BLAR13047  Construction EconomicsI

Offered from Autumn 2003

This course provides a broad overview of macro economic issues affecting the building and construction industries associated with economic processes, production, distribution and consumption, financial issues including supply and demand, interest rates, monetary policy, distribution of income, sources of building finance. It also gives an overview of micro economics issues including market structures associated with the construction industry related to ownership and production, government and the construction industry, separation of design and production; construction plant hire industry and capital investment. This course then develops a detail understanding of project costing related to cost estimating including:

• scope of estimates, changes and variations, cash flows, cost components, review and evaluation, accuracy, estimating procedures for construction projects;
• Bills of Quantities: Client requirements, methods of measurement, contract types, management plans, quantification of resource levels, input documents, item descriptions, preliminaries, rates to include, item references, elemental analysis codes, discrepancies and omissions, to take lists, Bill completeness, cost significant items, bulk checking, addenda;
• Basics of Life cycle cost analysis; and
• types and use of computer based costing software.