Standard Method of Measurement SMM7

[edit] What is the Standard Method of Measurement?

It is important that there is a uniform basis for measuring building works in order to facilitate industry wide consistency and benchmarking, to encourage the adoption of best practice and to help avoid disputes.

The Standard Method of Measurement (SMM) is published by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). It was first published in 1922, superseding a Scottish Standard Method of Measurement which was published in 1915. It is now in its seventh edition (SMM7), which was first published in 1988 and revised in 1998.

[edit] What is SMM7

SMM7 provides detailed information, classification tables and rules for measuring building works. It is typically used in the preparation of bills of quantities, documents that provide measured quantities of the items of work identified by the drawings and specifications in tender documentation. Bills of quantities are issued to tenderers for them to prepare a price for carrying out works.

Work sections within SMM7 are classified according to the Common Arrangement of Work Sections (CAWS). CAWS creates a consistent arrangement of work sections for specifications and bills of quantities. It was first published in 1987 and was updated by the Construction Project Information Committee (CPIC) in 1998 to align it with the Unified Classification for the Construction Industry (Uniclass).

SMM7 is accompanied by the Code of Procedure for the Measurement of Building Works (the SMM7 Measurement Code). Whilst SMM7 can have a contractual status on a project (for example in the JCT Standard form of Building Contract), the Measurement Code is non-mandatory.

[edit] Replacement of SMM7 with NRM

SMM7 has been replaced by the New Rules of Measurement volume 2 (NRM2), which was first published in April 2012 by the RICS Quantity Surveying and Construction Professional Group and became operative on 1 January 2013. SMM7 should not be adopted on projects after July 2013.

The NRM suite (NRM1, NRM2 and NRM3) was subsequently reissued by RICS as practice information in October 2022, incorporating a 2021 update. RICS has confirmed that earlier editions of NRM are now out of date and should not be used on new projects.

NRM2 is accompanied by two additional volumes:

• NRM1: Order of cost estimating and cost planning for capital building works.
• NRM3: Order of cost estimating and cost planning for building maintenance works.

It is suggested by the RICS that together, the new suite of documents will better reflect the way the industry now works:

• Better meeting the needs of clients.
• Providing for more up-front detail.
• Allowing better consideration of the full costs of a construction project (for example marketing costs, fees and charges, the cost of acquiring land, planning costs, relocation costs, the cost of finance, and so on).
• Providing a better method for quantifying risk.

RICS has also suggested that it facilitates greater cross-industry working and the introduction of Building Information Modelling.

NRM has moved away from the Common Arrangement of Work Sections (CAWS) to adopt its own system of indexing.

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.

Contracts that refer to SMM7 should be revised when NRM is adopted on new projects.

For a detailed comparison of NRM2 and SMM7 see Comparison of SMM7 with NRM2.

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

• Bills of quantities.
• Black book.
• Code of measuring practice.
• Common Arrangement of Work Sections.
• Comparison of SMM7 with NRM2.
• Cost consultant.
• New Rules of Measurement.
• RICS.
• RICS Property Measurement.
• RICS publishes Land Measurement for Planning and Development Purposes.
• Tender.
• Tender documentation.
• Tender pricing document.
• Uniclass.

[edit] External references

• RICS: New Rules of Measurement (NRM) standards (the specific isurv.com and NBS pages previously cited here are no longer available online).

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