:

• Facility Construction Subgroup
  • Division 1: General Requirements
  • Division 2: Existing Conditions
  • Division 3: Concrete
  • Division 4: Masonry
  • Division 5: Metals
  • Division 6: Wood, Plastics and Composites
  • Division 7: Thermal and Moisture Protection
  • Division 8: Doors and Windows
  • Division 9: Finishes
  • Division 10: Specialties
  • Division 11: Equipment
  • Division 12: Furnishings
  • Division 13: Special Construction
  • Division 14: Conveying Systems

• Facility Services Subgroup
  • Division 21: Fire Suppression
  • Division 22: Plumbing
  • Division 23: Heating, Ventilating, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC)
  • Division 25: Integrated Automation
  • Division 26: Electrical
  • Division 27: Communications
  • Division 28: Electronic Safety and Security

Considering how intricate and specialized these divisions are, only professional engineers can weave through the wealth of information available and utilize this for accurate generation of your quantity take-offs. It takes technical engineering expertise to back-check plans, specifications, dimensions, scaling, quantity, material wastage, unit of measurements and variable mark-ups.

This is where Nearby Engineers New York Engineers deliver custom MEPF quantity take-off solutions for you.

The Relationship Between QTO, BOM and Construction Cost Estimation

For first-time building owners and clients who are not well-acquainted with our industry-specific jargons, this can bring confusion down the road which can effectively hamper productive progress in your building construction. To foster effective collaboration on all stakeholders involved, our engineers help you discover the link between the three cost factors of a building construction to better facilitate how your project complies on a commercial aspect.

Quantity take-offs (QTO), bill of materials (BOM) and construction cost estimation can mean similar altogether for an unfamiliar set of eyes, but let’s tackle their differences one-by-one:

• Quantity Take-off

Quantity take-offs or QTO, provide a local viewpoint or micro perspective of your building construction costs. Specifically, quantity take-offs render you high levels of detailed precision on all counts of labor and materials required for every construction trade. In a few words, QTO is your starting point, and our expert engineers can’t emphasize enough how critical quantity take-offs are for the whole building construction process.

• Construction Cost Estimation

While QTO gives you a local angle, construction cost estimation also works the same but touches on an added functionality of macro perspective. As mentioned, QTO is an integral part of construction cost estimation, where dearth of the former component can produce inaccurate estimates. This inaccuracy is also compounded by the fact that the construction cost estimation also factors in variable inputs for total estimated cost. All the more that this means there should be no place for careless errors, no matter the estimation.

In all stages required as per American Society of Professional Estimators, construction cost estimation moves from general to specific as building construction progresses—giving you the opportunity to scrutinize every estimate and audit your construction expenses for cash flow improvement.

• Bill of Materials

Bill of materials is very much akin to your quantity take-offs, but the main difference is that BOM is much broader than QTO insofar as the scope of work is concerned. QTO specifically lists the quantities per material, while BOM talks in a general sense and can range from any types tailored to a particular industry. However, in building and construction landscape, this could mean EBOM and MBOM for engineering and manufacturing departments, respectively. When the need arises, such disciplines can create a subset of their own disciplines ranging from single to multi-level EBOM to further meet the demands of the project. To put simply, our specialized engineers create a specific EBOM for mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection engineering of your building project.

This leads us to a common point: all three aspects differ in their own way, but they all work together to create an effective cost constraint for your building project. Our proficient engineers are all well-versed in creating these specialist documents, and then interweaving a comprehensive large-scale connection among the three elements to integrate into your building project’s success. At Nearby Engineers New York Engineers , we believe that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

In AEC industry, we are seeing the rise of manual to digital transition as technological intervention paves the way for innovation and user-centric efficiency. Quantity take-offs, in particular, come a long way from paper calculations to digital takeoff software. The question is: why the big change?

Anyone knows that to compete for construction projects in this Information Age, your firm needs to be efficient. Efficiency, by definition, means producing fast and quality results. Such is not the case with manual quantity take-offs. Often, you only get one out of the two prerequisites, where either you have two likely scenarios: getting excellent results in a longer stretch when the professional expertise is not in question, or settling for mediocre output in a faster interval with possible clerical errors produced. Despite the degree of experience a professional engineer has under his belt, digital quantity take-offs can still beat the former.

All because digital quantity take-offs are still facilitated by the professional engineers. Technically, this produces better results as user expertise seamlessly blends with the digital intervention. Where before manual quantity take-offs require tedious tasks for completion, digital quantity take-offs now come with a host of integrated features such as blueprint analysis, complex data calculations and online price databases—making the latter option a much better choice as professional engineers can now adjust material requirements in real-time rather than waste valuable build time manually rectifying errors.

As with all pros and cons, our innovative engineers utilize digital quantity take-offs for your time-saving and cost-effective benefits.

Seal the Deal as NY Engineers Create Your Quantity Take-offs

Bid more confidently with construction projects when you utilize our expertise on quantity take-offs. Along with our specialized team of engineers, we stay innovative in this digital age to yield you maximum returns of investment in your building project—not only on cost constraints, but more so on schedule and quality control. Scan our portfolio of topnotch projects and see how we excellently deliver our specialist knowledge on quantity take-offs.