What does a quantity surveyor do?
A quantity surveyor manages the money on a construction project, from the estimate and tender through valuations to the final account.
A quantity surveyor (QS) manages the cost of a construction project. They price the work and then track what it's costing against what it's worth, from the first estimate to the final account. A QS works either for the client, controlling spend, or for the contractor, protecting margin.
People asking what a quantity surveyor is usually meet the role from one side: a client's QS valuing their work, or a contractor's QS running the commercial side of a job. Both work from the same documents but protect different numbers. On the contractor's side, the quantity surveyor sits in the commercial team that answers for contract margin, reporting to a commercial manager or commercial director.
What is a quantity surveyor?
A quantity surveyor is the construction professional responsible for cost: what the work should cost and what it's worth as it's done. The title covers two different seats. A client-side QS, sometimes called a professional QS or cost consultant, advises the client on budget and payment. A contractor's QS works for the builder and is measured on the margin each job makes.
What does a quantity surveyor do day to day?
A contractor's quantity surveyor carries a job's numbers from tender to close-out. The work follows the life of the contract:
- Pricing the tender. Measuring quantities from drawings, building up rates and checking subcontractor quotes before a bid goes in. On larger contractors, estimators do most of this and hand over once the job is won.
- Buying the job. Splitting the work into packages, retendering them to subcontractors and placing orders inside the budget.
- Valuations. Preparing the monthly application for payment to the client and valuing subcontractor work coming the other way.
- Variations. Pricing changes to the scope and getting them agreed before the money is spent.
- Cost reporting. Producing the monthly CVR, which compares cost with value to show the margin on the job so far.
- Final account. Agreeing the final contract sum with the client and closing out every subcontractor account.
The rates priced at tender become the budget the QS manages against for the rest of the job. That's why construction estimating software that hands the priced bill straight to the live contract saves the QS rebuilding it by hand.
How is a quantity surveyor different from a commercial manager?
A commercial manager runs the commercial side of several contracts and manages the quantity surveyors who run each one. The QS owns the detail on a single job, while the commercial manager owns the position across a portfolio. On smaller contractors the titles overlap, and one person often does both.
Why does the QS role matter to a contractor?
The QS is usually the first person to see a job losing money. An unpriced variation or a subcontractor overspending its package shows up in the QS's numbers before it reaches the management accounts.
That early warning only works if the numbers are current. When the QS rebuilds the cost report from spreadsheet exports each month, the warning arrives late, and commercial and finance spend the review meeting arguing over whose figure is right.
How does Eque2 support quantity surveyors?
Eque2 gives the QS one set of numbers from tender to final account. Evaluate covers estimating, on-screen takeoff and tender adjudication, then carries the approved budget into project delivery.
Once the job is live, construction cost management software tracks committed and actual cost against that budget. Valuations, variations and the CVR come from the same data finance reports from, so the QS and the finance director read the same position.
FAQs: quantity surveyors
What's the difference between a client QS and a contractor QS?
A client QS controls the client's spend: they set the budget and certify what the contractor is paid. A contractor's QS protects the builder's margin by pricing the work and applying for payment. Both value the same work each month, and their figures often differ until they're negotiated.
Is an estimator the same as a quantity surveyor?
An estimator prices work before the contract is won, building up rates from labour, plant, materials and subcontractor quotes. A quantity surveyor manages the cost once the job is live, through valuations, variations and the final account. On smaller contractors one person often does both, so the two roles share many of the same skills.
What reports does a contractor's QS produce?
The main report is the monthly cost value reconciliation (CVR), which compares the value of work done with the cost incurred to show the margin to date. Alongside it sit the application for payment, subcontractor valuations, the variations register and a cost to complete forecast. Finance uses the agreed CVR position for WIP and the management accounts.
About Eque2
Eque2 is the commercial and finance platform for construction, trusted by over 3,000 construction businesses. Construct brings job costing and contract management to the Sage or Xero accounts a contractor already runs. Evision runs construction commercial and finance management for larger contractors and housebuilders on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
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