A Review of standard method of measurements of building works - Sri Lanka (revised edition SLS 573)

Sri Lanka did not have a Standard Method of measurement of Building works until 1982. Various organisations have been using different methods. These were modified versions of SMM 4 and SMM 5 of RICS (U.K.), SMM prepared by HAW in 1968 and other methods developed by the organisations to suit the practices of local industry. To achieve the uniformity in the method of measurement of building works in the industry, the standard methods of measurement of Building works, SLS 573, was introduced in 1982. Now after twelve years ICTAD has revised this document and named it as SLS 573, Revision: 1994. This research was to identify the differences between the revision and the first SLS 573 and to get the responses of the industry regarding the major changes. In order to get the responses of the industry, questionnaires were sent to twenty four consultants and contractors. Also some formats of bills of quantities were studied in order to get the good aspects of them. Based on these responses it can be said that SLS 573; revision: 1994 is fairly accepted with some improvements. Due to the limitations of time only the major changes as defined in this study were taken into consideration and it is worthy to undertake a study to observe whether the industry accepts all the differences given in Appendix A