Just to make the concept crystal clear, let us see what Quantity Surveyor is? A Quantity Surveyor (QS) is an individual, who is a professional and holds expert knowledge about construction, its essentials, and total costs. These professionals are recognized with different names in different countries. In the UK, they are known as Chartered Surveyors. In Canada, Kenya, South Africa, and Mauritius these qualified individuals are known as Professional Quantity Surveyors. This is a title protected by law.
Duties of a Quantity Surveyor:
As a Quantity Surveyor, an individual is responsible for the handle the cost of the construction project, along with making sure that the project winds up within the decided cost frame. In other words, he is responsible to manage the budget of the construction project. These individuals are sometimes known as a cost engineer, cost consultant, cost manager, or commercial manager.
However, the decision making might vary depending on whether the quantity surveyors are working on which stage. There are different stages to each project like designing the project, the construction stage of the project. As per the stage of the project, quantity surveyors work as following:
- Quote the prices required for getting raw materials for the construction project
- Get all paperwork done including tender documents, bill of quantitates, budget, contracts, and any other important document.
- Keep track of any changes required or done in the project, along with making sure that the changes are within budget
- Keep checks on work being done on the worksite
- Pay the sub-contractors
- Listen to the client’s and other professional’s queries and solve them
- Make reports in written
- Select the source of raw material that is required for construction.
Few people really don’t realize the importance of hiring Quantity Surveyors for projects. But today, we are going to convince you by sharing some really important, and undeniable reasons:
Brush off the burden from your shoulders:
Construction projects aren’t a piece of cake. It takes a lot of time and effort. Now suppose if you are a working person or have to look after family or home chores, will it be possible for you to go out for complete research, then quote prices from each vendor, then complete the paperwork yourself, and a lot of tiny steps that don’t count in but are important tasks needs to be looked after. You just cannot do it all by yourself, solely. For this purpose, Quantity Surveyors are here to serve you. They take responsibility and complete the whole task themselves. They give you accurate information and professionalism in advising. They help in getting the best material, labor, and engineers in your tight budget. Vendors usually misuse the other person when they see a fresher. However, that is not the case here. Vendors know they are in trouble if they’d misguide anyone.
Hence the first reason for hiring a Quantity Surveyor is, you do not get misled.
Manages the project:
Quantity Surveyor takes care of each thing themselves. As they are experts in this field, they manage the paperwork, make sure everything is correct and the client (i.e. you) is not being misled. Their services include regulatory, budgets, approvals, and planning. Also, they are responsible for stakeholder management. By hiring a Quantity Surveyor you just no shift your responsibilities to a team, but to a proficient and experienced team. They are being paid for this and they make sure that they give their 10% to this job. They manage the whole project very efficiently, so you don’t have to worry about the project.
Hence, another reason to hire Quantity Surveyor is that they can manage projects more smartly, as compared to you.
Manages the costs effectively:
Quantity Surveyors are really good at making a cost-effective budget. Construction projects require a lot of money and may leave you bankrupt at times. Construction is a highly expensive project, and due to poor budget planning, you might end up incurring additional costs. But thanks to Quantity Surveyors for providing their services. Quantity Surveyors make sure that they are not messing up with the client’s money, neither they are spending more than required. They analyze your project and calculate the total amount required for the project.
Moreover, the project doesn’t get over after being constructed. There are a lot more things that need to be looked after, once the project is done. This includes depreciation reports, maintenance costs along with tax refunds. The Professional Quantity Surveyors can efficiently advise you on these above-mentioned topics.
As time passes by, every construction needs to be looked after. With the passage of time, you use up the value of a building. Quantity Surveyors provide you a depreciation schedule, through which you can know after how many years you might need to pay for the depreciation or the value you have used up.
Hence here are two reasons to hire Quantity Surveyors. Firstly, they are experts in making a cost-effective budget, and secondly, they help in making budgets that will serve you even after the construction project is over. So it is worth it.
Feasibility Assessment:
According to assetadvisory.com, after the project is completed, Quantity Surveyors takes the feasibility assessment of the construction. This includes technical, scheduling, economic, and legal considerations of the project.
Conclusion:
There are many Quantity Surveyors in the field, trying to serve people with their professional skills. However, everything that shines is not gold. Every platform is not authentic. They claim to be experts in this field but unfortunately, they are trying to be one.
As I mentioned above that construction is not a piece of cake. It requires a lot of attention and money. It is better to hire a professional Quantity Surveyor instead of doing it yourself. Construction and such huge projects are a lifetime investment. I guess you shouldn’t be messing up with your lifetime investment.
