Quantity Surveyor: Job Profile and Role
Do you consider yourself as a person who excels at conflict management? Do you also love to get your head around legal topics and/or enjoy juggling with numbers and budgets? If you find yourself in these questions, we may well have found an exciting job for you: the job of a quantity surveyor (QS).
In this blog, we explore what it takes to become a quantity surveyor. You will find out which academic qualifications, hard skills, and competencies are needed to work in this job. To make your potential future career more approachable, we also give you insights into a typical working day of a quantity surveyor. To help you thrive in your job, we have researched some important tips for thriving in this profession.
Short Summary
- As a quantity surveyor, you are in charge of the cost estimation and management of a construction project.
- As a quantity surveyor, you liaise with various people working on a construction project, such as construction workers, architects, and engineers.
- As a quantity surveyor, you are asked to procure all that is needed to start and finish a construction project, ranging from the materials to the workforce and building permits.
Job description
Your quantity surveyor job consists of multiple tasks, one of the most important ones being that you are in charge of the financial management of a construction project. You are responsible for staying within a projected budget and finding ways to optimise any costs related to a project. You will also deal with administrative work, which can include drafting work contracts and handling payment schedules. Furthermore, you need to procure all that is needed for a construction project, including materials and workforce.
Responsibilities
- Cost Estimation/Management
- Project Management Support
- Subcontractor Payment
- Contract Administration
- Dispute Resolution
- Value Engineering
- Feasibility Studies
- Risk Management
- Cost Reporting
- Procurement
Different types of Quantity Surveyors
- Traditional Quantity Surveyor
- Commercial Quantity Surveyor
- Dispute Resolution Quantity Surveyor
- Facilities Management Quantity Surveyor
- Specialist Subcontractor Quantity Surveyor
Salary
Your annual starting salary as a quantity surveyor can be as high as ￡34,000 and can increase to ￡52,000. Being an experienced quantity surveyor can even result in annual salaries as high as ￡80,000. Besides this factor, the following will influence how much you will earn each year: your employer/company size, the location where you work, and possible bonuses you receive for project completion.
Working hours
Typically, you will work 37 to 40 hours a week. Keep in mind that you may be asked to work the occasional evening and/or weekend, especially towards a project completion. Your working hours can be split between different workplaces. Besides your office, you will also work on your client’s premises and a construction site. This may involve travelling, depending on your client’s location.
Also, you may have the option of working remotely. If this is something that could work for you, you should check with your employer whether this is possible,
Employers
When looking for employment, you can find jobs in the following sectors and with the following businesses: real estate, for example, with real estate development companies, energy companies, construction companies, and consulting firms. Equally, you can find a quantity surveyor job in both the private and public sectors or go freelance.
Job Vacancies are Increasing again
Due to Corona, Brexit, and the recession, construction sites and work have been on the decline in the last few years. Now it seems that construction work is increasing again – and with this, the need for quantity surveyors. Your job chances are looking very bright since there are currently more vacancies than trained QS in the UK.
Qualifications
Two to three A-Levels, for instance, in mathematics, further mathematics, or physics are some of the qualifications you may need when you want to become a quantity surveyor. These A-Levels qualify you to do a university undergraduate degree.
If you want to do an apprenticeship, you usually need four to five GCSEs at pass grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), including mathematics and English.
Furthermore, you should know your way around the relevant software, such as BIM (Building Information Modeling), Sage Estimating, Trimble Tekla, and Bluebeam Revu.
The job as a quantity surveyor could be suitable for you if you have one or more of the following qualifications:
Skills
Before we take a look at some of the skills a quantity surveyor needs, we have an important tip for you: pay close attention to the competencies your future employer expects from you. This way, you ensure that you have all it takes to become a quantity surveyor. For now, we are certain that you will excel if you have the following three competencies.
Is the quantity surveyor job a good fit for you? Typically, a quantity surveyor should have or develop the following skills:
Legal Knowledge
Working in quantity surveying involves dealing with contracts. These can range from work contracts to payment contracts and terms and conditions – all things that you will draft when working as a quantity surveyor. Therefore, basic legal knowledge that you can extend over the years is beneficial if you want to excel in your future career.
Financial Management
As we have already stated, you are also in charge of all financial aspects of a construction project. Ideally, you have always been brilliant at mathematics since this will make your quantity surveyor life a lot easier. But do not worry – even if you are not a maths genius, you can still become a QS and invest some time into appropriate financial management courses.
Conflict Management
No construction project has ever been realised with just one person involved, meaning that different personalities and expectations will meet and clash during a project’s completion. Be prepared for tantrums, challenges, and opposing opinions and expectations – and be prepared to jump in and resolve them. Strong conflict management will help you to smooth the waters and ensure a relatively harmonious collaboration on- and off-site.
