What is Quantity Surveying?

Quantity Surveying (QS) is the calculation of the quantities of material required for construction and the resulting expenses that would be incurred in a building project. In a nutshell QS is about effectively managing the costs of a project. Quantity Surveyors need to make sure that project costs are estimated accurately based on the requirements and specifications of the infrastructure or building project.

Right cost planning begins from preparing an accurate Bill of Quantities (BOQ), which is a document that defines the quality and quantities of material, the labor involved and the costs.

However BOQs need verification at various stages of the project in order to effectively manage expenditure, ascertain project budgets and to analyze the causes incase of budget failure. Ideally, third party Quantity Surveyors and Cost Planning and Management consultants should be roped in at the initial stages of a project right till the it wraps up to ensure hiccup-free execution.

Why is Quantity Surveying and Cost Planning essential?

• Continued Cost Planning and Management help the client and the contractor from potential future financial risks.
• A correctly made BOQ is an essential bridge between the Design phase and Cost Planning.
• Accurate planning helps to control cost in every phase of the project.
• Quantity Surveying helps identify the implications of design changes on the overall budget of the project.
• Bill Verification helps identify the deviation which directly affects the cost of the project.

QS and Cost Management at various Stages of Work

Quantity Surveyors and Cost Management Consultants ideally start working with the Project team from the inception stage but sometimes are brought in at intermediate stages or even post construction for specific tasks.

In the Pre-Construction Stage consultants work on the following aspects –

• Contract Management – This involves helping clients adhere to the terms and conditions of awarded contracts as per project requirements.
• BOQ Preparation Verification – Scrutinizing BOQs to ascertain the accuracy of quoted quantities and costs.
• Budget Preparation – Budget verification follows a correctly made BOQ leads and is ideally done before the work order has been issued.
• Rate Analysis – This involves making sure the final rates are arrived at by incorporating the correct material, labor, process and profit for each item in the BOQ.

Verifying costs and budgets while the construction is underway can be unwieldy but QS Consultants can undertake the following for better cost management. 

• Regular Bill checking – Consultants look out for anomalies in material or labor costs while the construction is going on.
• Material Reconciliation – This involves surveying the quantities of materials that are delivered on site, amount used and wastage on a regular basis.
• BOQ Checking and Quantification – Looking into the details of the BOQ to ascertain the accuracy and in turn maintaining a healthy balance sheet for the building or infrastructure project.

In the Post construction stage Quantity Surveying is done under the following headers as per the project needs –

• Quantity Survey Audits – Also called the Bill Audit, this involves the validation of the initial budget of the project whereby the quantum of steel and concrete are rechecked and an estimate arrived at again.
• Budgeted Cost versus Actual Cost Analysis – These figures and analyses are important to know the implications of changes in costs.
• Bar Bending Schedule (BBS) Checking and Quantification – Under this, surveyors verify the usage of steel on site by scrutinizing the BBS and hence the quantity of steel to ensure correct consumption.
• Bill Audit and Material Reconciliation – Material use and wastage analysis is done to know whether wastage is within limits or not, for example wastage limits for cement is 3% waste and concrete is 10%.
• Balance Work Cost Analysis – In case a project has stopped midway, this analysis tells the client the cost of the balance work as per the present day costs.

Advantages of Quantity Surveying and Bill Verification Service

• QS and Bill Verification services can help clients to reduce the cost up to 3 to 5%.
• Clients get a direction about the project’s cost management which in turn has positive impact on the construction cost.
• This service also helps clients to identify under and over billing.