QSP7PCM Professional Cost Management Assignment 1, 2026 | UCEM

QSP7PCM Professional Cost Management Assignment 1

QSP7PCM Submission Details

For this assignment, you are required to submit online via Turnitin:

• a take-off as one PDF file or as one Excel (or similar) file.

Further information to support you with this assignment:

• is available within the study materials for this module on the VLE and in the relevant ‘Assessment preparation’ week.
• will be provided in the Assignment briefing webinar (see ‘Webinar schedule’) and the Assignment forum (in the relevant ‘Assessment preparation week’). Use these opportunities to ask any questions you may have about the assessment.

Quick links to guidance

Generative AI student guidance (Assessment section of Student Policies)

Word count and overwriting (Submission guidance section of My Assessment)

Academic integrity (avoiding academic misconduct) (Submission guidance section of My Assessment)

The UCEM Guide to Referencing and Citation (Section 6 of the e-Library).

Scenario

You are an assistant quantity surveyor working for a leading quantity surveying practice called PHR Associates. You are working with your manager to prepare tender documents for a project to construct a new private boarding school for a client new to the construction industry. As part of the project, the school is also building two houses to accommodate staff who will be working at the school.

The project will be procured through the traditional procurement route. Your manager has started the take-off for the superstructure works and has asked you to continue the take-off for selected superstructure items for House A, to help prepare the tender documents. A take-off template including a query sheet is available on the VLE. Please use this template to complete your take-off.

The PDF drawings listed below are available on the VLE; they include some specification details. Further specification is provided below.

• D0752 GF Plan
• D0754 Roof Plan
• D0755 Front Elevations
• D0756 Rear Elevations
• D0757 Side Elevations
• D0759 Cross Section
• D0763 Section roof details
• D0764 Trussed Rafter Roof Layout
• D0765 Trussed Rafter Profiles.

Task

Your manager has provided you with the work completed to date (see template provided) and has asked you to complete the following items to help prepare the tender documents:

a.    Marked-up drawings of items measured;
b.    Taking off the list;
c.    Query sheet;
d.    Dimensions presented in a traditional format for all items listed below;
e.    Bill of Quantities for the measured items.

As part of the template, a completed query sheet has been provided to you to help you progress the measure. In doing the take-off, you notice that the specification for the paint for the walls is missing. As part of your take-off, demonstrate how you would manage this uncertainty.
Using a Standard Method of Measurement (SMM) and following the traditional method of measurement, take-off quantities for the following items as shown on the drawings. List of items to be measured for House A only (do not measure the porch or House B):

105mm thick Internal block walls partition to the WC (shown in yellow on the drawings) from ground floor level to the top of the first-floor slab only. (This has been measured for you by your manager. You do not need to repeat this measure.

130mm Internal block walls partition from the ground floor level to the top of the first-floor slab only

The following internal finishes to the kitchen/living room area on the ground floor:

• Plaster finish to block walls, internal partitions from ground floor level to the bottom of the first-floor slab only
• 2 coats of paint to block the walls’ internal partition from the ground floor level to the bottom of the first-floor slab only
  Plasterboard ceiling
• 2 coats painting to ceiling 
• Floor finish

Wall plates
Roof trusses (type A only)
Roof coverings: tiling, battens and underlay only
Gutters
Gutter ancillaries (stop ends).

Specification

Roof truss, attic style, to the specialist’s details 46mm x 125mm members @600 centres. Pitch of the roof is 30°.

Plain red clay roof tiles 265mm x 165mm with a 65mm lap, aluminium nailed every fourth course with 48 x 11 gauged aluminium alloy nails on 25mm x 50mm treated softwood battens on bitumen felt to BS 747 type 1F with 75mm horizontal and 150mm end laps.

Ceiling finish: 15mm Gyproc plasterboard with 3mm skim with 2 coats of emulsion paint finish. Wall finish: 2 coats of 15mm overall plaster. First coat of gypsum plaster and sand 12mm thick; finishing coat of gypsum plaster 3mm thick

Floor finish: Brintons Bell Twist Wilton Carpet in Flint colour laid on 11mm Excellence Carpet Underlay.

