The Role of the Quantity Surveying Profession
The origins of the Quantity Surveyor (QS) profession can dated back during the 19th century where from the earlier "measurer", a specialist tradesman, who readied schedules for a building project in which all of the construction materials and labour activities and were quantified. Based on this information, competing builders could submit priced tenders. Because all tenders were based on the same schedule of information, they could be easily compared to one another, making it a much simpler way of being able to chose the best bid as it narrowed the variables down (Powell, 1996). While the QS profession owes its origin to the “measurer” it was until the 1820s that as a profession the QS
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The contracts and conditions differ from the other two sectors previously mentioned too and it is these things that set this sector apart. This type of work for a QS is more method related than building works with greater use of mechanical plants and temporary works. When a QS pulls together Bill of Quantities there is usually few items of large quantities. Skills of a QS in this field in particular are that they must be conversant with the varying working rule agreements, day work rates and other documents for example the civil engineering procedure published by the institute of civil engineers. Since the 20century began the QS has had a role within the civil engineering contractors. Pre and post contract services are provided to civil engineer client by a QS also.
Heavy and Industrial Engineering
With this type of work a QS will be working on such projects that include steel plants, off shore oil and gas rigs, nuclear processing, production facilities and power plants to name a few. With the economic downturn affecting all sectors of business of late a huge emphasis on cost control has been placed upon these industries which is where the role of a QS is defined. In this industry sector it isn’t unusual to be referred to as a cost engineer as opposed to a QS. In this sector there is a great focus on computerised measurement and cost admin systems
Achieved the versatility through managing diverse QC which spanning all the disciplines approximately, including Digging, Earth settlement, Compaction Tests, utilities, Precast concrete, reinforcing steel, grout, mortar, Roofing, fireproofing and asphalt.
If we compare the old job costing method with the Activity based costing method we can see in the table below that the activity base rate gives us a much more accurate insight in allocating the manufacturing overhead costs. In fact, the activity based overhead calculation shows us that the activity rates for Valves and Pumps are lower than the rates used in plantwide production rates, but the activity based rate for Flow Controllers is around 50% higher than the cost calculated in the job costing method. The reason for this difference in our opinion can be traced back to the high receiving and production control costs as well as packaging &
Overall Theme We will explore fundamental assumptions of cost functions and discuss the relationships between cost behaviour, cost estimation and cost prediction. The concept of cost driver analysis and its application to cost estimation and cost management will also be discussed. We will also describe how to estimate cost behaviour using managerial judgment, engineering methods and other quantitative techniques.
Clough, Richard H, Glenn A. Sears, S K. Sears, Robert O. Segner, and Jerald L. Rounds. Construction Contracting: A Practical Guide to Company Management. , 2015. Print.
Session 1 Date September-4 Topic Introduction, overview, group assignment, product costing systems (concepts and design) Process costing systems Managing and allocating support service costs Inventory decisions Strategic issues in investment decision Managing quality and time to create value Midterm Exam Cost management and strategy The nature of management control systems Understanding strategy Strategy, balanced score card, incentive systems Organizational design & responsibility accounting Case presentation Case presentation Case presentation Case written report is due at the beginning of session 13 Final exam Chapter 1 (H) Chapter 1 (A) Chapter 2 (A) Chapter 20 (H) Chapter 18 (H) Reading Chapter 2 (H)
A basic definition for the procurement is “the way the building is realised” and “involves assembling and organising the skills and services of a team of construction professionals”. (the Construction Round Table, 1995). More precisely, the construction industry describes procurement as “a system that establishes the roles and relationships which make up a project organisation”; hence the overall organisation and communication structure for the management, administration and control of a project is established by the procurement system. (D.C.H Coles, 2010)
The traditional procurement route has become one of the standard approaches in the construction industry since the 19th century. The key characteristics of a traditional procurement route with a competitive tender process are competition or tendering cannot start until the design process is complete, the designing process is separate from the construction process and the lack of contractor involvement in the design process, with the design and technical development being carried out by the clients consultant. (Cartlidge, 2013).
Morledge, R, Smith, A, Kashiwagi, D (2006) Publisher; Blackwell, Place of Publication; Oxford, Building Procurement, p6.
Under the new cost system, two broad sources of costs were identified: manufacturing and SM&A. All costs within these categories were reclassified as either volume driven or order driven. Hence, four cost pools were set up.
This presents Raytheon with even more reason to use an ABC-oriented approach which identify and track the costs of activities, so the company can use it to see if activity costs are in line with industry standards. In fact, “in an ABC system, the costs of the organization’s significant activities are accumulated and then assigned to goods or services in accordance with how the activities are used in the production of
It makes the calculation of the payment of the contractor easier according to the amount of the work he did .
In construction projects, mostly the firms (in this case the firms become client) do not have the skills or develop skills inside the firms to undertake the projects due to amount of the projects should be conducted or the complexity of the projects (Reve and Levitt, 1984). Therefore, the economic decision to conduct the projects is to procure them to third parties. However, more commonly the client agonize the final quality of the projects will meet standard requirements. Thus, impacts to involvement of complex contracts of construction procurement.
During the 1980s the limitations of traditional product costing systems began to be widely publicised. These systems were designed decades ago when most companies manufactured a narrow range of products, and direct labour and materials were the dominant factory costs. Overhead costs were relatively small, and the distortions arising from inappropriate overhead allocations were not significant. Information processing costs were high, and it was therefore difficult to justify more sophisticated overhead allocation methods.
Professional status of quantity surveyors is constantly challenged by greater competition and increased clients expectation of the services offered by QS consultancies. To meet these challenges and to maintain a competitive advantage quantity surveyors need to enhance the level of professionalism (Davis et al., 2007).
We are requested to assist the building with creating a method of construction cost data for client throughout the pre contract. The task of data collection is a difficult procedure and can be include to wide variations. Based upon our experience as quantity surveyors we chose to develop a cost data collection method. Our define construction line items and quantities for relativity building types.