ABSTRACT
In the first instance, quantities will need to be extracted from the drawings, together with an appropriate description. This process, known as ‘booking dimensions’ or ‘taking-off quantities’, involves the measurer in either reading or scaling dimensions from the drawings. There are two distinct parts to this. The first involves the recording of quantities and the second requires a written description to accompany the quantity. The sequence adopted by the measurer in the initial phase of booking dimensions bears little relation to the eventual order of the finished Bill of Quantities (BQ). This is because ‘taking-off’ has been devised in order to assist the measurer with the speed and accuracy of recording dimensions and largely follows the sequence of events as they will occur on site. At a later stage these same booked dimensions will be arranged in the sequence of NRM2. For example, when measuring a foundation trench
regardless of the eventual location of these items in the finished BQ. This particular pattern of measured items is generally known as the ‘group method’, since it reflects a common set of dimensions shared by a number of different trades. The grouping of measured items when recording dimensions is not determined by their eventual position in the BQ, but by the fact that they share a common set of base dimensions.
