– High-level cost advice during early design or project viability stages.
– Benchmarking costs from similar projects.

As cost consultants our aim is  to help you understand if your Project makes financial sense – before you commit. And it’s not just from technical perspective – it’s also whether your project idea is feasible economically. We want you to be confident that you are investing wisely and are financially prepared for the journey ahead.

Before any design is drawn up or any planning application submitted, we ask about your goals, budget, financial return, location, etc. and in return prepare a cost estimate for your project. You will typically receive a simple but professional cost summary that outlines the main elements of the project together with estimated costs and a total projected budget including construction costs, fees and VAT (if applicable). This early estimate will help you to make informed decisions and answer all important questions:

• Is the project affordable?
• Is there a need for adjusting the scope of the project to match your budget?
• What options provide best value for money?
• Will you get enough return on your investment?

– Structured reviews to ensure best value through design options and material choices.

To help you get most of your investment and maximise your Project value without compromising on quality, we offer Value Engineering / Value Management services which are designed to ensure that every decision adds value to your project. When you faced with a challenge of balancing ambition with project budget, we help you to answer the question: How can the same function, quality and performance be delivered, but at a better value or lower cost? We work with you and the project team to ensure that your money is spent wisely and strategically – this isn’t about cutting corners. It isn’t about building cheaper, but smarter. Value engineering allows you to pause, review and re-adjust the project before its costs could rise too far. Therefore we will:

• Identify alternative materials, design options or systems to achieve the same or better results
• Prioritise what matters the most to you and find savings
• Present costed options with pros and cons allowing you to make value-driven decisions

In turn, you will be able to clearly see costs savings versus impact on project programme; monitor each proposed change and be confident that the money you spend contribute to the long-term success of your project without any impact on quality.

– Preparing tender documentation.
– Managing the tender process, responding to Request For Information (RFI).
– Tender analysis and reporting.
– Advice on contract award and clarifications.

Bills of Quantities / Pricing documents go hand-in-hand with our Tender Management & Analysis by helping you to appoint the right contractor at the right price.  This doesn’t mean the lowest price – it’s choosing a contractor who offers the appropriate balance of cost, quality and reliability.

We manage the full tendering process from start to finish — from preparing and issuing documents to analysing returns and supporting your final decision. This includes:

• Preparing and issuing tender packs (including drawings, specifications, and Bills of Quantities or Pricing Documents)
• Managing communication with contractors — handling questions, clarifications, and issuing updates
• Monitoring tender timelines and ensuring submissions are returned on time
• Analysing each tender in detail to compare pricing, exclusions, assumptions, and programme
• Identifying anomalies, missing costs, or unrealistic pricing
• Providing a tender report with recommendations for contractor appointment

Most importantly, we act as your independent, expert advisor — not aligned with any contractor — so you can trust that our analysis is unbiased and in your best interest.

– Elemental cost plans at concept, scheme, and detailed design stages.
– Updates at key RIBA stages (e.g. Stages 2, 3, 4).

Cost Planning becomes essential after your Project idea is formalised, when you need to stay in control of your planned budget. We want to make sure that you don’t face any unnecessary financial surprises as the design develops. It’s all about monitoring and managing costs throughout the design and pre-construction phases. But what happens if your aspirations stop matching your budget? – we work closely with your architects / design team to close these gaps and find practical solutions.

We will prepare detailed cost plans at each design stage (aligned with RIBA stages), monitor how design decisions impact costs and suggest alternative solutions (materials, systems, layouts) to stay within budget and achieve value for money. We will regularly update cost estimates to keep things realistic and accurate.

Our Cost Plan Reports typically include:

• a detailed breakdown of estimated costs
• benchmarking against your original budget
• advice on cost savings
• risk allowances (where needed)

All of the above will give you a confidence that you’re getting the best value for money and help eliminate (or limit) any cost-related delays or redesigns – so the project does not drifts away from its original budget before is too late.

– Advice on procurement strategies (traditional, D&B, management contracting, frameworks, etc.).
– Preparing procurement reports for client sign-off.

Choosing the right route to deliver your project can have a major impact on its success. This is why it’s important to choose how you procure – or buy – construction services. This will  help you decide on the best procurement strategy and guide you through the process. After assessing your project scope, complexity and time frames we will provide a guidance on contractor selection, contract types and advise on one of the procurement routes:

• Traditional (first design, then build)
• D&B (Design & Build – one contractor handles both)
• Management Contracting or Construction Management (flexible construction with fast-tracked D&B)
• Frameworks (pre-approved agreements between one or more clients and a group of contractors, consultants or suppliers)
• Negotiated tenders (directly agreeing terms with a preferred contractor)
• Two-Stage processes (Stage 1: appointment of preferred contractor early before full design is complete; Stage 2: the contractor works with your team to help develop the design and scope).

Using our Procurement Advice service will bring many benefits in establishing working relationship with your appointed contractor or understanding of responsibilities and risks as well as scrutinising tendering process.

– Full BQs or contractor pricing documents depending on procurement route.

Preparation of Bills of Quantities (BQs) or Pricing Documents is all about giving contractors clear basis for pricing your project. Depending on chosen procurement route, contractors require a detailed breakdown of exactly what needs to be built, so that they can produce accurate and competitive prices on a like-for-like basis. We prepare these documents in a structured, itemised format to set out the scope, quantities and specifications of works. We ensure everything is coordinated with your design team, specifications, and drawings — so there are no gaps or surprises. Everything is delivered to you in an editable format easy to use during tendering. A full BQ devised using industry standards includes items like:

• Excavation and foundations
• Structural elements (steel, concrete, timber)
• Walls, floors, roofs, and finishes
• Mechanical and electrical systems
• Site works, preliminaries, and more

If your project doesn’t require a full BQ, we can prepare a Pricing Document or Schedule of Works – a simpler version suited to smaller projects, design-and-build tenders, or early-stage pricing.

This approach ensures that tenders are based on the same scope, makes pricing transparent, helps to track cost changes later in the project and most importantly forms part of the legal contract between you and the contractor.