Quantity surveyor

A quantity surveyor (QS) is a construction industry professional with expert knowledge on construction costs and contracts. They are not to be confused with land surveyors or land survey engineers.

Services provided by a quantity surveyor may include:

  • Cost consulting, cost estimating
  • Cost planning and commercial management throughout the entire life cycle of the project from inception to post-completion
  • Value determination
  • Risk management and calculation
  • Procurement advice and assistance during the tendering procedures
  • Tender analysis and agreement of the contract sum
  • Preparation of pricing documents (e.g. Bills of Quantities) in tender
  • Drafting contract conditions and contractual correspondence
  • Commercial management and contract administration
  • Contractual advice
  • Assistance in dispute resolution
  • Asset capitalisation
  • Interim valuations and payment assessment
  • Cost management process
  • Assessing the additional costs of design variations
  • Production of company pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) documentation in line with company policies
  • Project management
  • Assistance in establishing a client's requirements

Traditional quantity surveying services

  1. Cost Estimating
  2. Cost planning
  3. Cost studies
  4. Cost monitoring and controlling
  5. Measurement
  6. Contracts negotiation
  7. Drafting contract conditions
  8. Procurement advice including tendering strategy
  9. Preparing Bill of Quantities (BOQ) and Tender Document
  10. Contract practice
  11. Valuation of construction work including variations
  12. Assessment of contractor’s claims
  13. Contractual advice
  14. Dispute resolution
  15. Preparing feasibility studies
  16. Advice on cost limits and budgets
  17. Whole life cycle costing
  18. Valuation for insurance purposes
  19. Project management
  20. Advice on contractual disputes
  21. Preparation of final account
  22. Preparation of final detailed BOQ

Professional duties

Pre-contract

  1. Provide procurement and contractual advice
  2. Provide 'Order of Magnitude' costs for construction projects
  3. Refine, monitor and control costs during design development
  4. Prepare contract documentation

Working in government institutions or public sector

Quantity surveying in the public sector has been put to use right from the early years of Postcolonialism as colonial administrations at the time were handing over control to the new sovereign governments. Major roles of quantity surveyors in public administration are;

  1. Managing construction projects on behalf of the government to ensure that the project is completed on time and within the budget
  2. Giving expert advice on contractual claims arising out of construction projects
  3. Assessing the cost of reinstatement of buildings damaged by fire, war, looting, natural disasters etc. and negotiating a settlement
  4. Acting as an independent arbitrator in settling disputes[1]

Tender review

  1. Identify cost-risks in tender returns
  2. Prepare tender reports
  3. Recommend preferred tenderer
  4. Estimates tenure of the project
  5. Calculate overall cost of the project

Notable quantity surveyors

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Contractor, Dec 2014 - Feb 2015,Page 16 Issue 03, publication of Uganda National Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors (UNABCEC)
  2. ↑ "Find a member". Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
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