ASSIGNMENT 1: ESSAY
QUESTION 3: Quantity Surveying Business Strategy
“If it’s not adding value, bin it.” [Source: Quantity Surveyors Division of The RICS (1998), The Challenge of Change: QS think tank 1998: Questioning the future of the profession, London: RICS Publication]
Quantity surveying is one of the most crucial professions in construction and building industry. Quantity surveyor, also known as Cost Engineer or Construction Economist works together with other professionals like architects, engineer, financiers, and solicitors and so on. A quantity surveyor is majorly involve in cost planning, preparing Bill of Quantities, project management, contract administration, preparing tax depreciation schedules and others that are relevant (AIQS, 2003). However, as the world has becoming more advance in technology and education, the role of quantity surveying is shrinking as many challenges appear in 21st century. Thus, a quantity surveyor is ought to adopt value of improvement practices in order to win the challenges and meet the needs of current demand for quantity surveying services. Quantity Surveyors Division of the RICS (1998) defined value as ‘a capability provide to a customer at the right time and at an appropriate price, as defined by customer.’
Quantity surveyors need to be alert of the changes in the market for surveying services. In this day and age, all professions including quantity surveying profession are facing an environment of fierce competition where their quality of performance is closely securitized by the clients. Hence, they are demanded to leave their restrictive performance and regularly update their competence and quality standards of practice. Nowadays, some of the services offered by quantity surveying firms such as the production of basic bill of quantities and creation of simple site surveys have been replaced by the use of technologies (Green, Matzdorf and Price, 1999). The