27/02/2021
The Quantity Surveying profession dates back to the Bible, in terms of Luke, chapter 14:28, which reads “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sits not down first and counts the cost to see whether he will have sufficient to finish it?” (Bowles & Le Roux, 1992: 4).
Throughout the construction of the pyramids and temples of ancient Egypt the quantity surveyor was called the “measurer of royal works” (Bowles & Le Roux, 1992: 4). The term “quantity surveyor” was first recorded in 1859 (Kiran, 2009). Today, the quantity surveyor is known by many other names such as ‘construction cost consultant’, ‘building economist’, ‘construction accountant’ and ‘contractual and procurement specialist’ (Ashworth et al., 2013: 19).
According to Buys (2004: 2), the first quantity surveying practise was established in England in 1785 by the firm of Henry Cooper and sons.
During the medieval times, competition as it is known today did not exist. As this element of competition was eventually introduced, contractors discovered that there was a remarkable amount of measuring and calculation involved in order to arrive at a competitive tender figure. As every contractor interpreted the drawings differently, tenders were not calculated on a uniform basis (Bowles & Le Roux, 1992: 4). Furthermore, each individual builder experienced excess overhead costs because of time spent on quantification in calculating his tender figure.
This lead to the introduction of the quantity surveyor to act on behalf of all tenderers, as an unbiased, independent measurer and quantifier of the required building materials, with the surveyor’s fee to be shared amongst the contractors (Buys, 2004: 2).
The client and architect realised that they could benefit from such a professional, by employing the quantity surveyor as a construction economist and cost consultant. During the 1960’s cost planning was added to the quantity surveyor’s list of services to avoid tenders that are over budget.
