For the implementation of any project requires some kind of cost, no matter what nature - whether it be material, financial or human resources. A master plan for financial costs is called a cost estimate. The most widely known construction estimates and budget estimates (estimates for the maintenance of budgetary institutions). Analyzing the construction estimates, you can understand the cost of certain types of work in detail, the budget - the total cost, for example, keeping children in kindergarten. The guarantee of the correctness of the data is the verification of the accuracy of estimates carried out by specialized organizations or authorized bodies.
Checking construction estimates
Checking construction estimates, or, as it is also called, examination of estimates, is mandatory. Only specialized organizations that are licensed are authorized to implement it. Checking the estimates is designed to identify possible fraud facts committed by the design organization at the design stage. This is one of the most significant moments in the relationship between the contractor and the customer. Any investor is interested in the work being completed, and material costs carried out in accordance with the prevailing market prices.
Checking estimates in construction is carried out on:
- Possible overpricing of building materials.
- The presence of errors in calculating the volume of work.
- The correctness and validity of the application of various correction factors.
The main violations identified during the verification of construction estimates
The general practice of checking the reliability of estimates in the construction industry shows that most of the violations committed are of the following nature:
- incorrect assessment of the estimated volume of work in comparison with the provided construction drawings of the project;
- permissible computational errors during mathematical calculations;
- incorrect use of prices and correction factors and rise in price indices due to lack of knowledge by the estimator of the very technology of the building process.
Timely verification of estimates allows you to identify and eliminate these violations before the start of the production cycle.
Estimation procedure
The very process of checking estimates in construction looks, as a rule, as follows: the customer, interested in the rational and efficient use of the financial resources at his disposal, is looking for an independent (this is a very important factor!) Organization that has the appropriate license. Concludes with her a contract for examination work and submits a package of documents received from designers in full with the mandatory attachment of all available drawings and technical drawings.
An expert organization using special software divides the estimates into material costs, machine operation, labor costs, estimated profits and overhead costs. The surveyor engineer then analyzes the local construction estimates at his disposal and evaluates the potential savings.
In the process of examination, not only unnecessary work can be identified, but also moments of lack of necessary work can be established or proposals can be made to replace one type of work with another, more effective. So the examination of the reliability of estimates does not always give a tangible reduction in the estimated costs, but always leads to the possibility of the most rational use of funds.
Sample estimates in construction can be found on various specialized sites.
Checking Budget Estimates
Verification of estimates of budgetary institutions, as a rule, is carried out by various bodies that exercise either departmental or financial control. Budget estimates are made up of exclusively state-owned institutions under current law. Budgetary and autonomous institutions that are not recipients of budgetary funds (all financial flows come from the founder as a so-called fee (subsidy) for a state or municipal task), they do not make budget estimates. Their main financial document is a plan of financial and economic activity.
Accordingly, the subjects of financial control in terms of budget estimates are, first of all, the founder (departmental control) and various control and oversight bodies (the Treasury, financial bodies, chambers of control, audit and so on).
The main areas of verification
Checking budget estimates is carried out on:
- the reliability of calculation of indicators of the wage fund;
- the accuracy of the calculation and the application of the applicable prices for services relating to the maintenance of property under the operational management of the audited institution;
- reliability and validity of state (municipal) procurement planning;
- compliance of the planning of expenditures with the goals and conditions of their provision.
A sample estimate for government institutions can be found on the official website of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation.
