Quantity surveyors play a crucial role in Australia’s built environment and will be increasingly important going forward, a leader in construction cost management says.

(top image: Darshana Hemant Udhane with Construction Student Stuti Bhargava during a 4-week Quantity Surveying placement at Altus Group. part of the RICS Australia QS Scholarship and Placement Scheme.)

During a recent interview, Niall McSweeney, Head of Development Advisory, Asia Pacific at global commercial real-estate advisory services and advisory firm Altus Group, spoke with Sourceable about importance of quantity surveyors (QSs) in delivering housing, commercial building and infrastructure projects across Australia.

According to McSweeney, the role and importance of quantity surveyors is often not well understood.

He says that a critical part of the role is to provide thorough and accurate cost estimates for construction projects during design. At this stage, quantity surveyors can work with developers  architects and engineers to ensure that design aspirations are able be delivered within project budgets. They can also advise about strategies which may be adopted to ensure that final designs are cost effective whilst still delivering upon the architectural vision.

Doing this can help to avoid the need for changes and rework which can otherwise occur where projects are put out to tender and project owners find that costs will exceed their expectations and budgets.

“Probably the biggest thing is that people actually don’t truly understand what we do and where we fit in within the delivery cycle,” McSweeney said when asked about misconceptions surrounding quantity surveyors.

“An architect can attach themselves and say, ‘that is my dream, my concept’. An engineer could say ‘I solved that problem and made sure that the architect could realise their dream.’

“The quantity surveyor is the person who can make sure that they can actually do it in an affordable manner, that it (the design) actually realises the true dream and that actual proper processes have gone through.

“It doesn’t attract that same level of recognition (as architecture or engineering). For a lot of people, they’ve never heard of what a quantity surveyor is and what they actually do.

“(However,) utilized correctly, the truth is that working collaboratively with a team, the quantity surveyor can ensure that you’re actually able to deliver for your client – within the actual constraints of the budget – what exactly they are trying to achieve and that you are giving a good design outcome which avoids any aborted or wasteful effort and makes sure that you are doing it (the design) only once.”

McSweeney’s comments come as the importance of effective cost estimation and cost management on construction projects is growing.

Over the four years to December 2024, Producer Price Index data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicates that output prices for building and civil construction across Australia increased by 32 percent and 22 percent respectively.

Going forward, cost pressures are expected to remain as the need to build more homes and transition the nation’s energy system adds to existing demand for skilled workers. Combined with the effect of wage rises from recent enterprise bargaining agreements, the aforementioned demand is expected place further pressures upon project labour costs.

The comments also come as demand for quantity surveyors is growing.

In a recent report, social media platform LinkedIn said that cost controllers ranked sixth out of all occupations in terms of job ad growth on its site over the past there years.

(Altus Group Quantity Surveyers outside of the Blacktown Excercise Sports and Technology (BEST) Hub project in Blacktown, NSW. L-R Nicholas Williams, David Collins, Athanasios Kordas.)

What quantity surveyors do

As mentioned above, the role of quantity surveyors is often not well understood.

Useful descriptions about the role and functions of QS professionals can be found on the web sites of either the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) or the Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (AIQS) (see here and here).

In simple terms, quantity surveyors (QSs) are employed across a range of projects which involve the construction, maintenance or upgrade of buildings or civil infrastructure. This can include construction or maintenance of residential buildings, commercial/industrial buildings, public buildings (hospitals, schools etc.), stadiums, roads, railways, power plants, pipelines and water and sewerage facilities.

Essentially speaking, a quantity surveyor is the ‘financial linchpin’ of any construction or maintenance job.

At the beginning of projects, quantity surveyors work with clients, design consultants and construction contractors to prepare cost estimates and undertake cost analysis. Once construction begins, the QS is involved in monitoring ongoing expenses, identifying potential cost savings for clients and producing regular progress reports.

As they progress throughout their careers, quantity surveyors may offer expert advice on lifecycle costing, cost planning, procurement, tendering, contract administration and overall commercial management.

Numerous job titles and roles exist across the profession. Examples can include construction estimator, cost manager, cost planner, cost engineer, project manager, contract administrator, commercial manger and construction economist.

