Review of the Building Schedule of Rates (BSR) for Work Norms

Abstract

The Building Schedule of Rates (BSR) for standard work norms should be reviewed due to some technical problems raised in the current construction industry. It was found that there are some work norms that have not been recognized in the BSR. The role of a quantity surveyor has been widely recognized through the BOQ preparation. Therefore, the trust on the duty of the quantity surveyor is understated due to the rates which are not allocated in the BSR. As the methodology, an expert analysis was done to find the new variables for work norms which should be included in the BSR. Around 30 professional quantity surveyors have been interviewed to get the opinion regarding the missing variables. Most of the respondents said that the BSR rates should be changed according to the changes available in the market. The given rates are somewhat old, and the new items have not been identified. Specially, the modern technology introduces new materials and methods for the building works which have been developed after the development of the existing BSR rates. According to their opinions, some of the rates for items can be identified indirectly using some of the rates given in BSR. But, to get the real picture, the BSR standard should be updated.