Listen: Cost and Design

Abstract

How is cost linked to design? Megan, Phil, and Rob wonder together. MEGAN: Often you’re in a hurry. You’ve got six days to do that work, so you’re getting your costs for your materials straightaway, and you’re like, “oh, that’s ridiculous, it’s not going to work!” [her voice rises in exasperation] and then you just go back to the drawing board before you go any further. Cost is part of your design straightaway. I mean, yes, we might have a quantity surveyor [QS] involved, but the QS is another abstract entity. So you sort of do your detailing up to a certain point, then you go to a QS, and then it comes back and they will say, “Well, it’s over budget.” We say, “Well, we’ve done our work.” Are we going to redo it? And then there’s an ambiguity there....