The independent counter-estimate

A second estimate, independent of the first. A third party takes the drawings, the cahier des charges (specification) and, where one exists, the designer's métré (meetstaat, bill of quantities), and prices the works with its own quantities or its own prices, at an identical price date.

It forms part of the check the client carries out on the estimate. The branch article on checking the architect's estimate sets out the principle: same quantity base, same price date, same items. The counter-estimate takes that check as far as a full pricing, or applies it to the items that weigh most.

It rests on an existing obligation. The code of ethics of the Order of Architects of 16 November 2022 requires the architect to submit designs "within the limits of the programme set in the appointment and of the budget" (art. 16, unofficial translation, as are all quotations of Belgian texts in this article). A client holding a second figure can therefore ask, with documents in support, for the project to be brought back within the budget.

It is not the same thing as a tender. A tender commits a contractor to a price; a counter-estimate is a priced opinion, which documents a probable gap without guaranteeing anything.

End of preliminary design. The project is defined enough to be priced by element (floor areas, facades, structure, building services), and flexible enough to be corrected without redrawing. This is when a gap costs least to recover.

Before tendering. The construction documents and the specification are ready, and the bill of quantities exists. The counter-estimate then covers quantities and unit prices, item by item, and reveals omissions from the bill before they turn into extras. If the gap is too large, the article on the estimate that exceeds the budget sets out the levers in order of effectiveness.

Before signing (private). For a large private contract, the selected tender is set against an independent estimate, on the same breakdown. The client then knows whether the price is consistent, which items are underpriced (and risk coming back as extras) and which are overpriced (and can be negotiated).

Moment	Documents available	What the counter-estimate checks	Decision it prepares
End of preliminary design	preliminary design drawings, brief, technical notes	cost per element, consistency with the budget	adjust the brief or the floor areas
Before tendering	construction documents, specification, bill of quantities	quantities, unit prices, forgotten items	correct the documents before tendering
Before signing (private)	contractor's detailed tender	price item by item, abnormal items	negotiate, clarify or retender

The quantity surveyor. Le Forem describes the métreur (quantity surveyor) occupation under several job titles: économiste de la construction (construction cost consultant), métreur-concepteur, métreur-vérificateur, métreur-deviseur. Its occupation profile states that there is "no statutory requirement to practise this occupation": the title is not regulated, and competence is checked through references. Among the tasks described: calculating "the fairest price" and checking, after the event, the gap between the estimate and actual costs, which is exactly what is expected of a counter-estimate.

An engineering consultancy. For technical packages (structure, building services), an engineering consultancy can price its part more precisely than a generalist. Its pricing must then use the same price date as the rest of the counter-estimate.

What matters is independence from the project. The third party must have no interest in the outcome: it does not submit a tender, does not work for a contractor invited to tender on this project, and is not the author of the estimate it checks. No text imposes this independence for a counter-estimate; it is for the client to require it in writing. The respective roles of the architect, the quantity surveyor and the project manager are compared in the article on the architect, the quantity surveyor and the project manager.

A two-page letter of appointment is enough, provided it is precise. It sets what will be compared, and therefore what the client will later be able to rely on.

• The documents supplied: the dated list of drawings, specification and bill of quantities, with their revision index. A counter-estimate prepared on an earlier version proves nothing.
• The price date: the month in which prices are expressed, identical to that of the architect's estimate. Without that common date, the gap mixes a difference in price with a difference in date.
• The breakdown: the same packages and, ideally, the same items as the estimate being checked, so that the comparison can be made line by line.
• The pricing method: a full re-measurement (the third party redoes the quantities) or a targeted check (it verifies the quantities of the main items and applies its own prices to the whole). The first costs more and detects more omissions; the second is often enough at the end of preliminary design.
• The deliverable: a table of gaps item by item, a list of assumptions, the list of items missing from the documents, and an estimate excluding VAT. VAT is dealt with separately, according to the rules set out in the article on VAT.
• The declaration of independence: a sentence by which the third party declares that it has no link with the contractors invited to tender.

Informing the architect. The client gains by telling the architect about the counter-estimate. The architect can then provide the bill of quantities and assumptions, and the discussion of gaps takes place on documents rather than impressions.

A gap between the two estimates has three sources, which must never be added together without distinguishing them. Each calls for a different response:

• Quantities: a quantity gap reveals a measurement error, a different measurement rule or a poorly described item. This is the territory of the bill of quantities, whose checking is covered in the article on checking a bill of quantities received from a third party.
• Unit prices: a price gap comes from the level of the market, the size of the project, access conditions, or a different price date. It can be discussed, but it is not corrected by changing the project.
• Forgotten items: these are the most expensive, because they reappear during the works as extras (site set-up, protection, temporary connections, removal of excavated soil, detailed finishes). A counter-estimate that does not list the missing items has done only half the job.

The brief, finally, is not an estimating gap. If the third party finds that the project as drawn exceeds the programme set in the appointment (floor areas, level of fit-out), the matter lies between the architect and the client: any change to the programme must be the subject of a convention additionnelle (additional agreement) stating its financial impact (code of ethics, art. 16).

The following example is entirely fictitious; the amounts are rounded and have no reference value.

Package	Architect's estimate (excl. VAT)	Counter-estimate (excl. VAT)	Gap	Main cause
Shell and core	€420,000	€445,000	+ €25,000	quantities (foundations under-measured)
Roof and facades	€260,000	€265,000	+ €5,000	prices
Building services	€210,000	€250,000	+ €40,000	prices (tight market)
Finishes	€230,000	€220,000	- €10,000	prices
Missing items	€0	€50,000	+ €50,000	omissions (external works, site set-up)
Total	€1,120,000	€1,230,000	+ €110,000

Reading. Almost half of the gap comes from items missing from the documents: this is the easiest part to correct before tendering, by completing the specification. The foundations call for the bill of quantities to be reworked. Building services call for a trade-off (level of equipment, phasing) or for the price to be accepted. The overpriced finishes offset nothing: they only point to a different assumption, to be clarified.

It does not replace the architect. The Act of 20 February 1939 requires the use of an architect to draw up the plans and supervise the execution of works that need a building permit, subject to exemptions (art. 4). The third party preparing the counter-estimate neither designs nor supervises execution.

It does not transfer the architect's liability. The architect remains bound to design within the budget, and that liability is assessed in the light of the architect's own appointment. The counter-estimate documents a gap; it does not change who owes it.

It does not guarantee the price of the tenders. The market responds at the time of tendering, with its own constraints. A counter-estimate reduces uncertainty; it does not remove it.

It strengthens the client's position. In disputes over the budget, actualitesdroitbelge.be reports that an overrun cannot be attributed solely to the architect where the client has not cooperated. A client who has had the estimate checked, sent the gaps in writing and asked for an adjustment shows that it has played its part.

The third party must be insured. The Act of 9 May 2019 requires professional civil liability insurance for architects, surveyors, health and safety coordinators and other construction service providers who supply mainly intangible services for a third party, for payment and on an independent basis: the client asks for the certificate before entrusting the assignment. This insurance may, however, exclude claims relating to quotation or budget overruns and to errors in cost estimates (art. 5, 6°): it does not guarantee the figure itself.