Project consultants way of estimating the cost

The project consultants/ detailed engineering contractors are selected by the owners setting up the plant based on the detailed engineering companies experience in their previous projects, the resources that company have to execute the project and their collaborators who can extend their support during execution of the project including the technical knowhow the project consultant they have of their own or with tie up with their collaborators. Even though the detailed Engineering consultant posses major above said qualities the cost element plays a vital role while selecting the project consultant by the owner. Hence it becomes very much necessary for the project consultant also to optimise their cost to secure the contract with the owner. In normal circumstances all the companies wants to save the cost of the project from day one which will help in completion of the project within the budgeted cost. .The owner starts control process  with floating of tenders to various project/detailed engineering consultants . The project consultants/ detailed engineering contractors starts working in their estimate  with basic inputs provided by the owner and develop the mass flow/ heat flow diagrams. The basic main important equipment details  are provided by owner or by the process licenciator. On development of the said drawings the detailed engineering contractors calculate the number of drawings which may be required to be designed and detailed by them during the execution of the project. The number of P&I diagrams required, the number of isometrics to be designed etc are calculated by the companies. If the owner further wants the contractor to carry out other services like monitoring of supply of equipments, supervision of civil, mechanical, electrical & instrumentation works .The consulting companies start calculating the man-hours required to be spend by the company for developing whole project drawings and number of man hours going to be spent on other activities. Based on market rates of Engineers/technicians and other category personals required  for that project the total cost of the consultants are calculated. In case of any tie up required from partners of other nations  the cost of that is also included. Finally considering the overheads and profit margin that particular company maintains are included to arrive at the final quotation cost by the project consultants

Model calculation 3 : Direct Manpower calculation Installation of Heavy Tall towers: I explained in my previous posts the details of direct manpower calculation for vessels of lighter weight. The direct manpower calculation and the effort required for erection of heavy tall towers are not simple like normal heat exchanger or small towers. Either bigger capacity cranes of suitable capacity or availability is normally used in such cases. On occasions considering the weight, non availability of higher capacity cranes, economy an alternate arrangement in place of cranes are used for the erection work is used. . This derrick arrangement is called as Gin Pole arrangement. A gin pole (derived from gin, a three-legged lifting device) is a supported pole which uses a pulley or block and tackle on its upper end to lift loads. The lower end is braced or set in a shallow hole and positioned so the upper end lies above the object to be lifted. The pole (also known as a "mast", "boom", and "spar") is secured with three or more guys. These are manipulated to move the load laterally, with up and down controlled by the pulley or block.

The gin pole is considered a form of derrick, called standing derrick or pole derrick, distinguished from sheers (or "shear legs") by having a single boom rather than a two-legged one.Gin poles are also used to raise loads above structures too tall to reach with a crane, as placing an antenna atop a steeple, and to lift segments of a tower atop one-another during erection. When used to create a segmented tower, the gin pole can be detached, raised, and re-attached to the just completed segment in order to lift the next. The process of "jumping" is repeated until the topmost portion of the tower is completed. .In this model calculation my experience in calculating the direct man power was on the basis of using Gin pole or derrick and direct manpower handling the equipment.. This manpower calculation does not include any manpower for operation and supporting activities of the crane movement

The man-hour calculation of the estimator should include the time to be spent by various technicians/Labourers to complete the activity starting from receiving the materials from stores of the owner, loading, transportation of materials from owners stores to contractors storage yard , unloading and storing at contractors storage at site yard, retransportaion to the point of installation if required , surface preparation of foundations along with time required for fabrication/machining of steel shims to be placed below the equipment installation, man-hours required for installation work for accessories or platforms, man-hours required for testing and commissioning, , Also major important factor which involves lot of man-hours is the scaffolding activity. If the equipment to be installed is at lower level or on ground the Man-hours required for scaffolding will be nil. In case if the installation is at an elevation the man hours required for preparation and installation of the scaffoldings are to be considered The normal activities involved in the installation of the Tall towers after receipt of materials at erection sites are preparation of the foundation and bring down the level of the foundation to receive the equipment on top of it with the space available for placing the equipment on top of the foundation. Normally only maximum of 50mm pacer plates are allowed to be placed between the equipment and foundation so that grouting can be taken can effectively. On preparation of foundation check for the condition of the equipment placed on ground on wooden packers.. Tower Installation Hence details provided by me are bare minimum and guide lines for the estimators in indie. The details provided are based on the productivity of the technicians worked then with me and minor fine tuning as per site data’s of the company .and in consultation with the companies site personals more accurate data’s can be decided by estimators Towers ( considering the erection procedure with Gin Pole Derrick arrangement) Slno Detail Weight of equipment up to 100MT Weight of equipment up to 101-200MT Weight of equipment up to 201-300MT Weight of equipment up to 301-400MT 1 Foundation 80hours 80hours 120hours 120hours 2 Installation 2640hours 2960hours 3360hours 3680hours 3 Total 2720hours 3040hours 3480hours 3800hours The above mentioned man-hours calculation does not include the manpower required for receiving the materials from stores up to erection site, activities related to cleaning of equipments, accessory works related with equipment erection work like platform and ladders erection works for the equipment any major scaffolding works,time required for preparation of testing,commissioning,performance guarantee works . The manpower calculation is on the assumption that the equipment will be installed only on the ground.. Based on the above chart let me calculate the man hours required for a Tall Tower weighing 400 MT and installed at ground floor. As per the chart the time consumed for installation of this equipment is only 3800 Man-hours and time required for other activities can be calculated under respective heads and to be added with the basic man-hours. What should be the cost of this 3800 man-hours. It cannot be purely one category like skilled/highly skilled or semiskilled. It is the combination of the technician group engaged in the installation work. Based on the nature of work the category of people are to be divided. in terms of percentages. In this case the highly skilled labourers may not be required much and unskilled workers also will not be required much. So technicians who have capacity to lift and shift the materials may be required more. If we consider total 100% man-hours equals to 128 Man-hours. Out of which Riggers can be considered as 70%( semi skilled) requirement,15% requirement of skilled and remaining 15% manpower will be unskilled to reach total the 100% Skilled Labours -15%.........!5/100*3800 = 570 Man-hours Semi skilled --70%.......70/100*3800 = 2660 Man-hours Unskilled ...........15%........15/100*3800 = 570 Man-hours Cost of installation of the Tower on basic conditions based on the Man hour rates (Minimum wages) of notification by Delhi state Skilled Labours .........(570/8)* 455 = 32,418.75 Semi skilled --- -(2660/8)*414 = 1,37,655 Unskilled Labours..... .(570/8)*374 = 26647.5 Total cost of Man-hours for Erection of 400 MT Tower on Ground using Gin pole arrangement is Indian rupees at the location near Delhi and at this point of time Hence Rate per MT in that location is Indian Rupees 394.21