EXTRA OVER

A few people may still not be quite clear about the idea of extra over.
One way to grasp the concept is to take an example such as this: imagine you were
planning to tile an area of your house a verandah say, 3m wide x 8m long 24m2
of tiling. You are down to a choice between two different types of tiles one has a
supply price of $30/m2, the other is $40/m2. The cost to lay the tiles including labour,
adhesive, grout etc is exactly the same (lets say $32/m2) so from a cost point of the
view the only difference will be the extra $10/m2 for buying the more expensive tiles.
The unit rates for the tiles are then $62/m2 and $72/m2. Total cost for one tile type is
(24 x $62) = $1488, for the alternate tile its (24 x $72) = $1728. The extra over cost
of the second tile is $1728 1488 = $240, ie $10 x 24m2 the extra over cost times
the whole area.
If we chose a different scheme and decided to lay part (say 8m2) of the verandah with
tile A and the rest with tile B (16m2) we would probably just measure them separately
and price each quantity at the relevant rate:
8m2 @ $62 = $496
16m2 @ $72 = $1152
Total cost $1648
We could do it another way, using extra over to do that we measure the whole job
as tile A 24m2 @ $62 = $1488, and then add on the extra over cost of tile B for
the area that tile B will cover (16m2). The extra over cost then will be 16m2 @ (tile B
rate tile A rate) = $10 x 16 = $160. The total cost still comes out to $1648.
Another example: you buy 12 pies at $3 each but only six people want sauce, so you
buy 6 packages of sauce at 50 cents each total cost is $39.00. The extra over cost of
a pie with sauce as against a plain pie is 50 cents so the total extra over for the pies
with sauce is 6 x $0.50 = $3.00. Thats probably a more logical calculation than
saying 6 pies at $3.00 plus 6 pies with sauce at $3.50 the total cost is the same but
the method of calculating the total cost is different. Suppose two other people decided
at the last minute that they wanted sauce after all, then its easier to add two more
packages (at 50 cents each) than going back through the whole calculation.
This is the method that is used for measuring rock excavation. The only time we use
extra over now is for rock excavation and it is done because its a useful way of
dealing with the adjustment of quantities after the work has been done. Rock
excavation can seldom be measured accurately until after the excavation has been
done. Records are kept of the actual quantities and payment to the contractor is
adjusted (up or down) depending on the difference between the provisional
quantities measured at tender time and the actual work done. Heres an example:
Assume a basement excavation on a level site, commencing from natural ground
level, 50m x 60m x 15m deep = 45, 000m3 of excavation.

The contract documents include a geotechnical report that indicates hard rock around
10m below the natural surface of the site. To measure the excavation we first measure
the whole of the excavation as excavation in other than rock (OTR) 45,000m3.
Then we measure the rock as Extra over excavation in OTR for excavation in hard
rock 50 x 60 x (15-10) = 15,000m3. We mark that as a provisional quantity.
The contractor prices excavation in OTR at $60/m3, and in rock at $150/m3. These
rates include all plant, labour, disposal etc. Hence the extra cost of excavating in rock
over that of excavating in OTR is $90/m3. The tender prices for the two items are
then:
45,000m3 @ $60 = $2,700,000
15,000m3 @ $90 = $1,350,000
Total cost = $4,050,000
Note that the total cost would be the same if the two parts had been measured
separately and full unit rates applied:
30,000m3 @ $60 = $1,800,000
15,000m3 @ $150 = $2,250,000
Total cost = $4,050,000
After the excavation has been done the records show that the actual quantity of rock
was only 12,000m3 in one area there was a large pocket of sand below the 10m
level that hadnt been identified in the geotechnical report. The only adjustment
necessary is to reduce the contractors payment by (15,000 12,000) = 3,000m3 @
$90 (the extra over rate for rock), i.e the client/owner gets a credit of $270,0001.
Had the two quantities been measured separately, i.e. 30,000m3 of OTR, and 15, 000
m3 of rock it would have been necessary to adjust two quantities and add 3,000m3 of
OTR as well as deducting 3,000m3 of rock hence we still use the extra over
approach for rock excavation due to the uncertainty of the quantities at tender time.

This is a simplified calculation in practice there are some other adjustments for preliminaries and so
on