To conclude our cost estimation module, we're now going to talk about cost estimation in general practice. We're going to cover tips in cost estimating or cost management. We're going to discuss roles and responsibilities. And then I'm going to conclude with international roles of a cost manager from my own experience. Okay, let's look at top 10 tips of being a cost estimator or cost manager. So Number 1, this is design management. This includes managing all design aspects, design documents of your project, so that's your drawing register, which is key. It's going to list out all the documents, all the design documents, all the design drawings. And it's vital really you have one of these, first of all, to outline what you should have in your pack and what you should be looking through. And it's always useful to tick that off when you get your full design pack. So you have your drawing pack as I just mentioned, you have an engineering pack, you have specifications and typically you have a basic design or scope of works and a schedule. So they're really the main components. And being a good cost estimator or cost manager, part of that is managing all of this properly. You can't rely on other people to look after these aspects, that's fully your role as well. You need to be on top of all of these. Make sure you have them at hand, you understand where they are, you understand what they mean. And you've got them in an organized structure so it's easy to go through all of these when you're on the project. Number 2, understanding the estimate class. So we've discussed this quite a bit throughout this module, and it's really key to understand where the project is, which stage it's at. Are you starting from the beginning, therefore is it concept or order of magnitude. You may well come onto a project halfway through, you might be at DD stage. So it's understanding fully what all of these estimate classes actually mean and it's very, very important you apply this to the project in your cost role on the project. Especially things like contingency and understanding the accuracy of the level of design that you have. Number 3, this goes back to measurement and take-off that we've been discussing throughout this module. So time is a major factor here. You need to make sure you always leave enough time, don't ever rush it. Measurement takes time, it can be frustrating sometimes, but you need to allow that amount of time to do it properly. Going back to design management, review every project and design document available as part of your measurement take-off. All of those documents are there for a reason. You need to make sure you've gone through every single one. Often part of your measurement and take-off, you'll do a round table with your cost team. And you'll go through every single drawing and every single document, almost like a page turner, and make sure you've first of all taken-off the relevant information from it and you understand its role within the project. In your descriptions make sure they're clear and accurate. And we'll come onto this again shortly, but one of the key things to your entire role is all about checking and reviewing your work as you go along. So this is very key to the measurement/take-off stage, you've got to make sure you review your own work. That's the first part of reviewing, you have to review it yourself, make sure you're comfortable with it. It often means walking around the block and getting some fresh air and a new fresh pair of eyes of your own to look at it. And you repeat that process many times. And as I just said, use another pair of eyes. Get someone else who's more senior and more experienced than yourelf to review your measurements. Particularly in your first five years of possibly being a cost manager, or even as a project manager, and you might be involved in the cost component, make sure you use someone more experienced and more senior than you to review your work. I still do it myself. I've got 15 years, but I still use another pair of eyes just to proofread certain aspects of any deliverable I'm doing. So Number 4, this really refers to the pricing stage of cost management, so make sure you do your research. Make sure you understand project specifics. You need to really, really understand the full project to estimate your pricing. Make sure you research your pricing and your rates and location factors are extremely important. And that also brings in escalation. Have you considered that within your pricing? So that's understanding the schedule and looking at market conditions, looking at all kinds of surveys that are in the marketplace to try and predict the right amount of escalation. And really any project that you're going to be starting, even three months away, you need to allow or take on-board some kind of escalation. It might be minimal if it's only three months away, or that particular project, if it's got a lot of structure still, it could change. So you need to take all of that on board. As I said earlier in the measurement section and how you build an estimate, carry out your pricing after you've carried out your measurement and placed it into your estimate. So get your measurement done first, concentrate on all of that, and once you're happy with it and confident in it, then move onto your pricing. Again, review your rates and use another pair of eyes. Number 5, benchmarking, so this is looking through live, most recent construction rates. So it mainly applies to the pricing stage of it and looking at rates, but really also you can benchmark the overall projects with the current project you're working on to gain a better understanding. It's the only way to test your pricing through benchmarking. You can either create your own benchmarking database, which is really useful, or get involved with your office and use a shared benchmarking database. And that's then even sharing your own data you've been collecting with others and gaining a even larger benchmarking database. And really just show an interest in lots of other projects going on around you, so continually be across several projects. Even if you're not working on it, it just gains you understanding of the construction industry and working as a cost estimator or cost manager. So that's benchmarking, it's very key.