Wall plates are fixed with galvanised steel fixing straps at 1.8m centres.

100mm squareline PVC guttering fixed with flexigrip, gutter joints and gutter brackets 

130mm Dense concrete blocks in gauged mortar 1:1:6.

105mm dense concrete blocks in gauged mortar 1:1:6 to WC walls. 

All other specifications are on the drawings provided.

Notes

Do not measure the porch.

You are not required to measure any partitions or finishes to the first floor of the house.

The measurement should consider the deduction for all door openings. The door widths are provided on the drawings. The heights of the doors are 2040mm, except for the WC door, which is 1981mm. All door linings 38mm finished thickness.

Ignore the Velux window when measuring roof finishes.

Additional Information

You will need a copy of a standard method of measurement (SMM) to complete this assignment.

Descriptions for all items must fully comply with the requirements of a Standard Method of Measurement (SMM) such as NRM2.

Do not use abbreviations or shorthand descriptions.

UK-based students are expected to use NRM2 – Detailed Measurement for Building Works (2021). Students based overseas can choose to use either NRM2 or the latest edition of their local SMM. Students opting to use an SMM other than NRM2 must obtain approval from UCEM using the pro forma available in the assignment week of the module. Please upload the completed pro forma to Student Central by Friday, 24 October 2025. Please note that if you are using a standard method other than NRM2, you need to:

• state this at the beginning of your answers to all measurement/taking-off questions;
• Submit copies of the relevant sections of the SMM that you have used with your assignment.

This is important; an assumption will be made by the marker that NRM2 has been used.

Further information to support you with this assignment is available within the study materials for this module on the UCEM VLE.

It is recommended that you engage with the Assignment briefing webinar and the Assignment forum, as the module team may signpost relevant learning activities and also answer any questions you may have.

Marking Guidance for This Assignment

This guidance is designed to help you to do as well as possible in your assessment by explaining how the person marking your work will be judging it.

Your work will be assessed in relation to the requirements set out in the assessment criteria marking guide shown below and the grading guidance section below.

It is recommended that you read both of these sections before starting your assessment to learn what will help you to achieve the highest marks. Before submitting your assessment, you should review it to check that you have produced what is required to achieve the highest marks.

When you receive your feedback from your tutor, you should be able to see where you gained marks and, where relevant, recommendations about how to improve your performance going forward.

Grading Guidance

This grading guidance section explains in more detail what a submission for this assignment should include to achieve a mark at the threshold, good and excellent standards.

Threshold submissions should provide:

• Adequate presentation of dimensions consistently with sufficient booking of dimensions, use of timesing, use of decimal places, use of underlining and correct squaring of calculations.
• Adequate presentation of waste calculations and annotation of dimensions that are sufficient to be understood.
• Adequate interpretation of the drawings and specifications to sufficiently identify the measured items.
• Adequate use of the Q&A sheet to progress the measurement of the identified items.

Completeness of measure with some items missed.

Adequate use of description information on dimension sheets and BOQ, following SMM requirements, to distinguish between items measured in the take-off.

Good submissions should provide the following in addition to the ‘threshold’ requirements:

• Presentation of dimensions consistently with the correct booking of dimensions, use of timesing, use of decimal places, use of underlining and correct squaring of calculations with few errors.
• Clear presentation of waste calculations and annotation of dimensions, which reflects the requirement to measure for different items.
• The take-off will illustrate how uncertainty in the specification is managed.
• Competent interpretation of the drawing and specifications to distinguish the measurement requirements for most items.
• Completeness of measure with only 1 or 2 items missed.
• Consistent and correct use of description information on dimension sheets and BOQ following SMM requirements.

Excellent submissions should provide the following in addition to the ‘good’ requirements:

• Clear, accurate and excellent presentation of dimensions and waste calculations with no errors in dimensions or waste calculations.
• Completeness of measure with no items missed, but with slight computational errors.
• Drawings clearly and neatly marked up to indicate the items to be measured.
• Measured items accurately and completely described according to the SMM.
• Ability to interpret the drawings and understand the specification for all items that need to be measured.
• Consistent and correct use of description information on dimension sheets and BOQ, following SMM requirements with only minor errors