Division 03 / Delivered

Division 03 concrete estimating and takeoff

Concrete is the division where a single blended rate hides the most money. The volume is the easy part. Formwork contact area, reinforcing weight and the joint and embed count are where a bid is won or lost.

What we measure, and in what units

CY placed concrete by mix and placement type
SF contact area of formwork, by type
LF edge form
TON reinforcing steel by bar size
EA embeds, anchor bolts, dowels
SF finishing and curing by specification
LF construction, control and expansion joints
SF surface treatment

What the deliverable looks like for this division

Footings, grade beams, pile caps, slab on grade, slab on deck, walls, columns, beams, stairs, equipment and housekeeping pads, curbs and site flatwork, each on its own line. Formwork is separated by type because the labour differs sharply. Reinforcing is taken by bar size and spacing and converted to tonnage, with mesh carried separately.

Scope items routinely missed on this division

Only someone who has priced the work knows what falls through the gaps. No competitor publishes this list.

Formwork contact area, not concrete volume. They are different quantities, and pricing the wrong one is the most common concrete error there is. A thin tall wall and a thick short wall can carry the same volume and completely different formwork.
Housekeeping and equipment pads, which sit on the mechanical and electrical drawings rather than the structural set.
Bollards, and the concrete that fills them.
Dowels and tie bars at construction joints.
Waste and over excavation allowance on footings against the theoretical volume.
Embeds and anchor bolt templates, set before the pour and slow.
Pump against chute placement, and the site access that decides which.
Cold and hot weather protection where the schedule runs into it.
Testing and inspection where the specification assigns it to the contractor.

Restoration adds a completely different set

Partial depth against full depth patching, which are different crews, durations and unit costs and are routinely recorded under one heading.
Delamination sounding quantities.
Traffic coating in square feet, reinstated over an area always larger than the patch.
Joint sealant in linear feet and expansion joints in linear feet, which are different products at different rates and are frequently bundled.
Crack injection against rout and seal, both in linear feet, and not interchangeable.
Embedded galvanic anodes, counted per repair.
Shoring, implied by full depth work on suspended slabs and almost never a register line.
Phasing and closure limits on an operating garage, which change the mobilisations and the duration but not the quantity.
Post tensioned slabs, where a corroding tendon anchorage is an engineering question rather than a patching item and is flagged with no number against it.

Documents needed to price it

Structural drawings and schedules
Foundation plan, sections and details
The soils report
Specifications
For restoration: the condition assessment report, the repair register and the photograph cards

Questions people in this trade actually ask

How is formwork measured, and why is it not the same as concrete volume?

In square feet of contact area, the surface of form touching concrete, split by type. It drives the labour. Volume drives the material. Two elements with identical volume can need very different formwork, so a rate per cubic yard that silently includes forming is wrong on any job that is not a flat slab.

How are quantities set when a restoration drawing says the contractor verifies in the field?

From the register and the photographs, with the derivation written on every line. Where a photograph has no scale reference, the known dimensions of the structure carry it: tee flange width, bay spacing, joint spacing. That note is what lets you defend the number and agree a fair adjustment when the field condition differs.

How is a stipulated lump sum built from a repair item register?

Every item priced individually first, then rolled up. The lump sum is the result of the item pricing, not a number arrived at separately, so when the owner asks what a scope reduction is worth the answer is already in the workbook.

Work of this kind

Construction
Parking garage restoration, precast structure, approximately 1,100 spaces
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Concrete restoration of a priority repair register: patching, corbel rebuilds and bearing plates, quantified item by item from condition assessment photographs.
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Read the case study
Construction
Parking garage restoration, post tensioned slab below a residential tower
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Crack injection, sealing, patching and reinforcement replacement.
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Parking garage below a hotel and residences, approximately 900 spaces
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Large volume crack injection and patching across four cellar levels.
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Express car wash, new build
Southern California
Grading, concrete, storm drain and bioretention, sanitary sewer, landscape, site lighting and alley reconstruction. Seven scopes consolidated into one proposal.
Estimating & Takeoff / Bid & Proposal Support