Last edited 04 Nov 2018

NRM1

The New Rules of Measurement (NRM) are published by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and prepared by the Quantity Surveying and Construction Professional Group. They provide a standard set of measurement rules for estimating, cost planning, procurement and whole-life costing for construction projects. Adopting a standard methodology such as NRM facilitates consistency and benchmarking and helps avoid disputes.

NRM is a suite of documents, comprising three volumes:

NRM1: Order of cost estimating and cost planning for capital building works.
NRM2: Detailed measurement for building works (replacing the Standard Method of Measurement, seventh edition SMM7).
NRM 3: Order of cost estimating and cost planning for building maintenance works.

NRM1 was first published in February 2009 as the RICS new rules of measurement: Order of cost estimating and elemental cost planning. A second edition was published in 2012, renamed RICS new rules of measurement: Order of cost estimating and cost planning for capital building works. It was renamed to better distinguish between capital building works and building maintenance works. Amongst other changes, the arrangement of elements was also revised. The second edition became operative on 1 January 2013.

NRM2 was published in April 2012. It became operative on 1 January 2013 and formally replaced the Standard Method of Measurement, seventh edition (SMM7) on 1 July 2013.

NRM3 was published in March 2014.

NRM 1 is a best practice guidance note offering guidance on the preparation of:

Order of cost estimates.
Elemental cost models.
Cost plans.
Cost analyses.
Benchmark analyses.

It also provides guidance on:

Capturing historical cost data for order of cost estimates and elemental cost plans.
How to describe and quantify items not included in measurable building work items, such as; preliminaries, overheads and profit, consultant fees, risk allowances, inflation, and so on.

NRM1 comprises four parts:

Part 1 sets out the context and definitions.
Part 2 explains how to prepare an order of cost estimate.
Part 3 explains how to prepare an elemental cost plan.
Part 4 provides tabulated rules of measurement for the preparation of cost plans.

NB The New Rules of Measurement are accompanied by the 'Black Book', the QS and construction standards. Together they provide a suite of tools to help the construction industry work more collaboratively and consistently.