Roof for a construction cost plan

This article is all about the Roof page for a construction cost plan

What's in this Article ?

Introduction

This is a simple article discussing the various elements of a construction cost-plan to attempt to articulate the best practice for construction cost-plans.

The roof page is simply one page of around thirty pages that lay out, item by item, the works involved in a construction project.

What is the Roof page for a construction cost plan ?

A Roof page for a construction cost plan is simply the page that lists out all of the tasks that are involved in the Roof of a construction project.

We have to be careful to distinguish the works carried out by a roof carpenter and the works carried out by a roofer.

A roof carpenter will install the timber structural frame for the roof including joists, rafters, trusses and so forth.

Then the roofer will come along and install the roof finish including underlay, roof battens, tiles, roof lights and such.

In a lot of cost-plans the cost of the roof carpenter and the roofer will be lumped in together.

In a typical construction costs plan there will be separate sections for the following elements (trades/work packages):

What is the purpose of the Roof page

Its purpose is to summarise and total all of the various costs associated the roof page.

It means that the Client or any of the team members can see exactly 1) what the final total is 2) where the costs are split through the work packages.

The summary page should have the following:

Logo of the company producing the construction cost plan
Title of the page e.g. Roof
Address of the project
Date of the cost-plan
All of the elements for the roof including supply and installation of the roof
All of the costs for the works above
A final total

Here is an example that we have mocked up specifically for this article:

Order of measurement for roofs

Before a quantity surveyor or estimator starts to take-off the quantities from the drawings they should create a simple take-off list.

This list makes the whole process easier and helps reduce errors or omissions.

A take-off list for roofs could look like:

Pitched roofs

Roof structure

plates
rafters
ceilings joists
collars
purlins
ceiling beams
struts
ridge boards
hip rafters
valley rafters

Roof covering

All underlay and battens are deemed to be included in the quantities and descriptions so really the focus is to get the correct area in m2 for whatever roof covering is going to be installed.

plain tiling
interlocking tiling
slating
Protected metal sheeting
shingles
thatch

Also items that should be included are:

Insulation
works to abutments, eaves and verges
works to ridges, hips, vertical angles, valleys
Fascia boards
Eaves boards
Gutters
Downpipes

Any other notes on the roof page for a construction cost plan

Roof costs can be found easily by contacting a local Roof business.

These businesses specialise in the complete Roof packages so you can get a fixed price from them for the works.

Some of these companies will price for supplying all of the materials but if you want to provide the materials then they can provide a labour only price.

This reduces your risk for this package as you are sub-contracting the risk out to someone who can handle it better (because they do nothing but Roof and therefore know their costs a lot better than you would).

Its important not to forget about who installs the insulation to a roof and to the upper floors in general. A roofer will not do this nor will the site carpenter so you need to allocate this resource to someone.

If you are interested in learning more about roof carpenters go here and roofers go here.