When this service is needed
Clients need cost estimates and work quantities checked when doubts arise about the actual amount of work completed or the justification for the stated cost. This task often arises during apartment renovation, house construction, alterations to premises or disputes over КС-2 and КС-3 certificates.
The investigation helps compare cost estimate items with the property's actual condition and identify overstatements, duplicated work, quantity omissions and unclear coefficients.
Questions commonly addressed
- Do the cost estimate items correspond to the work actually completed?
- Does the calculation include unnecessary, repeated or unsubstantiated work?
- What quantity of work can be confirmed by inspection and documents?
- Which items require adjustment before acceptance records are signed or in the course of a dispute?
Practical situations
- the contractor claimed a substantially greater quantity of finishing work than is visible at the property
- the client disputes the cost of additional work on a detached house
What you receive
The client receives a clear technical picture: which items are substantiated, which raise questions and where there are grounds to adjust the cost estimate. This is convenient both before payment and in a dispute about documents already signed.
Photographs are used as thematic illustrations and do not relate to a specific client's case.
How a disputed cost estimate item is checked
The review begins by identifying the item: work description, unit of measurement, contractual quantity, cost and the relevant area of the property. It then establishes the quantity supported by measurements, as-built documents and available records. A room's total area cannot automatically be used as the quantity for every operation performed in it.
If work is partly completed, the comparison shows the substantiated part, the unsubstantiated part and the reasons for the difference separately. If work exists but its quality is in question, this is not equivalent to a complete absence of work. To calculate reinstatement, the necessary operations must be established and double counting of the same dismantling work or material excluded.
Data needed for comparison
- The original cost estimate and all agreed changes with dates.
- Work acceptance records by period, to prevent the same operation from being counted again.
- Drawings and dimensions that allow quantities to be checked.
- Documents and photographs of concealed stages.
- Pricing terms: agreed rates, resources or another calculation method.
The result should usefully show both the final amount and the progression from the original item to the established quantity and price. Any discrepancy with an acceptance record must be explained: a different dimension, different unit, repeated item, lack of supporting evidence or incorrect application of a contract term. This schedule allows the calculation to be checked in detail and shows which additional materials could change the result.
Where several versions of a cost estimate exist, it is convenient to keep a separate changes table: the original item, agreed replacement, deletion or addition. An item from a later version must not be carried into the calculation for an earlier stage without explanation. Similarly, the cost of a new material and the quantity of work already completed are checked separately: a price change alone does not confirm a change in the physical quantity at the property.