Indian Buildings Congress on 6^th October 2020 at 5.00pm Organized a webinar on “”Simple and Comprehensive Building Estimating”. Shri Pradeep Mittal, President , IBC in his introductory speech welcomed Shri O.P.Goel, founder President, IBC; Shri Shri V.S.Verma, Vice President, IBC & former E-in-C, PWD,MP; Shri H.P.Gupta, Honorary Secretary, IBC; All viewers and audiences who joined the webinar. The President, briefed about the vision and role of IBC in promotion of Built environment. He emphasized the necessity and importance of proper estimation in today’s scenario from the point of view of realistic estimation to control time and cost overrun.

The estimated cost of a work is a close approximation of its actual cost. Estimating is the most important of the practical aspects of construction management. Thereafter depending upon financial capacity the authority has to take decision to acquire the asset or construct the building.

He informed different types of buildings depending upon the usages  different parameters of estimation like residential (independent unit/ multi storeyed house or residential complex), commercial building – shops/markets/shopping complex/ mall/ mandi; Educational buildings- School/ colleges/ university/ NIT/IIT/IIM/Medical College/ laboratories; Health care buildings-like dispensary/Hospitals, Office complexes, Recreational Centres – Cinema halls, Theaters, Auditorium, Parks; Exhibition halls; Thermal plants; refineries; nuclear stations; defence installations; ordnance factories; armaments storages  etc-the list is endless.

Parameters of estimation also depends upon the type of foundation which in turn depend upon the soil parameters and the chemistry of soil on which the building rests.

Parameters of load bearing construction are different from the RCC framed structure.

Parameters of prefabricated/ pre-engineered buildings and conventional masonry or RCC construction are different.

The parameters of estimation of a building also vary with the height of building and type of services and furnishings it has.

Further parameters of cost of building also depend upon the geographical location, atmospheric conditions, working conditions and the duration of construction involving escalation.

The President further mentioned that the designing parameters and estimation requirements thereof of each type of building not only depend upon its usage but many other parameters. Sanctioning and budgeting of any building or construction project is decided on its estimated cost. Therefore, estimation is a very responsible job which has to be given utmost importance. He mentioned that the responsibility is heavily cast on the estimator for preparation of a realistic estimate so as to enable the authorities to take appropriate decision keeping into its financial health.

Many a time, at the time of preparation of estimate either the estimator is not experienced enough to have knowledge of all relevant parameters to be considered in the estimate of building or he may be casual in his approach resulting into preparation of unrealistic estimate, leading to time and cost overrun.

Shri O.P.Goel, founder President, IBC and former DG(W), CPWD, mentioned that he is privileged  to participate in the webinar and thanked the organisers for giving an opportunity to him to speak on the occasion. While mentioning though physical holding of webinar has not been possible due to the pandemic of COVID-19 but the organisers have found a very good system and has held many successful webinars in the series. He further mentioned that Sh. Verma is having versatile experience of building Projects and his experience will be of immense use to all technical people who will be greatly benefitted.

Shri V.S.Verma, Vice President, IBC and former E-in-C of MP, PWD, before making his presentation highlighted the reasons for selecting this topic. He mentioned that  in the absence of SOP,  whenever an estimate is discussed in any meeting with authorities, problems are being faced in presentation, in answering to the querries of different officers. On perusal of the estimate the owner of the project should be able to comprehend what he or she is going to get in the project cost. He gave his detailed presentation where he included all the  possible parameters  to be included in the SOP. He presented separate template for each element which are to be followed step by step so that every minute element of the project is included in estimation and estimate can be prepared and presented smartly.

At the end of the webinar, Shri H.P.Gupta, Honorary Secretary, IBC presented the vote of thanks.  He thanked the speakers and all the attendees in the webinar to make the webinar successful.