A study of the contractor's quantity surveying practice during the construction process

Quantity surveyors in construction companies apply traditional quantity surveying practices to meet the requirements of consultant quantity surveyors acting for the client. Other practices have to be used to suit the internal cost accounting and reporting requirements of the company. The practices of construction company quantity surveyors must therefore satisfy both external and internal needs and, in order to support corporate feedback, must be standardized across the company's projects. This paper describes an investigation of the quantity surveyor's role in a construction company. It was carried out as part of the company's quality improvement process. The investigation identified the need for a number of changes to satisfy the aims of the quantity surveying practice. The paper describes these and the result of their implementation. Further improvements in cost control during the construction phase of a project can be made, thus, enabling the quantity surveyor to provide better support for the site pr...