The practice of providing material quantities in the contract documents varies in different parts of the world. For all unit-price (measure-and-value) contracts, these quantities must be provided, because the tenders are based on a common set of quantities. In the case of lump-sum contracts, however, the quantity surveyor is sometimes engaged by the design professional to prepare a schedule of quantities used by contractors as they prepare their fixed price tenders. In this case, this schedule is an important part of the project manual containing all contract documents. The practice differs worldwide, however, with the responsibility for generating these quantities through material take-offs often falling on individual contractors and their estimating staff. In Chapter 4, we shall deal with the use of schedules of quantities, wherever prepared, in the tender preparation process.
