Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Quantity surveyor

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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.

Contents

Services provided by a quantity surveyor may include:

  • Cost consulting and 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
  • Commercial management and contract administration
  • 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.

    • Traditional quantity surveying services

    1. Cost consulting and Cost estimating
    2. Cost planning
    3. Cost control
    4. Contracts negotiation
    5. Procurement advice
    6. Preparing Bill of Quantities (BOQ) and Tender Document
    7. Monitoring Budget
    8. Preparation of Payment Application, certification and valuation of construction work
    9. Assessment of variations
    10. Dispute resolution
    11. Preparing feasibility studies
    12. Value estimation
    13. Advice on cost limits and budgets
    14. Whole life cycle costing
    15. Valuation for insurance purposes
    16. Project management
    17. Advice on contractual disputes
    18. Preparation of final account

    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

    Tender review

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

    Notable Quantity Surveyors

  • Paul Morrell - a Chartered Quantity Surveyor.
  • Edward Skoyles - researcher and author
  • Hasnen Iqbal Najam - Notable quantity Surveyor

    • References

    Quantity surveyor Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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