Restoration Project Documents - Project Planning and Management for Ecological Restoration - page 144

Bill of Materials
In the world of restoration project construction, one of the most important deliverables that the
project manager provides to the implementation team is the bill of materials (BOM). At the most
elementary level, the BOM is a list of items or parts needed to create the finished project. For
the restorationist, the BOM has many functions. It is used as a budgeting tool, an analytical tool,
and a communication tool. The collection of these individual pieces of information, and the re-
lationships among them, derived from the restoration plan enables the transformation from idea
to actual.
It is in the conceptual stage that the BOM acts as the principal budgeting tool. Establishing
an accurate and comprehensive project budget is key if you are going to successfully identify and
secure the needed project funding to implement your plan. Building the BOM begins by gener-
ating a comprehensive list of all the materials that will be used during the installation phase of
the project. Items such as plants are typically grouped according to size and are not identified by
species on the BOM. For example, all one-gallon trees are grouped together in the BOM, and a
total number of one-gallon trees is identified. Whether you plan to include five Populus species,
ive Platanus racemosa , and fifteen Alnus cordata —or the same quantities of completely different
species—the fact that the plan calls out for all twenty-five trees to be installed as one-gallon plants
means that a total of twenty-five one-gallon plants will be tallied on the BOM. This is true for all
materials used on the project.
The BOM is a living document. As the design progresses through the development process,
the BOM is constantly being updated with the most current project information, forming a run-
ning total of the project's estimated cost and the date of a revised page or document. This running
total is a key analytical tool used by the project manager to determine whether the project is on
budget. Used in this fashion, the BOM becomes a touchstone by which the project design is
measured. If the BOM estimate exceeds the project budget, certain project features will have to
be revised, or even eliminated, or the project budget will need to be increased to accommodate
the design.
Besides its use as a measuring stick for the project budget, the BOM is a communication tool
relied on by the implementation team. The BOM communicates the design intent to the team
responsible for installing the project by clearly listing every component required for the project.
The BOM also functions as a repository for all ancillary item information, such as product data
sheets, which include specifications and drawings, manufacturer's recommendations and require-
ments, and any special notes concerning the use of an item. It also contains vendor information,
which will be used by the installation team to help them source each item required for the project.
The BOM plays a vital role in the hierarchy of construction documentation. For projects that
are put out for competitive bids, a thorough BOM is invaluable because it clearly identifies what
is required in the project and enables all bids to be compared equally. The BOM reflects each and
every item contained on the project plans. In addition, the BOM provides a central document that
can be used to measure project progress and to help with determining the appropriate progress
payments to be made to the installation team.