NRM3

The New Rules of Measurement (NRM) are published by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), 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.

Together this suite of documents offers a cradle-to-grave approach to cost estimating, works procurement and post-construction procurement.

NRM 3 is intended to provide a consistent method for the quantification and description of maintenance works. It was published in March 2014 and is available from the RICS website.

NRM3 can be used for:

Initial order of cost estimates during preparation stages.
Cost plans during the design development and pre-construction stages.
Asset-specific cost plans during the pre-construction phases.

It also offers guidance about:

The procurement and cost control of maintenance works.
The measurement of other items associated with maintenance works that are not included in work items.

The rules for NRM3 follow the same framework and premise as NRM1: Order of cost estimating and cost planning for capital building works.

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