Contrast between CESMM3 and CESMM4

Major difference between CESSM3 and CESSM4 is CESSM4 has a neutral status with regards to the Specification and Contract. It means generally there are no particular Conditions of Contract or Specification for the CESMM4. Therefore CESMM4 can be used with any conditions of contract and National Standard.

CESMM3 has defined “ICE Conditions of Contract” as the Conditions of Contract (Definition 1.2). However CESSM4 hasn’t referred particular conditions of contract. Mandatory schedule in the Preamble has introduced to fill the gap.  Purpose of the schedule is to avoided any discrepancies or ambiguities between the Conditions of Contract and Method of measurement by identifying the relevant clauses in the schedule. For an example refer Clause 6.4.

CESMM3 – For the purpose of clause 60 interim additions or deductions on account of the amount ……

CESMM4 – For the purpose of interim payments additions or deductions on account of the amount ……

Above clause 6.4 of removed the reference to ICE Conditions of Contract and asked to identify the relevant clause nr in preamble schedule.

Generally CESSM3 is referred to British standard (Definition 1.15) nevertheless CESSM4 is generally in neutral status. For an example refer below additional rules A1 of class J.

CESSM3 - The material, joint types, nominal bore and Lining requirements of pipe fittings shall be stated in the item description and reference given to applicable British Standard specifications and specified qualities.

CESSM4 - The material, joint types, nominal bore and Lining requirements of pipe fittings shall be stated in the item.

However there are two exceptions for the rule due to impracticability of producing BoQ’s without referring to British standards. Those are Concrete mixture and Road construction. However if the referred British standards is not the one relevant to the project, bill compiler should mentioned the relevant standard in the schedule in preamble.

CESSM4- D1. Items for the provision of concrete shall be classified in accordance with BS 8500 and (November 2006) BS EN 206-1.

If BS 8500 is not the standard relevant to a particular project, bill compiler should mention the relevant standard in item 8 –Class F Definition rule D1.

Also each class has a row which hasn’t allocated for any item. Intention of this may be to measured items where CESMM is comprehensive with the CESMM code reference 999.

Other than those key changes, there are many changes and new items that can be notices in CESMM4. Few of those are listed below.

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