Quantity Surveyors use the architect’s drawings to estimate the quantities of products that will be required to construct a project, and then use current or projected material and labour costs to estimate the total cost of construction. The role of Quantity Surveyor is to ensure necessary budgets are available to see the project through to completion and advise on possible ways of reducing the costs whilst maintaining building regulations standards and high quality of construction.
Quantity Surveyors (QS) can be employed by the client to assist in maintaining the budgets, or the contractor to assist in quoting for a job and are often independent. Many large contracting firms have in-house surveyors employed directly.
The QS is usually contracted on the job from the initial stages once the architect’s drawings have been produced to provide cost saving advice and prepare estimates at an early stage. On large projects, the QS will keep records of the variations to the project and produce reports about the changes to forecast profitability.
Quantity Surveyor Cover Letter Example
I am applying for the position of quantity surveyor. I feel that I have the perfect qualification for the job as I have a master’s degree in quantity surveying which has been approved by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, having studied this after doing a civil engineering degree. While studying for the master’s degree part-time, I also worked as a technical surveyor. This helped me to understand more about what would be required of me in a role of a quantity surveyor and gave me relevant experience and skills.
I feel that I already had the logical mind and problem solving skills but I was able to develop these further and learn more about design and costings. I also was able to apply my report writing skills to actual, rather than theoretical situations and work together with other like-minded people as well as the rest of the team on site. Working in this role also made me realise that this sort of work was perfect for me and gave me the drive to make sure that I passed my master’s degree so that I could pursue the career that I really want. I am therefore extremely enthusiastic about pursuing this role especially with a company like yours that I look up to.
Good luck.