Services Offered:
Modern construction is increasingly complex. Unlike in the past, clients of the construction industry are more sophisticated and exacting in their requirements. Due to global economic trends, the prices of construction inputs (labour, materials, plant, equipment and the like) are constantly on the rise thus adversely affecting the local construction industry. Due to general inflationary trends in the world economy and, inadvertently, in the Kenyan economy, there is an increasing restriction to use of capital in the construction industry due to the resultant high interest rates. It is this adverse economic environment that every client, choosing to make an investment in construction, is finding himself/herself in.
Thus, construction cost, like quality and time, has become a critical constraint or element of modern construction. It is imperative that every single shilling invested in a project must generate equal and proportionate value. For any construction project to be successful and viable, all functional, dimensional and technological parameters of the project must be made subject to aggressive cost planning and cost control mechanisms.
It is the duty of the Quantity Surveyor, by virtue of his expertise, to advise on all aspects of cost at every stage of the project from design to implementation. During design, this entails advising on all the probable cost implications of every design decision made, appraisal of all alternative solutions and advising on the most feasible construction alternative. During the implementation stage, the Quantity Surveyor will, ensure that the anticipated (budget) cost ceiling is not exceeded by constantly advising on the cost implication of variations.
Please browse through our services to get a detailed view of these services:
Preliminary cost advice
Preliminary cost planning
Advice on obtaining tenders
Preparation of contract/ tender documents
Cost control and preparation of financial appraisals
Valuation of work in progress for stage payments
Preparation and settlement of final accounts
Project management
Preliminary cost advice
Preliminary cost advice is given by the Quantity Surveyor at the very onset of a project before the Architect’s drawings are prepared. He forecasts the probable cost of a proposed project or he may assess the type and size of a structure that can be erected for any given expenditure.
Armed with this information and with estimates of maintenance and running costs, the Quantity Surveyor assists his client in the preparation of the budget for the project.
Once the preliminary drawings have been prepared, he prepares a more detailed approximate estimate and this cost advice enables design decisions to be made with full knowledge of their financial implications to the client.
Preliminary cost planning
Every client wants value for money not only with respect to the initial capital invested in the project, but also to the cost-in-use (i.e. the future running and maintenance costs) of the project.
The Quantity Surveyor has evolved a technique known as cost planning which enables his cost advice to be used objectively during the design process on every aspect of the structure. Cost planning involves a systematic analysis of the structure, which enables the price for each constituent item to be valued against its performance requirements and aesthetic considerations. After the initial feasibility studies and preliminary estimates have been prepared, the Quantity Surveyor prepares the cost plan from the Architect’s preliminary drawings. The cost plan divides a building into its various functional elements and allocates costs to these elements. In this way it is possible to ensure a proper apportionment of expenditure over the various elements. Proposals for alternative materials and designs are costed as the design progresses and the cost implications are presented to the client and other consultations are made with knowledge of the overall cost involved.
Advice on obtaining tenders
Tenders for constructional work may be obtained either in completion or by negotiation. Choice of the most suitable procedure is one of the most important decisions to be taken at an early stage and one of the matters on which the Quantity Surveyor’s advice is most valuable.
He can advice on the selection of suitable firms to be invited to tender, according to the type and size of a job and the general standard of workmanship and skill that may be required.
When tenders are received, the Quantity Surveyor undertakes a detailed analysis of these tenders to ensure that they truly reflect the existing market conditions and are free of any material errors. This ensures that no contract is entered into on the basis of a seriously incorrect quotation.
Preparation of contract/ tender documents
The most usual forms of contract in construction works are based on the use of Bills of Quantities as contract documents.
Bills of Quantities are the translation of the designer’s drawings and specification into describing the building works in words and quantities. They enable each contractor tendering to estimate his price on exactly the same basis as his competitors. Bills are prepared in accordance with standard methods of measurement in use throughout the building and civil engineering industries in East Africa.
Bills of Quantities are also very useful in that provide a basis for the financial management of the contract.
Where other forms of tendering procedure are used, bills of quantities may be in a modified form, or may be replaced by schedules of prices. The Quantity Surveyor ensures that such documents are drafted in the form most suited to the project requirements.
Cost control and preparation of financial appraisals
Where a full cost plan has been prepared in the design stages the Quantity Surveyor will use it as a basis for cost control during the construction process.
During construction, variations in the work are often necessary; sometimes to take account of the client’s changing needs, sometimes to overcome site conditions which could not be foreseen such as the presence of underground site conditions. The Quantity Surveyor estimates that costs of proposed variations and reports their impact on the probable final cost, so that corrective steps may be taken elsewhere in the work, if the client requires, to keep the cost within the budget.
As part of this systematic control of the cost during the progress of the work, the Quantity Surveyor will prepare at regular intervals financial statements which keep the client and designers fully informed of the up-to-date financial position and the anticipated final cost of the work.
Valuation of work in progress for stage payments
Under most forms of building or civil engineering contracts, the Contractor is paid at regular intervals (depending on the conditions of contract) for work done on site. It is the Quantity Surveyor’s duty to measure and value the work carried out during the period in question, together with the value of any variations which may have been authorised, and to submit to the Architect or Engineer a recommendation regarding a payment on account.
If the Architect or Engineer is satisfied that the work involved has been carried out in accordance with the terms of the contract, he will certify the amount due to the contractor in accordance with the Quantity Surveyor’s valuation.
Preparation and settlement of final accounts
The Quantity Surveyor’s traditional roles end with the calculations of the final cost for the purpose of settlement with contractors and/or sub-contractors. This entails preparing a final account of the work in which the contract sum is adjusted in accordance with the terms of the contract to take account of any variations, of adjustments in the accounts of nominated sub-contractors and suppliers and of any other matters for which the contract allows.
The final account is agreed with the contractor and provides a fair and equitable settlement in accordance with the contract conditions.
The Quantity Surveyor will also prepare any analysis of the final account which the client may require.
Project management
As construction becomes more complex in nature and the client becomes more enlightened and sophisticated in aspects dealing with construction, a new requirement is placed upon the traditional professional in the construction industry (especially the Quantity Surveyor) to embrace a new role of project management to meet this new breed of clients.
Quantity Surveyors are, by virtue of their training and expertise, uniquely involved with aspects of the construction industry that relate to building costs, valuation, investment appraisal, maximisation of land utilisation and any other aspect of building economics and management. These qualifications, coupled with management skills, leadership qualities, and the ability to co-ordinate, make the Quantity Surveyor ideally suited for the role of Project Manager.
The Project Manager calls upon the services of other professional consultants with particular skills as and when specialist advice is needed. It is in this area where it is of special advantage that the Project Manager is a Quantity Surveyor as he will be closely involved with other professionals who can offer a wide range of supplementary back-up skills.
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