Enhancing building services cost management knowledge among quantity surveyors

Abstract

It is essential for quantity surveyors to improve their knowledge in building services cost management to avoid financial loss in a construction project. The need of mechanical and electrical quantity surveyor in construction industry is vital for clients to have a proper cost management of building services. The objective of this research is to examine the level of involvement of quantity surveyors in the cost management of building services. It investigates the nature of quantity surveyors’ knowledge gap in building services cost management and identifies the measures to bridge the knowledge gap in building services cost managements. The research methods used are questionnaires survey among quantity surveyors and semi structured interviews among quantity surveyors and building services engineers, who are randomly selected from those having at least 10 years of experience in construction industry. Four crucial gaps were identified as the barriers which hinder quantity surveyors to manage building services cost management. The main gap is the omission of building services in the scope of work of quantity surveyors which lead to the work being passed to the building services engineers. Traditionally, the quantity surveyors are not involved in building services cost management. Therefore, quantity surveyors faced difficulty in understanding and interpreting mechanical and electrical components during measurement due to the non-availability of complete drawing. Furthermore, quantity surveyors are not well-skilled to manage building services cost management and seldom included in the scope of works. Hence, it is recommended that building services training and Quantity Surveyor Building Services Programme should be included in the program syllabus and curriculum so as to enhance the knowledge of quantity surveyor and increase their involvement in the field. Quantity surveyors should be responsible and play their roles in controlling the cost of a project. They must have a thorough knowledge in building services work other than building works for them to venture into a wider scope of works.