Cost Management services and our perspective!

It is quite interesting in the construction industry and how quantity surveying / cost management is percieved. Just the other day I was on the phone to a "specialist" in "qs'ing" and we spoke about the roles of a Quantity Surveyor / Cost Manager and it was quite funny how the conversation went...

After being asked what I think the role includes I was told that I must not know much as I didn't mention the words cost planning and cost estimating. Yes, where I totally agree these are aspects of the role which are very important I now do think how much do people really know about this role!

As a QS / CM there is much much more to the role than the basic excel neccesities, I believe it is 90% detective and 10% Qs'ing! I really believe that the role is creative, linguistic, psychological and much much much more. Now, this blog could become extremaly long so for now and for maintaining user attention I think keeping it as short as possible is important. To provide the best service, being solution-driven is number one. In a tough, fast environment and facing a client it is key that all you think about is solutions if this isn't your number one thought process then you may find this indsutry really tough!

With this, a sense of care. In everything you do. From dealing with people both internally and externally to the work you produce and how you perform for projects... the more you care, the better the outcome. With care I think comes creativity. To care you have to delve into what it is you're looking at, think to yourself how can I make this better? how can I add to this? how can I add security? protection? and to do this in this industry, creativity is a must. What layers can I add to this bit of work to add strength to it, how can I better my service and exceed whats expected of this work.

Once you start asking these questions, then you're working.