To quantify is to measure or count something in order to establish its quantity, expressed in a suitable unit.
Quantifying is the basis of most quantity surveying work. Before work can be priced, valued or compared, it has to be broken down into items and quantified, for example as a length in metres, an area in square metres, a volume in cubic metres, a weight in tonnes or a number of items. In the UK this is normally done in accordance with an agreed set of measurement rules, such as the RICS New Rules of Measurement (NRM), so that everyone pricing or checking the work understands exactly what each quantity includes. Quantification is used to:
- prepare bills of quantities and pricing schedules
- build up estimates and cost plans
- measure work for interim valuations and the final account
Related terms: take-off, measurement, quantity, unit of measure.