Career Path
Your career in quantity surveying kicks off with your first job which can be the job of an assistant quantity surveyor. With work experience and an excellent performance record, you can progress to the following positions: a senior quantity surveyor, a senior project manager, or a supply chain manager.
Educational Background
To become a quantity surveyor, you may want to complete an undergraduate degree at a university, such as a Bachelor’s degree in construction, structural/civil engineering, or land studies. This degree qualifies you for doing a postgraduate degree which may benefit you when applying for a job.
Alternatively, you can become a quantity surveyor by completing a surveying technician advanced apprenticeship. Other options are to work towards this job or to enter a graduate training scheme. Here, you can choose between a training scheme through an appropriate company or distance learning offered by the University College of Estate Management.
Entry Level
Your entry-level position in QS can be the job of an assistant quantity surveyor. Most entry-level jobs last for about a year in which you learn the most important aspects of the tasks you perform. We recommend that you ask one of your more senior colleagues to be your mentor since this way, you gain valuable inside tips.
Continuous Learning
If you want to realise all your career ambitions, you must invest time and effort in further training and qualifications. Even though it is not mandatory, you may still want to look into doing a postgraduate degree, for example, a Master’s in quantity surveying or financial management. You can also acquire valuable certifications and accredited qualifications in land, property, and construction by doing specialised training courses offered by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
A Day in the Life of a Quantity Surveyor
Your quantity surveyor’s day starts at around 8 o’clock. After you have arrived at your office, your first task will be checking your emails and the day’s schedule. These warm-up tasks, if you will, are then followed by various other jobs waiting for you, three of which we will look at in this section.
Contract Admin
One job you will perform is contract admin. Here, you check that existing contracts adhere to all legal requirements and regulations. If needed, you adjust the contracts accordingly so they meet all compliances. Also, you draft new contracts for future construction projects, which can range from work contracts for construction workers and external architectural firms and payment contracts.
Collaboration and Meetings
In your job as a quantity surveyor, you collaborate with various experts, including architects, construction workers, and engineers. This collaboration is part of your daily tasks and can take place both in your office and on-site. Besides, you meet with the clients who have commissioned a construction project.
Site Visits
Site visits are another important part of your working day. They may not occur daily but will be a regular task you need to keep in mind when working as a QS. On-site, you meet with everyone who is involved in construction. In a way, these visits are the extension of the collaboration and meetings that make up your working day.
Tips for Thriving as a Quantity Surveyor
We assume that you have ambitions and want to climb the career ladder. But even if you are happy with just doing a job you love, it never hurts to implement some tips to thrive. In this section, you will receive three tips that help you do just that – thrive in quantity surveying:
- Refresh your knowledge
- Attention to detail
- Negotiation skills
Refresh your Knowledge
Working in quantity surveying requires an in-depth knowledge of legal and financial aspects. Even though you probably have all the knowledge needed to perform an outstanding job, it is always sensible to refresh said knowledge. This extends to attending seminars, workshops, or webinars, and reading relevant professional journals.
Attention to Detail
Strong attention to detail will also help you thrive when working in quantity surveying. You need to develop an eagle eye that detects even the smallest detail, for example, when it comes to estimating costs and drawing up budgets. Your keen eye is furthermore needed when it comes to procuring the right quantities for a construction project.
Negotiation Skills
Whether it is the projected costs for a construction project or the necessary contracts: strong negotiation skills are vital if you want to strike the best deal for your company. After all, you will sometimes almost haggle with external workers, such as engineers and architects, when it comes to their wages. The same applies to dealing with suppliers where negotiation competencies are also needed. Therefore, strong negotiation skills are another tip for thriving in quantity surveying.
Other jobs that are similar and might also interest you:
Frequently Asked Questions
Your quantity surveyor’s wages will likely start at ￡34,000 per year. With experience, this number can increase to ￡52,000 or even ￡80,000. Note that your work experience is not the only salary-affecting factor. Your employer/the company size and the location of your employment will also influence what you will earn each year. The same goes for bonuses which may be a part of your salary package.
Depending on your approach – university or apprenticeship – you will need the following entry qualifications: two to three A-Levels, for example, in mathematics, further mathematics, or physics, or four to five GCSEs at pass grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), including mathematics and English. These qualify you to do a university undergraduate degree, for instance, in construction, land studies, structural/civil engineering, or a surveying technician advanced apprenticeship. Moreover, you should know your way around the most commonly used software, such as Sage Estimating, Trimble Tekla, BIM (Building Information Modeling), and Bluebeam Revu.
It is your quantity surveyor’s job to manage the cost estimation and the budget for a construction project from start to finish. This extends to optimising the costs and ensuring that you stay within a projected budget or below this budget. You are also responsible for procuring everything that is needed for the completion of said project, including materials and labour (construction workers, for example). Moreover, you are in charge of administrative work which can include payments and work contracts.