The Value of a Quantity Surveyor for Laboratory Fitouts

Key Takeaways

• A Quantity Surveyor (QS) helps clients understand, plan and manage the cost of a construction project.
• Laboratory fitout budgets can be difficult to assess because services, building limitations and scientific requirements all affect the cost.
• During design, an independent QS can test a proposed budget and advise on appropriate allowances for risks and unknowns.
• During construction, a QS can help assess progress claims, variations and costs against the contract. Relevant laboratory experience matters when choosing a QS.

What is a Quantity Surveyor?

A Quantity Surveyor (QS) is a cost professional who can perform a wide range of financial responsibilities during a construction project. Depending on their appointment, they may help a client plan the budget, assess tenders and manage costs through construction.

In Australia, many QS practitioners are members of the Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (AIQS).

What does a Quantity Surveyor do? 

The services a QS provides will depend on the project and what they have been engaged to do. Their work can include:

• Cost management and estimating: Preparing feasibility studies, initial cost plans and detailed estimates.
• Bills of Quantities (BOQs): Measuring the work shown in drawings and specifications so contractors can price it on a consistent basis.
• Tender management: Preparing tender documents, evaluating submissions and helping clients select a contractor.
• Contract administration: Assessing progress claims and variations and advising on the financial terms of a construction contract.
• Lifecycle costing: Advising on the longer-term costs of operating and maintaining a building, as well as its initial construction cost.
• Tax depreciation: In some circumstances, preparing depreciation schedules for property investors.
  

How can a Quantity Surveyor help during the Design Phase? 

The senior management teams of many of our clients have a reasonable understanding of the cost of fitting out an office. They know that a higher level of finish or more partitioning will generally increase the cost per square metre.

In scientific environments, which are Amicus Labline’s focus, there is often less familiarity with how to calculate or evaluate a reasonable budget. A laboratory fitout can be affected by numerous factors, including: 

• Client requirements for mechanical, hydraulic, electrical and fire services. 
• How those services can be accommodated within the building, including any existing limitations or restrictions.
• Applicable Australian Standards, the National Construction Code and, where relevant, Physical Containment (PC1 to PC4) requirements.

The most important consideration is whether the completed environment supports the scientific work it was built for. If the required environmental conditions are not achieved, the effectiveness of that work can be compromised.

We regularly encourage clients to engage a QS. The logic is simple: independent advice on what a project should cost can be invaluable to a management team or Board. There are relatively few companies providing specialist design and construction services for scientific environments. Simply collecting budget figures from multiple fitout companies may therefore provide less confidence than it would for a more straightforward project.

In our experience, budget estimates can vary widely depending on the design and construction contractor’s understanding of laboratory services. An estimate may be overly conservative or heavily understated if those requirements have not been properly considered. A QS with relevant experience can provide an order of magnitude estimate to help test the proposed budget.

As well as advising on market costs, a QS can identify factors that may affect pricing. These might include known differences between capital cities or regional centres, often referred to as locality indexation, as well as broader supply chain or economic pressures. A QS can also advise on how much contingency to allow. This will often depend on how far the design documents have progressed: the less detail available, the more uncertainty the budget needs to accommodate.

How can a Quantity Surveyor help during Construction?  

During construction, a QS can be particularly useful when a client does not have an in-house facilities or project management team. They can assess the builder’s progress claims against the work completed, review the cost of variations and advise on the financial requirements of the contract. This gives the client independent support when evaluating costs and making decisions throughout the build.

What does a Quantity Surveyor Cost? 

The scope of services will affect the fee. Our exposure to QS pricing has primarily been during the design phase, for budget estimates and the preparation of BOQs. For those services, we have seen fees of approximately 0.1% to 0.2% of the project cost. This is an indication from our experience, rather than a standard fee for every project.

For a relatively small proportion of the overall investment, independent cost advice can give a client greater confidence in the budget and a clearer structure for managing it.

Like all professionals, QS firms and individual practitioners have different specialties. When speaking with potential QS partners, we strongly recommend asking for examples of comparable work, particularly projects of a similar size, in a similar industry and with similar environmental complexity.

Is a Quantity Surveyor Worth Engaging for a Laboratory Fitout? 

Every organisation’s circumstances differ. For clients who are less familiar with laboratory construction costs, or who do not have the internal resources to actively manage a project, engaging a QS can be a cost-effective way to bring independent financial oversight to a fitout.

The right QS can help you test the budget early, understand what is driving the cost and help you make more informed decisions as the design and construction progress.