Quantity surveyors without borders - providing cost advice in a global construction market

Providing sound advice on construction costs across national boundaries requires special care. It is seldom sufficient to
look up a suitable cost/m2 rate in a price book and then apply the current exchange rate. There are three main issues
here: one relates to the reliability of the price data, another to differences in design in different places and the third to
the method used to bring costs in different currencies to a common base.
Different sources of cost data can suggest very different rates and money market exchange rates provide nothing more
than a snapshot of relative prices at one point in time. Using different base costs and fluctuating exchange rates can
produce very different results depending on the source of cost data and what is happening on global money markets.
In this presentation some of the problems associated with providing international construction cost advice are explored,
some pitfalls identified, and some suggestions put forward to increase understanding of the complexities of international cost comparisons.