Master the often complex but essential language of construction estimation with a ground-up explanation of units of measure. This article provides critical insights into the use of units of measure, including their abbreviations, correct usage, and implications on software and spreadsheets.
Key Insights
- Units of measure in construction estimating often come in abbreviations and can refer to a range of measurements, including quantities, lengths, volumes, weights, and durations. Examples include 'ft' for feet, 'lf' for linear feet, 'sqft' for square feet, and 'mo' for month. The correct unit of measure is integral to accurate estimating.
- Consistency in the use of upper or lowercase in the representation of units of measure is crucial. Different software may require either and treat uppercase and lowercase units of measure differently. Therefore, estimators should strive to consistently use one or the other, avoiding a mix of both.
- Understanding the use of units of measure in context is vital in construction estimating. For instance, square measurements require two dimensions, length and width, while cubic measurements require an additional depth dimension. The estimator's knowledge of when and how to use each unit of measure significantly influences the accuracy of the estimate.
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Here we have a continuation of units of measure. The first one on the screen is UOM, unit of measure. You'll see that a lot on spreadsheets.
So, if you have a thousand for a quantity, it absolutely must be clear what the unit of measure is—whether it be a square yard, a square foot, or a cubic yard. Next, you see that we have FT for feet and LF for linear feet. Looking down the list, notice that they're all in lowercase.
They could be in uppercase—it doesn't matter. Just make an effort not to use both. Different software sometimes requires that uppercase or lowercase be used, and in some instances, similar to SAGE estimating, they treat an uppercase unit of measure differently than a lowercase.
So it's very important to understand that you work in the realm of lowercase or uppercase—or in some cases where you might absolutely need both. For the most part, stick with one or the other. Notice as we're looking at units of measure that they're all related to either a count of each, a length, a volume, a weight factor, or a duration in time.
So, starting at the top, you have feet, linear feet, and square feet. Cubic feet is when you have that third dimension of depth—and depth could be the same as width. It depends on how you look at it, but square feet—or anything that's a square—takes two dimensions: a length and a width. Once you apply a cubic measurement or a volume measurement, it requires the depth added to that.
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You also have yards, square yards, and cubic yards, and we'll get into some of these as we move through the estimating process to find out when and how you use each one of these. It's very important that we understand that. You have “each, ” “pound, ” and “tons, ” which are typically used in steel, and you'll find out more about that as we move through it.
Then we get into time durations, which is month—“mo” for month, “wk” for week—and then hours. Each of these are vital, and you'll see exactly how they come into play. A lot of it is common sense as you start to look at the quantity takeoff and the estimate itself. You'll automatically know how to calculate or which abbreviation to use for each situation.
For example, if you used an abbreviation or you wanted to specify a count, you could spell it out, but notice that most of these units of measure are broken down into two letters. Okay, so for count, what I would use is EA for each.
