The role of quantity surveyor for construction project

Quantity Surveyors perform in the areas where major construction work is executed. They work on diversified projects like office blocks, schools, hospitals, factories to bridges, railways, oil and mining development, shipbuilding and large process engineering works for example oil refineries.

A Quantity Surveyor can also be termed as Construction Economist, or Cost Manager and is considered as a team of professional advisers to the construction industry.

As an adviser their work range from estimating and monitoring construction costs, from the phase of a project through to the completion of the construction period. After construction being completed the quantity surveyor may be utilized for other work like ax depreciation schedules, replacement cost estimation for insurance purposes and, if required, mediation and arbitration.
Quantity surveyors perform as consultants to the owner mutually for the public and private on major building and construction projects. They may also perform as scholarly in the building and construction disciplines and in financial institutions, with developers and as project managers.
The work of Quantity Surveyors are intimately related with architects, financiers, engineers, contractors, suppliers, project owners, accountants, insurance underwriters, solicitors and Courts and with all stages of government authorities.

Quantity surveyors work with the Bill of Quantities, a document utilized for categorizing the quantities of materials and labor in a construction project. BOQ is This is assessed from design drawings, applicable for tendering & progress payments by the contractors, for variations and changes and ultimately for statistics, taxation and valuation.

The quantity surveyors facilitate owners to attain his requirements at feasibility stage in most cost-effective way. A Quantity surveyor generally applies the techniques that vary from Cost Planning, Estimating, Cost Analysis, Cost-in-use Studies and Value Management to establish a project budget.

The quantity surveyor plays a vital role to make sure that the design all through design the quantity surveyor ensures that the design stays on budget through Cost Management. Necessary additions are counterbalance by identifying other savings.

After the design and drawings are completed, the quantity surveyor will set up a Bill of Quantities, to be issued with the specification utilized by contractors for submission of submit tenders. The quantity surveyors/estimators normally arrange for tenders and may price alternatives for consideration. The quantity surveyor also evaluates tenders and makes recommendations on the type of contract or special clauses in it.

Throughout construction the quantity surveyors are required to reasonably value progress payments at usual intervals. They are also asked to make assessment on changes to design or quantities raised with reference to appropriate Bill of Quantities rates. The quantity surveyor/contract administrator should organize claims on behalf of contractor for progress payments and additional work.

After completion of construction the quantity surveyor can create depreciation schedules of the various project components and give advice on pragmatic insurance replacement costs. If any construction disputes arise the quantity surveyor is often entitled to be an expert witness, and in some cases also operates as arbitrators. In this case the quantity surveyor will work for both the contractors and owners.

Besides new projects, a quantity surveyor also works for refurbishment of old buildings, alterations to existing buildings and insurance replacement estimates. In public authorities they keep up cost statistics on a state or nation-wide basis, and there are scopes for academic careers in the building disciplines.

Useful links
The role of quantity surveyor in Project Controls and in Contract
http://forum.quantity-takeoff.com/showthread.php?1064-The-role-of-quantity-surveyor-in-Project-Controls-and-in-Contract

How to be a Quantity Surveyor
http://severialdia.com/how-to-be-a-quantity-surveyor/

Posted by Rajib Dey
Business Development
Global Associates
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