Measurement

Measurement is the process of quantifying work executed — against the bill, drawings or a standard method — to establish what is due for valuation at interim and final account stages.

Measurement is where the quantity in quantity surveying earns its fee. Standard methods — NRM for pre-contract, the contract\'s own rules for valuing — turn built work back into numbers the contract can price. Remeasurement as you go catches the drift between billed quantities and reality while it is still an adjustment, not a claim.

The craft is knowing what the numbers describe. A rate that assumed one thing and a measurement that assumed another produces a valuation nobody argues with and everybody overpays. The best QS work looks like arithmetic and is actually translation — between what was built, what was priced, and what the contract said each meant.

Related: bill of quantities · interim valuation · final account