Real Estate Concepts: A Handbook for Students

The Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) is a part of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and deals with five areas of surveying and construction: The BCIS and RICS offer advice and guidance for clients on the above areas of resource and offer statistical information on indices in the relevant surveying and construction sectors. The BCIS is subdivided into several indices that are used to determine the cost involved with building various schemes, including the following: BCIS software is actively used in real estate in the form of valuation for reinstatement or insurance valuation purposes. It is calculation of relevant constructional data prices and rates in conjunction with the size, style and type of property. Reinstatement valuations are an integral part of any residential valuation and are also, when required, actively used in commercial valuations. The purpose of a reinstatement valuation is to provide a valuation figure based on the rebuilding of a property if required. This is based on the square metre of the building and a figure is applied to determine the cost of rebuilding. The reinstatement figure is as important as the valuation of the property, as the purchaser will rely upon this to insure their property. If the figure is incorrect, it may well not be sufficient to rebuild if ever required. Table 4.1.1 looks at specific pricings that materially affect the construction market. Interestingly, from an estate management context, retail prices are anticipated to increase from 2013/2014 year on year until 2017/2018. The BCIS have also predicted that building costs (as shown in Table 4.1.2) continue to increase steadily. Cost is a major driver for all construction projects and the BCIS offers information on tendering, indices and reinstatement issues that can be utilised by a client, contractor, developer and valuer in order to provide comprehensive advice on a range of costing issues that might arise when undertaking cost analysis of a project.