Quite complicated buildings often form part of a civil engineering project, for example power station buildings, pumping stations, stores, administrative offices or laboratories. The CESMM gives units of measurement for some common building operations, but the nature of building work is so diverse that, in practice, many more items than shown in CESMM will be found necessary.
The CESMM will usually be found suitable for billing all work required to complete the framework, walling, cladding and roofing to buildings, and such matters as pipework, roads, sewerage, landscaping and fencing. Other building items primarily cover the interior finishes, carpentry and joinery, and other miscellaneous matters. These can be measured by some simple method a civil contractor will understand, since he will have experience of building work as well as civil engineering. It is not necessary to follow all the details of the standard method of measuring building work, for example the many extra overs listed in that method for brickwork. The preamble to the bills of quantities should then clearly state which classes of work (i.e. trades) are not measured in accordance with the CESMM.
For matters which it is usual to let out to specialist sub-contractors, such as terrazzo floorings, balustrading, ceramic tiling, etc., either lump sums can be called for if the drawings and specification define everything required, or provisional sums can be inserted.