David Gaitho, Founding director and chairman of Amazon consultants limited answers ten questions about quantity surveying. Gaitho is also the immediate former IQSK Chairman
1. What does quantity surveying involve and why is it important to a builder?
It involves estimating the cost of a building for a developer to have a budget to work with. The quantity surveyor prepares bill of quantities, which break down construction into measured elements like excavation, walls, windows and painting.
To understand why a quantity surveyor is important, consider this Bible passage: “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘this person began to build and wasn’t able to finish’,” (Luke 14:28-30).
2. What is the likely result of not including a quantity surveyor in your project?
Cost overruns, which bring budget uncertainties, incomplete building and the quality of the house, will be messed up, leading to disputes.
3. How lucrative is quantity surveying practice in Kenya?
The industry is quite lucrative. All the graduates in quantity surveying find employment.
The demand is high. Three universities are offering the course, unlike 20 years ago when there was only a single stream of 25 in one university. Today, there are 75 to 100 students taking the course per year.
4. What are the qualifications for one to study quantity surveying and who registers quantity surveyors?
A bias in mathematics is what is needed. The Institute of Quantity Surveyors of Kenya (IQSK) has a list of registered quantity surveyors and their firms. This keeps quacks away.
5. Are your services as expensive at it is alleged?
It is neither expensive nor cheap. Cap 525 under which we are regulated does not allow quantity surveyors to negotiate fees.
We charge an average of three per cent of total construction costs.
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6. How does a surveyor’s role differ from that of an engineer or an architect?
An architect designs a building according to the owner’s aspirations. He also ensures necessary approvals are obtained and carries out supervision of the construction work up to completion.
A quantity surveyor does the costing and sometimes influences the budget of the house, depending on the weight of the pocket of the developer. An engineer, however, takes care of the structural integrity of the building.
7. There are arguments that quantity surveyors are only necessary for big projects. How true is this?
That is not true; they do even small projects, including residential buildings.
8. What are the achievements of IQSK since its inception?
We are celebrating our 20th anniversary, having started in 1994. It now has 850 members, up from 50 members at its inception.
Initially, we were under Architects Chapter of the Architectural Association of Kenya.
9. What are some of the challenges facing quantity surveying?
Quacks have infiltrated all major fields of the construction industry and control big chunks of work where there is no supervision.
Another worry is uncertainty in the interest rates and funding. Construction involves big loans. Many projects have stalled because of failure to secure loan.
10. What does the future hold?
We are hoping for a day when we will start having single digit interest rates and also the streamlining of land ownership documents.