How to Estimate with RSMeans Data

Basic Skills for Building Construction

Saleh A. Mubarak

• Publisher: RSMeans
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781118977972
• Edition: 5
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Construction & Architectural Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

A practical, hands-on guide to real-world construction estimating

How to Estimate with RSMeans Data is the only instructional book on construction cost estimating that uses the most popular source of construction cost data, RS Means. This updated fifth edition includes new coverage on the role of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in the estimating process, and over 300 sample problems and exercises that show you how to apply cost data to your building project based on the RS Means 2015 Building Construction Cost Data. The companion website provides access to RS Means CostWorks data, allowing you to use real-world numbers in your practice estimates, and the included Instructor's Manual provides step-by-step solutions to problems in the book. Focused on the practical aspects of estimating, this book emphasizes the application of estimating techniques—which are transferable to any estimating software—through problem solving and the ground-up creation of complete construction project estimates.

Estimating skills are fundamental to the construction industry, and are applied by all parties at all levels throughout the industry. This book is a hands-on guide to the techniques and tools used to create a thorough estimate, with plenty of opportunities for practice.

• Apply cost data to all aspects of the building project
• Practice your skills on over 300 sample problems
• Construct a complete estimate using RSMeans

Besides being an essential construction skill, learning estimating helps you become familiar with reading and understanding construction blueprints and how construction assemblies are built. Mastery of these vital skills is important to your future career, and How to Estimate with RSMeans Data is your ideal guide to a solid foundation.

Chapter 1
Basic Calculations

RSMeans Building Construction Cost Data (BCCD) is the most widely used reference book for estimating construction costs in the United States and Canada. The costs for each construction item are broken down into the components of material, labor, equipment, and overhead and profit. The book also contains square foot costs by project type. The square foot cost data must be adjusted to fit the specific location, size, and conditions of a particular project. RSMeans Online Estimating and Cost Works¹ are electronic versions of the BCCD and contain all the same information plus additional features—including the ability to adjust all cost figures by a specific location factor, apply quantities to line items, and export cost data to a spreadsheet.

RSMeans Cost Data Format

The RSMeans Unit Price Line

All RSMeans unit price (UP) data are presented in the same basic format (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1

Each line in the RSMeans database contains information unique to that line: a specific 12-digit number address, detailed description, crew, daily output of the task using the noted crew, labor hours for the task using the specific crew, and a unit of measurement. Also included are the unit bare cost (material, labor, equipment, and total) and the total unit cost, including overhead and profit.

Unit price information is presented according to the 50 divisions of the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) MasterFormat 2016. These divisions are divided into major subdivisions and then into subsections of similar items. Within each subsection, items are arranged alphabetically by type. Each line item is unique.

Address Number

The address number of the line item shown here can be read as three parts:

• 03 30 Cast-In-Place Concrete is the Level Two, CSI MasterFormat subdivision. The first two digits of that number represent the Level One, MasterFormat division. (For this item, it is Division 3, or 03, which is Concrete.)
• 03 30 53 Miscellaneous Cast-In-Place Concrete is the Level Three subdivision.
• Concrete In Place is the Level Four, RSMeans major classification. It appears in the RSMeans book as a line 03 30 53. 40, while it appears in RSMeans online estimating as just the number 40 in the extreme left and right columns.
• 0350 (first column from left in the RSMeans book and second column from left in RSMeans online estimating) is the RSMeans individual line number.

Note that while MasterFormat used spaces and a period in the number for better reading (03 30 53.40 0350), no spaces or period should be used when searching for an item in RSMeans online estimating software.

Description

The column to the right of the Line Number, for example 033053400350, contains a detailed description of the item. For a full description of an item, one must read up through the subsection, including all descriptive information that appears on lines above and to the left of the selected item.

Thus, the complete description for the item in line 03 30 53.40 0350 is “Concrete in place including forms (4 uses), Grade 60 rebar, concrete (Portland cement T...