Quantities & Costing is one of 9 topics in the Grade 11 Civil Technology CAPS syllabus, covered across 3 lessons on Study Vault. Below are real practice questions from this topic with full worked answers.
Sample practice questions
Easy
1. Using the standard planning rate of 55 bricks per square metre for a half-brick wall, how many bricks are required for a net wall area of 10 square metres? (Give a whole number, rounded up if needed.)
Answer: 550 — 10 square metres times 55 bricks per square metre = 550 bricks.
Easy
2. Why is the area of door and window openings subtracted before calculating the number of bricks needed for a wall?
No bricks are needed where an opening exists, so only the net wall area (excluding openings) requires bricks
Openings always require extra bricks, not fewer
Door and window openings have no effect on the number of bricks required
Openings are only subtracted for concrete calculations, never for bricks
Answer: No bricks are needed where an opening exists, so only the net wall area (excluding openings) requires bricks — A door or window opening contains no brickwork, so its area must be subtracted from the gross wall area, leaving the net wall area that actually requires bricks.
Medium
3. A rectangular strip foundation trench is 12 m long, 0.6 m wide and 0.3 m deep. What volume of concrete, in cubic metres, is required to fill it? (Give your answer as a decimal.)
Answer: 2.16 — Volume = length x width x depth = 12 m x 0.6 m x 0.3 m = 2.16 cubic metres.
