Base cost estimate
The New Rules of Measurement (NRM) are published by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). They provide a standard set of measurement rules for estimating, cost planning, procurement and whole-life costing for construction projects.
According to NRM1: Order of cost estimating and cost planning for capital building work, the term ‘base cost estimate’ means:
‘…an evolving estimate of known factors without any allowances for risk and uncertainty, or element of inflation. The base cost estimate is the sum of the works cost estimate, the project/design team fees estimate and the other development/project costs estimate.’
Such that:
‘The base cost estimate is the total of the building works estimate, main contractor’s preliminaries estimate and main contractor’s overheads and profit estimate, project/design team fee estimate and the other development/project costs estimate. The base cost estimate is to contain no allowances for risk or inflation.’
NB. NRM3: Order of cost estimating and cost planning for building maintenance works, defines the 'base cost' or 'benchmark cost' as; '...the cost of an existing or selected situation against which other options or a specific solution can be compared or benchmarked.'
See also: Baseline costs.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings
Featured articles
Check out some of the best features and news from Designing Buildings as well as key stories from around the web.
Building Safety Act implementation in Wales
CIAT to host industry panel on 26 June.
New and updated CLC building safety guidance.
New UK National Buildings Database.
Building Safety Wiki Interviews
Chief executive of the British Woodworking Federation.
Planning condition discharge in England and Wales
A brief explanation from a building compliance expert, with further links.
Overheating guidance and tools for building designers
Guidance for dealing with element of building fabric control that have increasing importance.
Shading for housing, a design guide
From the Good Homes Alliance and British Blind and Shutter Association.
UK Standard Skills Classification (SSC)
A shared framework for describing skills needs.
Social media ban consultation comes to close
CIOB urges UK Government to consider social media’s role in careers guidance in ban debate.
The latest of eight Skills England apprenticeship units
The addition of battery manufacturing welcomed by ECA with a warning about the risks of fast-tracked apprenticeship units.
Building Control Independent Panel final report
A precis of a key report led by Dame Hackitt with full recommendations and link to the government response.

















Comments
[edit] To make a comment about this article, or to suggest changes, click 'Add a comment' above. Separate your comments from any existing comments by inserting a horizontal line.