(Team photo from the RICS Awards – 2024 Quantity Surveying Team Award)

Where QSs add value

As mentioned above, a critical part of the QS role involves preparing cost estimates and guidance during design.

As referred to above, this helps to ensure that proposed designs can be delivered within project budgets.

As part of this process, the QS may identify strategies which enable designs to be constructed in a cost-effective manner.

In an apartment complex, for example, the QS may provide guidance about how to maximise the efficiency of different wall to floor ratios. Other potential cost strategies could include minimising material usage, use of standardised apartment sizes and looking at whether products which are available will be able to fit within proposed designs.

Another area is risk management. In this area, McSweeney says that quantity surveyors are well placed to highlight critical areas of project and financial risk and to advise on strategies which may avoid or mitigate this.

For example, consider the scenario that you are looking at incoming power demand which the building will be expected to generate. A key risk consideration would revolve around the capacity of the network within the surrounding infrastructure to handle this along with the flow-on impacts in terms of potential upgrades which might be needed to incoming feeds, substations or zone or area substations.

(Niall McSweeney)

Two benefits of being a quantity surveyor

Asked about the benefits of quantity surveying as an occupation, McSweeney nominates two areas.

First, quantity surveying provides a strong foundation of technical knowledge and expertise in regard to areas such as costs, efficiency and feasibility. As such it provides an ideal launching pad for careers in property management or feasibility management. It is not uncommon for QS professionals to go on to become development managers or fund managers.

Beyond that, McSweeney says that working as a quantity surveyor delivers high levels of personal satisfaction. Partly, this comes from the knowledge that many currently built projects would not have proceeded in the same form without the input of quantity surveyors who helped to ensure that the project could be delivered in a financially viable and cost-effective manner. Further satisfaction comes through being involved in the delivery of public assets in a manner which provides maximum value for taxpayer dollars.

“It’s a gateway profession into a range of other areas,” McSweeney said.

“It’s (also) a profession in its own right that can really make a difference within the design and delivery sector (of major construction projects). And it’s also an assurance process in regard to releasing monies and funds.”

(AI generated image of quantity surveyor via freepik)

Four traits needed

Asked what makes an effective quantity surveyor, McSweeney nominates four areas.

These are:

• Technical competence and capability. This must be developed early on within one’s career. It is important to develop a high-level understanding of how buildings go together along with key alternative solutions in regard to structure or mechanical and electrical systems. It also involves understanding benchmarks and developing the ability to identify any information which may be missing from drawings and documentation.
• Good people skills and the ability to work collaboratively in a team environment. This becomes increasingly important as your career progresses.
• Good analytical skills along with a methodical approach to understanding how buildings go together and how problems may be solved.
• An ability to think out of the box and to continually challenge processes in order to find better ways of working.

(Altus Group Quantity Surveyors with winning the 2024 Quantity Surveying Team Award at the RICS Awards – L-R Davin Alim, David Collins, Nicholas Williams, Athanasios Kordas)

Everyone has a role

Going forward, McSweeney says the entire quantity surveying profession has a responsibility to promote the occupation as a career choice.

Firms such as Altus and others along with professional bodies such as AIQS and RICS need to promote awareness about the role of quantity surveyors, the value which they deliver and their contribution to the economy and society.

Professional bodies can also draw from their membership bases to highlight success stories and showcase what various people have accomplished in their careers.

These efforts need to commence in secondary schools.

Universities, meanwhile, could offer courses which are specific to quantity surveying.

Some do this already. Queensland’s Bond University, for example, offers a Bachelor of Construction Management and Quantity Surveying.

In many other universities, however, quantity surveying is incorporated into broader courses on project management.

(AI generated image of quantity surveyor via freepik)

Embrace all team members

Finally, McSweeney stresses the need to derive maximum value from all project team members.

This includes not only quantity surveyors but other professionals as well.

‘I think that there is a lot of opportunity where people who engage with and utilise the full benefits of all of their design team can usually deliver their objectives better,” McSweeney said.

“I’m not saying that this is just quantity surveyors. It is also the engineers, the designers and the broader project team.

“They can actually make a difference as to what is actually happening.

“In regard to quantity surveyors, they can improve the efficiencies and improve the timelines if they are properly embraced.”

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