Quantity Surveying

The Quantity Surveyor – an expert at the service of your project

Construction projects require the performance of simultaneous tasks and the coordination of participants who possess a mastery of scientific and commercial techniques as well as an excellent knowledge of standards and regulations.

The task of a Quantity Surveyor in this regard is to work closely with the experts and engineers involved in a project. For this purpose, they must understand and analyse the project as a whole in order to be able to carry out the most appropriate and relevant technical and financial study. This work requires real dialogue between the members of the project management team so that the project is handled in a holistic way.

The role of Quantity Surveyor is to bring real added value to the entire process of the design and execution of a project and to be deeply involved right from the initial feasibility study phase.
The complexity of construction techniques, adherence to precise budgets, the large number of participants and the increasingly specific expertise required are some of the significant, evolving aspects of this profession.

In short, with RLB | SQA, you can make your projects a success!

Quantity Surveyor benefit their clients by:

• applying their past experience from a variety of projects
• constantly building up their knowledge and techniques (methods, tools, references)
• ensuring reliability and impartiality with regard to their responsibilities.

Organisation, consistency, clarity and precision: how Quantity Surveyor work

Faced with constantly changing techniques, economic requirements and administrative rules, clients, planners, suppliers, entrepreneurs, insurance providers and the users of the finished work all have common constraints and goals:

• Estimates for works with minimum discrepancies
• Accurate calculation of quantities and costs
• Rigorous organisation and coordination of building-site activities
• Drafting of contractually binding documents that constitute the ‘works contract’

The effectiveness of a descriptive document drafted by a construction economist is determined by the following criteria:

• Clarity: the text must be perfectly organised in a logical and systematic way. Documents must be drafted in a clear and understandable manner.
• Precise descriptions: no uncertainties or ambiguities concerning the nature of the works described and their intended quality.
• Precise terminology: each element of any works has its own particular and precise terminology and it is essential to use it in order to prevent diverging interpretations by different readers.
• Style of drafting: descriptive texts must be written well in good style, using simple, short and well structured phrases.

Descriptive texts cannot be well written without a comprehensive knowledge of the many factors to be considered when deciding how they should be drafted.

• General technologies of all aspects of construction (principles, elements, implementation)
• The intervention limits of every state authority
• Specifications of administrative regulations (construction permit, regulations, tender specifications, etc.)
• Quantification methods (elements and functions)
• Estimate methods

A holistic approach that takes all the specific characteristics of your project into account

Our approach consists of maximising the potential of the project and identifying and managing the risks involved. It is applied in accordance with simple rules and in compliance with the fundamental standards of our profession.

Our approach is based on:

• A multifaceted approach take accounts for the specific concerns of each individual project, including legal and financial planning, quality and cost control, project management (budgeting, planning, coordination, management, reporting, communication) and risk and opportunity analysis.
• Tried and tested auditing and assessment methods, a portfolio of past projects on both a national and international scale (databases by construction economists, ratios, a reference system for pricing practices and installation operations, etc.)

• An objective and creative working method that accounts for the uniqueness of each project and its specific characteristics without copy-pasting pre-fabricated solutions. We have an interactive management style designed to identify the choices and options that will lead to the ideal time/quality/cost ratio for the project.
• Operational and business know-how: the act of construction is not an end in itself for clients. Their projects are a means of production or delivery of a service, whether public or private, or intended to be used in the sale of products. We bring operational and business know-how that has been honed over the years to help our clients achieve their main objectives.
• Individualised estimates: with regard to provisional estimates, which constitute one of the core tools of Quantity Surveyors, our approach is not to regard estimates as an end in themselves. They provide information and should be used as a tool to assist the developer in decision making. In order to be effective, estimates must be transparent, structured and based on hypotheses that have been confirmed by all the partners involved in the project.

Responsiveness, experience and targeted solutions are the added values of our approach

Every project benefits from high added value thanks to:

• our responsiveness and receptiveness to the goals of our clients
• our rigorous and innovative working methods
• our experience with complex projects, the market and environment in France and exports
• our databases built on the systematic analysis of feedback from our operations
• our ability to prioritise the crucial elements of a project and to monitor them throughout the duration of operations.