Complete 10 pages APA formatted article: The Taking Off Process. Personnel who are tasked with the estimation of the cost of the materials and other concerned works normally make use of blueprints bot

Complete 10 pages APA formatted article: The Taking Off Process. Personnel who are tasked with the estimation of the cost of the materials and other concerned works normally make use of blueprints both manual and electronic and the process of take-off starts as the quantities of the items are extracted from the blueprints in order to prepare an overall estimate (Seeley & Winfield, 2009). The taking-off lists are normally composed of all the elements of the buildings in the order of the largest to the smallest components required in the building (Sandra et al, 2005). The traditional methods of taking off processes that have been existent over time have become less prevalent as a result of the development of computerized methods of taking measurements and administering bills (Ashworth, 2002).

From history, quantity surveying has been carried out in a number of years since the year 1785 when the first quantity surveying task was carried out. Basically, quantity surveyors are mandated with the estimation of costs and the contracts of the construction works. Quantity surveyors are registered under professional bodies that govern the manner in which they operate and also set the standards to be followed by the professionals (Ashworth, 2002). An example of the professional bodies is The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in the United Kingdom which is represented in more than 146 countries worldwide and has a membership of over 159,000 registered professionals (RICS, 2013).

The bill of quantities can be defined as a document used in the tendering process in a given construction project. The bills of quantities are usually created by quantity surveyors and the process of preparation is implemented in two unique stages. The first stage involves the measurement of the dimensions and a compilation of the description from the blueprints and the drawings. The following stage involves the preparation of the document including the calculation of the volumes and the areas of the structures.&nbsp.