Quantity Surveyor Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

By | August 15, 2023
Quantity Surveyor Job Description
Quantity Surveyors are also responsible for examining and analyzing material and labor costs.

Quantity Surveyor Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

This post provides complete information on the job description of a quantity surveyor, to help increase your knowledge of what they do.

It highlights the key duties, tasks, and responsibilities that typically make up the quantity surveyor work description in most organizations.

It also presents the requirements individuals interested in the quantity surveyor role may be expected to fulfill by most recruiters/employers.

Please, continue reading to learn more about the quantity surveyor career:

What Does a Quantity Surveyor Do?

A quantity surveyor is responsible for managing the contracts and costs of a construction project. His/her job description involves carrying out studies of project duration and labor costs, examining and analyzing material costs, coordinating supply deliveries, paying laborers, and giving contractors advice and suggestions on legal and contractual issues.

The quantity surveyor utilizes his/her skills, creativity, and professionalism to ensure that building projects remain within a given budget.

In performing their duties of managing the costs involved in building and civil engineering projects from initial calculations to final figures, the quantity surveyor must complete a wide range of crucial tasks in his/her day-to-day activities.

One of the essential duties that must be carried out by a quantity surveyor is to oversee the progress building and civil engineering projects by verifying and gathering and giving reports to clients and/or stakeholders on claimed executed work of contractors, confirming the stage of work accomplished, and checking progress payments according to the accomplished work.

He/she must scrutinize maintenance and material costs, as well as contracts to ensure that expenses are minimized and best deals are achieved.

It is also important that a quantity surveyor liaises and works cooperatively with site managers, clients, contractors, subcontractors, and other necessary stakeholders so that projects can be carried out efficiently and effectively.

The quantity surveyor must also ensure that he/she keeps an accurate record of project records and expenses by preparing reports, analyses, contracts, budgets, risk assessment, and other documents, as well as keeping adequate and accurate track of materials and ordering more supply when required.

He/she must stay updated on building and civil engineering industry development and trends.

To become a quantity surveyor, individuals should possess certain skills and qualities to help them achieve efficiency and productivity in their work.

Some of these required skills and qualities include strong analytical skills, critical thinking skills, adequate knowledge of construction, excellent negotiating skills, well-developed interpersonal skills, ability to plan, organize, and strategize, good networking abilities, detail-oriented mind, great verbal and written communication skills, and good time management skills.

In terms of academic qualifications, individuals who want to work as a quantity surveyor are required to have a Bachelor’s degree in Construction Science or Construction Management, or in any other related field.

Most employers and/or clients also prefer candidates who have acquired several years of professional experience in quantity surveying or related fields.

Quantity Surveyor Salary: The average salary of a quantity surveyor is $73,821 annually.

Quantity Surveyor Job Description Example/Sample/Template

The major duties, tasks, and responsibilities that typically make up the quantity surveyor job description are shown below:

  • Examining and reviewing or assessing construction plans and preparing quantity requirements
  • Liaising and working collaboratively with site managers, clients, contractors, subcontractors, and stakeholders
  • Gathering and preparing reports, analyses, contracts, budgets, risk assessments, and other necessary and relevant documents and forwarding them to the appropriate management or personnel
  • Providing advice, recommendations, and suggestions to managers and clients on innovative improvements and new strategies
  • Documenting relevant changes in design and updating budgets when required
  • Building and maintaining healthy and professional relationships with internal and external stakeholders
  • Traveling from the office to various sites when required
  • Handling the payment of workers, vendors, and subcontractors.

Quantity Surveyor Job Description for Resume

If you are writing a resume or CV for a new job and have worked before in the position of a quantity surveyor, you will need to include the professional experience section in your resume.

This part of your resume helps you to inform the recruiter/employer that you have been effective performing the duties and responsibilities of a quantity surveyor.

This piece of information can really boost the quality of your resume for the recruiter/employer to grant you an interview, especially if having some work experience as a quantity surveyor is important to the new job.

The quantity surveyor job description example provided on this page can help you to create a compelling professional experience section for your resume or CV.

Quantity Surveyor Requirements – Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities for Career Success

If you are seeking to work as a quantity surveyor, the following are major requirements most recruiters/employers may want you to fulfill to be hired:

  • Strong analytical and critical thinking skills, since a quantity surveyor is required to oversee, monitor, and manage every aspect of the cost and production of a particular construction project
  • Adequate experience of construction estimating and/or finance
  • In-depth knowledge of construction and its principles and guidelines
  • Excellent negotiating skills required to negotiate costs with vendors and subcontractors and ensure the best deals and minimum budget as much as possible
  • Good organizational skills, since a quantity surveyor must be able to organize, plan, and strategize when necessary
  • Well-developed verbal and written communication skills which will enable a quantity surveyor to write detailed and concise reports and communicate with clients, subcontractors, and other relevant stakeholders efficiently and effectively
  • Several years of proven work experience in a relevant industry
  • A Bachelor’s degree in Construction Science or Construction Management or in other related field.

Conclusion

This post is helpful to individuals interested in the quantity surveyor career to improve their knowledge of the duties and responsibilities of the job.

From the information gained from this page, they will be able to decide if quantity survey is the right career for them.

This post is also useful to employers/recruiters looking to create a job description to use in recruiting for a vacant quantity surveyor position in their company.

They can apply the sample quantity surveyor job description on this page in creating one for their company.