The relationship between the operational staff and those dealing with the cash should be a special one — but unfortunately that is not always the case. Some operational staff can be obsessed with “pleasing the customer”, “quality”, or “getting the job done” at any expense. In these instances, the QS’s and accountants see cash flowing out of a project and it heading for a loss. If projects don’t make a profit, people end up out of work, regardless of how good the work was.
The QS’s need to produce a Cost Value Reconciliation (CVR) with the support of the operational site staff and records from the accounts department. The operational staff therefore need to furnish the QS’s and accounts staff with certain information.
Direct Staff and Labour
Time sheets of presence on site should go to the accounts department for payment and cost allocation to the project. Allocation sheets showing what the labour has been doing should go to the QS so they can reconcile costs against the activities in the estimate.
Plant
A record of on and off hire should be maintained, ideally weekly. It should be sent to the accounts department so invoices can be paid when they come in, and to the QS so they can include the appropriate costs in the reconciliation. The weekly plant hire return is also a useful reminder to off-hire equipment that is no longer needed.
Materials
A record of goods received should be maintained and sent to both the accounts department and QS’s. The accounts department need it to pay invoices on time; the QS’s need it to include the cost in the reconciliation. Goods on site should be checked for quality and quantity at the point of delivery to avoid disputes later.
Subcontractors
Records of works handed over in accordance with contract specifications should go to the QS’s for payment. Daywork records for payment should also go to the QS and can be contentious — so clarity on what is to be recorded should be agreed at a pre-start meeting.
Change Management
Change instructions can come in many formats: official, verbal, email, or meeting minutes. A means of keeping track of them should be devised and operational staff should advise the QS’s so they can pick up the costs. Any instruction that impacts upon the programme should also be captured, as some may impact the completion date and require it to be changed to avoid penalties.
Delay and Disruption
Projects are complex and things do not always go to plan. Operational staff need to be on top of what is coming up and maintain records that enable the QS’s to recover costs where delay or disruption has been caused by others. Being aware of what costs can be recovered should be discussed between operational staff and QS’s when compiling the CVR, so the right records can be established from the outset.
