BTEC Unit 16: Measuring, Tendering and Estimating for Construction and the

Built Environment

1.1 Client’s involvement in the tender process

Client organisations are divided into private, public (Government), and Quasi-

Government bodies. The private clients include residential, industrial, commercial,

social, charitable and professional organisations, and individuals. The public client

means Government which may consist of various government departments. In Hong

Kong, examples of government departments involved in major construction works

include: Architectural Services Department, Highway Department, Drainage Services

Department, Water Supplies Department, Civil Engineering and Development

Department.

Some of the clients are well experienced in construction works and might have their

own project management teams of designers, quantity surveyors and site

supervisory teams, etc. On the other hand, some of them, particularly those small

individual developers, may have development only once in their lifetime.

Clients may identify their needs in terms of commercial or social pressure to change;

by an examination of primary objectives such as:

1. Space requirements: the need to improve production levels, add to production

capacity, accommodate new processes or provide domestic or social

accommodation;

2. Investment: to explore opportunities to invest in buildings; to look for income

generating investment like hotel, commercial buildings, etc.

3. Identity: to enhance the individual’s or organization’s standing in its market or

society;
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BTEC Unit 16: Measuring, Tendering and Estimating for Construction and the
Built Environment

4. Location: effect of and improvement to the facilities of the neighborhoods;

consideration of better use of resources

5. Politics: particularly in the government sector

1.2 Tender Constraints apply to the tender process

There are many constraints in a tender including client’s objectives, client’s

constraints, financial constraints, physical constraints, legal constraints, design

constraints, etc.

Before preparing a tender for a project, the client must have his own objectives in

developing the project. Examples of objectives may include: building a hotel, re-

provisioning of the pump house, constructing a railway, etc. Usually, the ultimate

goals of most of these objectives are to make profits.

Client may also have his own constraints in developing the project. For instance, he

needs to build the building within a specific period. Sometimes, there may also

construction constraints of a project like restricted time period for noisy operation in a

site adjacent to a school.

Financial resources are also very important to the development of a project. Even a

project with good profit, the project needs to be financed at the initial and early stage

of the development. Client may therefore need to arrange finance from banks in

order that the project can be executed.

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BTEC Unit 16: Measuring, Tendering and Estimating for Construction and the
Built Environment

Physical constraints usually mean the physical characteristics of the site for

development. Such characteristics include:

• the site: lot area, proportion of width to depth, shape, site geology, site

contamination, topography, hydrotropic characteristics, site fronting large

area of water, etc.

• the building improvements: the maintenance conditions of the building, e.g.

cracks, leaks, etc.

• non-building improvements: fencing, position and depth of utility lines,

retaining walls, swimming pools, footpaths drainage culverts, paving, tennis

court, refuse collection point, transformers, etc. presence of services provision

like water, gas, electricity, sewer, telephone, cables, etc.

Legal constraints include restrictions on the title, restrictions on use of the site,

restrictions on profits and income flows, etc. Sometimes, they may also mean

community influences associated with the ownership and use of land.

Design constraints are rules or regulations that the designers have to be followed in

their designs. For instance, usually the construction of the project is subject to

height limit, plot ratio, building regulations on fire escape route, etc.

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BTEC Unit 16: Measuring, Tendering and Estimating for Construction and the
Built Environment

1.3 Contractual documentation required to support the tender process

The tender document issued to the tenderers for tender may include the following:

• Notes to Tenderer

• General Conditions of Tender

• Special Conditions of Tender

• Conditions of Contract

• Special Conditions of Contract

• Form of Tender

• Drawings

• Specifications

• Bills of Quantities

• General Summary of Tender

The following pages are abstracted from Chapter 4 Tender Documentation of the

book Estimating and Tendering for Construction Work by Martin Brook, Fourth

Edition. They illustrated the tender documentation required for tender.

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