Quantity
surveying refers to the cost management, procurement and contractual
issues in the supply chain and marketplace. They usually advise on
cost implications of the clients’ requirements and other
stakeholders’ decisions. They monitor and update initial estimates
and contractual obligations as the construction progress based on
additional works and variations. The practices do provide services
that are focused on buildings (the architectural elements), and civil
engineering now provides services that include heavy engineering, oil
and gas, and building engineering services. Although the engineering
services are part of buildings, it would be out of place to claim
that all quantity surveyors have the required skills and knowledge to
provide expert advice on building engineering services as they do for
other aspects of construction. Most of the quantity surveying
practices consider building engineering services a specialised duty.
Most of the building clients have become uncomfortable with the inability of quantity surveyors to provide conclusive and accurate
estimates for their buildings arising from using lump sum approaches
to price engineering services. Today, it is common to see or hear
statements like ‘M&E Quantity Surveyors’ ostensibly to mean
quantity surveyor that is ‘qualified’ to offer advice on building
engineering service. Many of the universities now offer a degree in
building services quantity surveying which aims at providing students
with a sound understanding of the principles and practices involved
in the building services quantity surveying specialism, up to
degree level standard, and to help them in the progression to Masters the level should they so wish. A general question is if such degrees are
required considering the knowledge and skills expected of quantity
surveyors in the measurement of building works. Quantity surveyors
have a background rich in the dynamics of costs of construction.
Arguably, such degrees are not warranted. Several studies show that
quantity surveyors have generally expanded on the nature and scope of
services they now provide. In order to understand this, we evaluate
the levels of involvement of quantity surveyors in the procurement of
building services engineering. The study aims to provide fresh
knowledge on the expertise of quantity surveyors with a focus on the
procurement of building engineering services. This knowledge is
valuable to academic institutions that offer quantity surveying
programmes, practising quantity surveyors and other players in the
construction industry. Quantity surveying is universal. However, it
is carried out under different names. In a few countries, quantity
surveying is very much related to cost engineering, while they are
also referred to as cost economists or cost consultants in other
places. However, quantity surveying is not just a simple thing. As
such the phrase “quantity surveying” is a catch-up term that
hides a multitude of meanings. The modern quantity surveyors
perform various types of services that extend beyond the services
traditional quantity surveyors provide and higher institutions
offering quantity-surveying programs are responding accordingly by
modifying and upgrading their course content. Quantity surveyors must
provide advice on the strategic planning of a project. For the
construction worker, this advice affects clients’ decisions on
whether to construct or not and if the client decides to construct
what effect does cost have on other criteria within the clients/users
value systems including time and quality, function, satisfaction,
comfort and aesthetics.
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