Quantity surveying starts with determining the construction materials required to meet the job requirements by performing a materials take-off, which is a skill set in and of itself. This course will teach you how to apply the processes and procedures required to complete accurate and consistent material take-offs for pricing or even ordering purposes.
Using the example of a small commercial structure, attendees will complete a detailed and comprehensive quantity survey/material takeoff for items of work including earthwork, substructure, and superstructure. This isn’t a course where attendees sit back and listen – you’ll be expected to actively participate, and ‘learn by doing’ under the guidance of your course instructor. Your instructor will provide direction and examples of the various material take-offs, and then you’ll get to practice!
*Please note that this course focuses on the basic principles of quantity surveying and not about how to use excel/software to perform takeoffs. Attendees will be provided with an excel spreadsheet to use in completing exercises, which they can also choose to print and complete manually on paper.
Course content will also cover:
- What is a quantity surveyor and what does he or she do
- Proper practices and procedures of quantity surveying
- General rules and methods of measurement of construction works
- How quantity surveys are organized and structured
- How the MasterFormat® system is used by quantity surveyors
- How items of construction are identified for quantity surveying
- Applied quantification of items of earthwork
- Applied quantification of items of concrete
- Applied quantification of items of formwork
- Applied quantification of items of concrete masonry units
Learning Outcomes
- By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Identify the origin of the items for quantification in a general contractor environment.
- Describe the various standard practices and procedures used in the quantity surveying discipline
- Identify 10 steps to a successful take off.
- Explain the mathematical principals behind basic quantity surveying processes.
- Complete a detailed and comprehensive quantity survey for items of work including earthwork, substructure and superstructure for a small commercial structure.
- Understand how the quantity survey dovetails to the eventual estimate.
What is a quantity surveyor and what do they do?
In North America, the terms ‘quantity surveying,’ or ‘quantity surveyors,’ are synonymous with construction estimating or construction estimators. On the Canadian Institute of Quantity Surveyor’s (CIQS) website, a quantity surveyor is described as:
“Construction cost consultants/cost estimators [who] work for either the client or the contractor and can be based in an office or on-site. They make sure the costs of large construction and infrastructure projects are accurately estimated based on initial requirements and project specs.”
A quantity surveyors’ responsibility is to calculate the quantity of material needed to complete a project by surveying the construction documents and doing what we call a material ‘take off.’ However, the duties of a quantity surveyor are greatly expanded as they become experts in costing, cost analysis, estimating and project financing. In the CIQS’s introduction video, a quantity surveyor is depicted as: Part Architect, Part Engineer, Part Contractor, Part Lawyer, Part Accountant.
