THE CHARTERED QUANTITY SURVEYOR’S PORTFOLIO

Chartered Quantity Surveyors are highly trained professionals offering expert advice on construction costs and procurement options. They can work for private sector contractors and consultants, developers and other client bodies, central and local government or can choose to operate as self-employed individuals. Chartered Quantity Surveyors are highly valued professionals who offer a variety of services across the whole of the built environment. The full range and attributes of Chartered Quantity Surveyors is too large to cover here, but some key highlights include:

Design economics and cost planning

– Added value to design solutions.

Key attributes: Strategic advice on

schematic development plans.

Procurement and tendering

– Optimise cost and procurement

opportunities.

Key attributes: Increased certainty that

building will be completed within budget.

Contract administration

– Administer construction contracts.

Key attributes: Diplomacy and legal

knowledge.

Commercial management

– Assessment of completed work costs.

Key attributes: Knowledge of contract,

negotiating, procurement, finance, risk

and project costs.

Life cycle costing

– Establish the total cost and spend profile

of the project over its anticipated life span.

Key attributes: Understanding of the major

cost drivers; more accurate forecasting of

cost profiles; evaluation of the competing

options; a good understanding of acquistion,

operational and end life costs of a project.

Chartered Quantity Surveyors can be both specialists and generalists. Generalists provide a one stop shop whereas specialists will focus on a particular area such as third party project monitoring or taxation. Alternatively, Chartered Quantity Surveyors may choose to specialise in a market sector including, for example, retail or residential development, petrochemicals or transport and infrastructure. Whichever route Chartered Quantity Surveyors choose, their role demands an in-depth knowledge of construction design, costs and programmes as well as effective inter-personal and team-building skills. A typical project will involve a variety of internal and external stakeholders – the client, the design team, the contractor, subcontractors and suppliers. Whilst this all adds to the variety of the Chartered Quantity Surveyors’ workload, it does demand excellent communication skills as well as a firm but diplomatic approach.

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WHY BECOME A CHARTERED QUANTITY SURVEYOR?

Why bother with ‘chartered’?

If you want to benefit from true professional status, then you will need to be chartered. Employers and clients around the world recognise RICS ‘chartered’ as the mark of quality within the surveying professions. Because of this global recognition, chartered status is the gateway to numerous job and career opportunities. So if you want to maximise your career

opportunities, both within the UK and internationally, then read on and discover how RICS chartered status can move you onto the fast track to a rewarding and successful career.

140,000 members

146 countries

500 RICS accredited degree courses

170 different specialist skills

Chartered Quantity Surveyors have an exciting and challenging workload. Their involvement in development projects begins at the feasibility stage, continues through the detailed design and construction stages and will often continue when the project is completed and handed over. Consequently no two days are the same. A typical day could include a cost plan appraisal of schematic development plans, preparing a Bill of Quantities for a new project, visiting a site under construction to carry a measured valuation of works undertaken to

prepare the payment certificate, followed by a meeting with the client to discuss the

financial status of the project. Therefore, as a development proposal moves

from the drawing room to the site, Chartered Quantity Surveyors provide a combination

of strategic and detailed advice on cost planning and procurement of construction

services. Clients, designers and contractors consider Chartered Quantity Surveyors to be

key members of the construction team.

WHY USE A CHARTERED QUANTITY SURVEYOR?

‘Chartered’ is the mark that shows a surveyor has achieved the ‘gold standard’ of professional competence.A Chartered Quantity Surveyor will have been assessed by a peer group of experienced professionals and judged to have the blend of technical and

commercial skills and experience required to operate at the highest level in today’s property and construction markets. Chartered Quantity Surveyors can (and do!) add value to the development equation through their unique blend of construction knowledge, advice on strategic and detailed cost planning and procurement of construction services. The peace of mind that this gives their clients should not be underestimated. Whilst some Chartered Quantity Surveyors take a generalist approach, others choose to specialise. Clients, therefore, can select the most appropriate professional for the job in hand – a generalist, perhaps, to oversee a particular project from the beginning to the end or a specialist in education for a large school building programme. Whether a client chooses a generalist or specialist the quality of service should not change. Chartered Quantity Surveyors are expected to provide a consistently high level of service on all types of project throughout their professional life. The benefits of using a Chartered Quantity Surveyor are too numerous to cover here but typically include all of the following:

• Added value design solutions that optimise cost and procurement opportunities

• Increased certainty that building will be completed on time and within budget

• Increased confidence that the surveyor has acquired the skills and expertise required to deliver the service required

• Confidence that the surveyor has

adequate professional indemnity

insurance

• Access to an independent complaints

handling procedure.