The entire temporary support system — forms, shores, and bracing — that holds concrete in place while it hardens.
The complete system of temporary molds, supports, shoring, and bracing used to contain and shape concrete until it develops sufficient strength to be self-supporting. Formwork design is an engineering discipline requiring analysis of concrete pressure, construction loads, and safety factors. Premature form removal (stripping) before concrete reaches adequate strength can cause collapse.
Formwork is often the single largest labor and cost driver in cast-in-place concrete, frequently exceeding the cost of the concrete itself, so estimators must take it off by contact-square-foot of form surface rather than by concrete volume. Reuse cycles, complexity, shoring duration, and finish requirements heavily influence the unit price and can make or break a competitive concrete bid.
Estimating a parking structure, the concrete estimator priced the elevated deck formwork at a per-square-foot contact area and assumed four reuse cycles of the shoring system to keep the bid competitive against firms quoting single-use forms.
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