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Civil Engineering & Construction vocabulary · Contracts and Payments

Quantity surveyor

Meaning in civil engineering & construction, with examples

nounCommon term

In civil engineering & construction, quantity surveyor means: A construction professional who manages costs: measuring quantities, preparing bills of quantities, valuing completed work and variations, and agreeing the final account.

In Turkish: metraj ve maliyet uzmanı, hakediş mühendisi, maliyet mühendisi

How it is used

Often called a QS. The client and the contractor may each have their own quantity surveyors. The title is common in the UK, Ireland, the Gulf, Africa and Asia; in the US similar work is done by cost estimators and cost managers.

Example sentences

  1. The quantity surveyor is checking our claim for the extra excavation.

  2. I started as a junior quantity surveyor in a contractor's office in Doha.

Common collocations

  • chartered quantity surveyor
  • client's quantity surveyor
  • contractor's QS
  • cost consultant
  • bill of quantitiesA document that lists every item of work in a project with its quantity and unit, such as cubic metres of concrete or tonnes of rebar, so that contractors can price it.
  • progress paymentA payment made to the contractor during the project, usually every month, for the value of work completed so far, minus retention and earlier payments.
  • variation orderA formal written instruction from the client or engineer that changes the work in the contract, for example by adding, removing or altering an item.
  • tenderA formal offer from a contractor to carry out a project for a stated price, or the competitive process in which a client invites such offers.

More terms: Contracts and Payments

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