Quantity Measurements Solutions

Hello Viewers

Welcome to this blog where we provide you with the best solutions for easing your quantity measurements. This is done through the use of the QS-Tools which are incorporated into Autocad to help in the automation of quantities from Autocad to excel with high levels of accuracy & flexibility.

QS-Tools genesis & why adopting this customised solution

Quantity take-off is an important aspect in the construction industry and forms a basis for other estimation processes to take place. This implies that any delay in the taking measurements will have a great impact on the timing of the subsequent activities. On the other hand, accuracy and consistency of the measurements is another critical factor that cannot under looked when it comes to construction works. Quantity measurement involves extraction of measurements from 2D/3D-based designs manually and these traditional approaches of using 2D drawings are not sufficient enough to achieve the above stated needs (Aram, et al, 2014), (Mayouran & Himal , June 2013), (Monteiro & Martins, November 2013).

With the introduction of BIM (Building Information Modelling) into the construction industry, a number of Computer Aided Design tools (software) have been developed to simplify Quantity measurements and ensure timely delivery and accuracy of construction works (Reddy, 2012), (Azhar, 2008). One of the most important actvities done by BIM solutions is the ability to do quantity measurements for the different building items automatically using their geometric properties to produce spatial quantities such as volumes, areas and Length in form of text (McGraw-Hill, 2009). However, this has not been taken up by most individual Quantity estimators due to a number of constraints such as inability to afford the software costs, lack of expertise to run them, etc. which has hinderered the process automation in the quantity measurements field.

In line with the above, most Quantity estimators have resorted to the use of AutoCAD to obtain measurements from the individual drawings incase soft copies are provided or reading dimensions off 2D printed drawings (plans, elevations, sections) and recording the data obtained manually in the takeoff/dimension sheets. It is then from these takeooff sheets that the information is input into Microsoft Excel for further computations such as abtracting. This makes the entire process a repeatition, time consuming and prone to errors like omissions and alterations.

On the other hand, Construction projects are becoming more complicated to take-off and the existing QS software e.g. Dimension X, Cost X, Prim-To, WinQS, QSPlus, Master-bill, QS Cad, Autodesk QTO, etc. are expensive, difficult to use with limited expert knowledge, use more than one package to accomplish a task, inaccessible and require high computer specifications to run which cannot be afforded by many individual Quantity estimators thereby hindering technological advancements and causing project delivery delays in this field. Therefore, a cheaper alternative tool that is compatible to all computers, easy to use and which requires knowledge of only one software package i.e Autocad to obtain the required quantities while ensuring timely delivery of works, accuracy, flexibility & enjoyable user interface was developed to aid in performing some of the quantity measurement works while addressing the individual challenges stated above.