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An investigation of the boundaries of finance emerging at about the same time as sociology cannot avoid questioning how the latter saw the former: how do emerging sociological views on the capitalist order deal with financial markets? This question goes beyond the mere exercise in the history of sociological ideas: it concerns both conceptualization (what notions have explanatory force) and observational mode (how shall we see finance in the context of capitalism).1 It also concerns the nature and character of financial knowledge and its relationship to other forms of social knowledge, as well as to specific social groups.

For many theorists, observation of (economic) knowledge in action meant, among other things, identifying its manifestations on the individual level, its expressions in human types and the related categories of action. It meant finding paradigmatic figures embodying the main principles of finance, figures which constitute the link between this domain and the larger sphere of life and connect individual modes of action to broader social processes. And indeed we encounter in the sociological tradition a continuous preoccupation with the figures generated by the modern order: the expert, the public man, the consumer, the intellectual, the scientist, the writer, the artist—these are only some major examples.

Yet the feeling persists that no account of life under capitalism would be complete without taking into account the main figures of economic life,simply because, since the eighteenth century, these figures have been in creasingly perceived as the focal point of both society and individual lives. In the words of Charles Taylor, “the affirmation of ordinary lives is part of the background to the central place given to the economic in our lives” .

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Nominated sub-contractors are those who have been selected by the architect under Clause 35 of the JCT05 to supply and fix materials as part of the contract. The architect will have usually gone out to tender and obtained a quotation for the work at an earlier stage. One of the main reasons is the lead-in time for commencement of this work from receipt of order is such that if left to when the contract is awarded, it would cause delays to the construction process. Traditionally specialist sub-contractors such as lift installers and mechanical and electrical service engineers were nominated,but the practice is less common than it was. Clients may also insist upon a nomination if, for example, the work could be carried out by one of their subsidiary companies.

The contractor can make ‘reasonable objection’ to the nomination in writing usually based on previous experience of working with the subcontractor such as their quality of work, inability to keep to the programme or unwillingness to work in a team. If these can be demonstrated to be valid,the architect would be silly to ignore these comments.

There are risks in nominating because if the sub-contractor delays the project as a result of their performance on site, or if there are defects or delays in their design, the contractor can legitimately claim for an extension to the contract and would not have to pay any contractual penalties for late handover as a result. Further the contractor has no incentive to ensure the sub-contractor completes the work on time and could manipulate the situation to use the delay to cover up his own inefficiencies elsewhere on the project. In today’s current climate of co-operation, many contractors find the lack of control of both the design and productivity sometimes to be a hindrance in completing the contract on time. On the other hand the contractor not being responsible for the work can still, generally expect to receive overheads, attendance and profit applied to the prime cost sum. It is not always the case, but the risk relative to employing sub-contractors direct is lessened.

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The cost to the contactor is the attendance allowance required to assist the client in carrying out the work or unloading their materials.The estimator adds profit and an attendance allowance to each of the nominated sub-contractor’s prime cost (PC). The profit, expressed as a percentage, does not have to be the same as added to the builder’s work.When selecting the profit margin it should be noted there is probably less risk associated with those nominated as the onus is on the client in terms of the reality of their price. This can be taken into account when deciding on the amount to be added.

The attendance allowance may vary between sub-contractors depending upon the amount required. It may be specified that the contractor has to provide special attendance such as the provision of a mobile crane and its operative for fixing precast cladding panels or the steel structural frame. This
can be easily calculated based on hire rates and predicted duration. Other than any special attendance, attendance for provision and use of general facilities is added as a percentage of the PC sum.

The procedure for calculating daywork is to record the amount of labour,materials and plant that has been used to carry out an operation. This record is signed by the architect or clerk of works to confirm the details recorded are correct. At a later stage the client’s QS and the contractor can agree some other method of valuation and the daywork sheet discarded. If the daywork procedure is continued, the data is priced. This has to comply with the definitions prepared for building works as published jointly by the by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Construction Confederation.

The definition for building works of prime cost of daywork states that the component parts that make up a daywork are: labour, materials and plant.The contractor then adds for any incidental costs, overheads and profit at the tender stage. The effect of doing it then is it creates competition for daywork.The prime cost components are calculated as follows.

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