Page 12 - BASIC GUIDELINE FOR QS

Professional Practice: Guideline for Quantity Surveyor Chapter 1

1.1 Background of Quantity Surveying Profession
A quantity surveyor (QS) is a professional working within the construction industry
concerned with building costs. QS are the financial consultants are the financial consultants

of the construction industry whose training and experience qualify them to advise on cost
and contractual arrangements and to prepare contract documents. They act as in liaison with
architects, consulting engineers, and contractors to safeguard the client’s interest.

By according to QSBC (2009), stated that Quantity surveyors are the profession
developed during the 19th century from the earlier “Measurer,” Quantity Surveyor is a

specialist tradesman (often a guild member) who always prepared standardized schedules
for a building project in which all of the construction materials, labour activities and the like
were quantified, and against which competing builders could submit priced tenders. Because

the tenders were each based on the same schedule of information, they would be easily
compared to find the most suitable candidate.” QSBC (2009).

Furthermore, Seelay 1997 stated that a “Quantity Surveyor is fully professional
trained, qualified and experienced in dealing with the basic problems on behalf of the
employer. Quantity Surveyor is essentially a cost expert or as a cost controller whose prime
task is to ensure that the project is kept within the agreed budget which has been signed in

contract document, and important is to make sure that the employer obtains value for
money.” (Seeley, 1997 pg.40.)

Moreover, QSBC (2009) also discussed that, “Quantity Surveyor” is a professional
who are usually working within the construction industry. The role of Quantity Surveyor is to
manage and to control the costs of the particular construction projects and may be involving

the use of range of management procedures and technical tools to achieve the goals.
A Quantity Surveyor is key professionals in the construction sector or industry.

Quantity Surveyor(s) always act as a “cost Engineer”, “cost Planner” or “cost Controller”. A
Quantity Surveyor is specializes in estimating the value of the construction project works.
Quantity Surveyor(s) will use their skills to do the taking off quantity of the propose building,

and determine the cost of building work ranging from small refurbishment works through to
assessing the value of multi-million money construction project.
They are initially involved with the capital expenditure phase of a building or facility,

which is the feasibility, design and construction phases, but they can also be involved with
the extension, refurbishment, maintenance and demolition of a facility.
Whenever any building project is proposed, it is important that the cost involved is

known in advance. These include site preparation cost, construction, labour, material and
plant costs, professional fees, taxes and other charges as well as the likely running and

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