Hello steemians, am olanipekun adebola Christopher a student of oduduwa university studying QUANTIY SURVEYING, Am in my part 5(500 level) and i prepared this post so you can have more knowledge about what my discipline is like, Quantity surveying is not a common course, most people doesn’t know we exist but we play a very crucial role in our community.

This is just a brief on my course; I will take you more on the course and what it is all about, taking off, bill of quantities and valuations in the next series. Thanks

WHO IS A QUANTITY SURVEYOR?

A quantity surveyor is a professional who manages all costs relating to building and civil engineering projects, from the initial calculations to the final figures. They minimize the cost of a project for their clients and enhance value for money, still achieving the required standard and good quality of the project. A quantity surveyor is known as cost engineer or cost estimator.
The QS have this title because they prepare bill of quantities, estimates the material and cost labor costs so that the contractor prepares tender to be measured against. Other names that QS is called are;

• Cost estimator
• Cost engineer
• Cost manager
• Cost analyst
• Project coordinator
• Cost planner
• Project cost controller

A quantity surveyor can work in any industry that deals with cost, they always stand in place for their clients. A quantity surveyor can be divide in to two places base on their function and the role they play, they can work either for the client or the contractor, in an office or on site
• Consultant Qs
• Contractor Qs

Responsibilities of a Quantity Surveyor

A quantity surveyor is a cost estimator who is in charge of preparing the bill of quantities, tendering documents. The responsibilities of a quantity surveyor are listed below.

1. Gives advice on procurement strategy
2. He prepares the tender and contract document including the bill of quantities (BOQ)
3. He values all the completed work and arranges the payments.
4. Allocate work to all the sub-contractors
5. He provides contractual claims
6. He perform risk management and cost control
7. Prepares detailed progress report
8. His in charge of undertaking cost analysis for repair and maintenance project work
9. He offer advice on property taxation
10. He assists in the implication and safety regulation.

Roles of a quantity surveyor

A quantity surveyor is an expert responsible for figuring out the construction project cost. They also have other roles too, they ensure that the construction cost and production is been managed from the starting point of the project to the initial stage of the project. The major role of a Qs are;

1. They help in resolving disputes between contracting parties or workers on site.
2. They work to keep the project within the budget
3. They ensure the time limit isn’t exceeded
4. They help in managing the construction cost and production efficiently
5. Working to keep the project time
6. They help in insuring and replacement estimates for all kinds of building and properties
7. They also help in managing the finance for any kind of construction projects e.g house, high rise buildings, bridges, or tunnels.

Before any construction commences the quantity surveyor calculates a budget based on the clients requirement and specifications. This is where the QS Consultant comes in, he prepare a detailed estimates to ensure the budget is sufficient for each construction stages, he prepares his estimate in favor of his clients, this is called the (price bill) he then prepare another un-priced bill to come other contractors to prepare their tenders, he then chooses anyone that is well suitable and won’t cost much and of good qualities.

The Construction Team

• Client
• Architect
• Specialist Consultant
• Engineer
• Contractors

• Client :- The clients is a person, organization or company for which the building is being bult. The clients usaually rely on the experts, they give detailed requirement, function, and the purpose of the building, the architect now prepare a detail drawing using the clients specification.

• Architect :- he his the second man on the team, The Architect develops the buildings’ design, taking the Client’s brief and combining it with the advice of the Specialist Consultants. It is said that the architect is the construction head, he has the right to stop the work on site if they are going against what is on the plan.
Specialist Consultants (Quantity Surveyor) :- the Qs will prepare a detailed estimates on the cost of the project to the final stage of the project using the drawing and plan being given to him by the architect following the clients specification, not exceeding the time limits given to the clients.

• Engineer :- the engineers are into different units performing ddifferent roles on the sites, working with the architect are numbers of engineers. The structural design the skeleton or structure of the building, the structural design will satisfy the clients requirements.

• Contractor :- The Contractor inspects and manages the construction of the building for the Client. The work is delivered under a contractual agreement. His is incharge of the site supervision and appointing other sub contractors to perform different tasks on the field depending on how buoyant the project is and the clients financial status.

Thanks for taking your time to go through my post, i really appreciate

i remain your humble and loyal boy Hive account@shunguystin