BCIS produce free report on international construction cost standards and information sources

...there appear to be many more countries where the quality of published guidance and cost information falls short of what local professionals might wish.

• View '2009 BCIS International Cost Elements Enquiry Report'

The survey was a continuation of the work of the European Council of Construction Economists (CEEC) and provides information on working practices from 40 countries.  It gathered basic information on the provision of cost advice to clients - in particular, the primary advisors of clients, classifying buildings elements for costing purposes, area measurement standards, structuring construction cost related information, procurement routes, and available sources of cost related information.

• Respondents from 19 out of the 40 countries reported on did not claim any published standard elemental classification of building parts for costing purposes.
• Many countries where such standards exist tend to be linked historically with the United Kingdom.
• In the absence of locally agreed standards, professionals commonly adopt 'foreign' standards or ad hoc in-house developed standards.
• In the absence of a local elemental standard, early cost advice seemingly often remains at the level of cost per unit area or volume, or from most to least prevalent: professionals adopt some version of an elemental approach, report costs in other units (cost/bed, cost/module), or report on costs by trade.
• When expressing costs/m2, gross external and gross internal measures are used most commonly. The practice in warmer countries of recognising covered, but unenclosed, spaces is a significant difference from practice in colder climes.
• There are said to be no standards governing floor area calculations for cost purposes in 11 of the 40 countries reported on, and the respondents from a further nine countries did not identify the title of a published third party (not in-house) standard.
• There are said to be no classifications of standard building types in use in 11 of the countries, and the respondents from a further 19 countries did not identify the title of a published third party standard.

The 40 countries on which information is available are: Australia; Bahamas; Bahrain; Barbados; Bermuda; British Virgin Islands; Canada; Cayman Islands; China (Peoples Republic); China (Hong Kong SAR); Cyprus; Czech Republic; France; Greece; Guyana; Indonesia; Ireland; Italy; Jamaica; Laos; Lebanon; St Kitts & Nevis; Kenya; Malaysia; Mauritius; Morocco; New Zealand; Netherlands; Nigeria; Poland; Portugal (Algarve); Qatar; Russian Federation; Singapore; South Africa; Spain; Switzerland; Thailand; Trinidad & Tobago; United Arab Emirates; USA. (Laos is reported on in conjunction with Thailand.)

As the information is of general use to construction industry professionals worldwide, BCIS has made the survey findings '2009 BCIS International Cost Elements Enquiry Report' on the 40 countries available for free.

Related information on the BCIS web site

As part of its services, the RICS Building Cost Information Service delivers information to support RICS members' provision of early building advice, cost planning services, and reinstatement cost assessments for insurance purposes. Information standards underpin the deliver of these and other BCIS Online services. In particular, the BCIS Standard Form of Cost Analysis (SFCA) (3rd edition, 2008) is used throughout the UK to provide data which allows comparisons to be made between the cost of achieving various building functions in one project with that of achieving equivalent functions in other projects.