The Role of the Quantity Surveyor in Durable Building Delivery

The Building construction process requires the input of diverse industry players.  These players, which include architects, engineers, builders, project managers, building contractors, sub-contractors, land surveyors and quantity surveyors, bring in their respective expertise to guarantee the successful delivery of the building construction project.

Like other built industry professionals, the role of the quantity surveyor span the entire building delivery process. From the business case stage to the planning stage through the execution stage and project commissioning, quantity surveyors are an indispensable part of the durable building delivery process.  Their responsibilities range from roles in the office, at the construction sites and in site meetings with project stakeholders. They are the building cost experts – from preliminary estimates right through actual building costs, the quantity surveyor focuses on providing clients with value by determining the least cost required to deliver building projects that conform to professional and regulatory requirements. These duties can be summed up into cost estimating, Budget management, and project coordinating all aimed at ensuring good project cost management.

                             Cost Estimating

Every aspect of the building construction process require resources for its realization. The quantity surveyor’s main responsibility is therefore to determine the best combination, nature and quantity of the different resources required for the successful execution of the building project.  In essence the quantity surveyor determines the best project resources (processes, policies, plant, manpower, materials and money) required and their cost implication.

He achieves this by first evaluating the characteristics of the project at hand with the aim of determining similar historical projects. He then establishes the cost characteristics of the identified similar historical project(s). Finally, he establishes the cost characteristics of the current project by adjusting the historical costs with a cost factor that takes care of project differences like project size, time lapse, project location, general economic conditions etc.

A compilation of these project costs is what is known as Project Budget or Project Baseline Costs. The quantity surveyor will then multiply these cost with a markup, determined by the anticipated company overhead and profit, to establish the Project Cost or Bid Price.

Budget Management

One fundamental function of the quantity surveyor is to ensure that the cost of procurement of project resources do not exceed the budgeted costs (project baseline costs). To achieve this, he demands and receives daily cost reports from site operatives and compare these reports with the budgeted costs. This gives him an idea of the cost performance of the project at every point in time.

Project Cost Control

The intention of most project stakeholders is to have project costs equal or lower than budgeted costs. Unfortunately, many factors like weather delays, shortage of materials and unavailability of skilled manpower, dispute among project stakeholders, unplanned risks etc. cause project costs to exceed budgeted costs.  The quantity surveyor coordinates activities of the different project stakeholders to ensure that the costs of the different project resources are always brought within the budgeted values.

Other Roles of Quantity Surveyors

Quantity surveyors also play the following roles:

• Perform feasibility studies at clients’ instance;
• Conduct commercial evaluation of contractor bids to determine who gets a given project;
• Forecast, at every point in time, the cost of different project materials, manpower and equipment needed for the successful completion of the project;
• Project site visits, assessment and cost projections for remaining work;
• Quantify completed work and ensure payment of contractors;
• Depending on the type of contract, pay subcontractors;
• Write project cost reports.
• Prepare a statement of final project account documenting the actual project costs.                                                                                                                                                                      

Conclusion

In summary, quantity surveyors make sure that the financial position of construction projects is accurately reported and controlled effectively. Hence if you desire to have your projects executed within budget and at the specified quality requirement, then you need the services of a quantity surveyor.

Conifer Konstruktion (Nig) Ltd has a project delivery track record of 60+ projects. Contact us via email (okoyeebubedike@coniferkonstruktion.com.ng) or phone (803) 404-0894, and we’ll make sure you’ll have a  stress free construction experience.