Engineer to Provide (ETP)

E2018 does not require exact quantities and allows extrapolation, but it does require that each cost line carry a quantity, unit and unit cost from a stated source. When the field observer could not establish the quantity (the area of masonry to rebuild is unknown until the corroded steel is exposed; the linear feet of failed seam were not measured) or no unit cost source applies, the honest entry is a line with the item, its remedy and the note "engineer to provide", carrying no figure and excluded from the totals.

The line is a placeholder for the reviewer's judgment, not a gap in the report: the reviewer supplies the quantity or figure, and the basis then reads "unit cost provided by the reviewing engineer". Lenders prefer three explicit unknowns to one invented number, and a report that prints ETP lines with their reasons is telling the reader where a return visit or a contractor's proposal would add precision.

Baseline PCR prints ETP wherever a quantity or unit cost is missing, flags each in the workspace, and lets the reviewer type the figure. See cost categories.

Related: opinion of cost, Table 1.