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Concrete stairs, 3G football pitches, managing sub-contractors and sticky final accounts... a week in the life of a Quantum Quantity Surveyor

What does a QS do? Everyone working in the construction industry will have either worked with a QS or at least know they exist, but with it being such a pivotal yet varied role, there is no easy answer to this question. So what better way to explain what a Quantum QS does than to join us for a typical week:

Monday

Get to the office for 7.30am for a Swanpond project review with an assistant surveyor. We tidy up the procurement register and check some drafted subcontracts before approving issue. After this, a Teams meeting with a potential new client - we'll wait and see what feedback we get.

Lunchtime - a handover meeting with the new Swanpond QS. The client employed us to start on a project until some of their own staff became available after finishing another project.

We did 75% of the procurement, submitted applications, setup subcontracts under NEC4 format, carried out CVR reviews, pre-let meetings, site materials take off and buying. This was the second handover session advising on where procurement had got to and what remained outstanding to be completed. We will stay available on the phone for this client should any further issues arise.

The afternoon and another project update with an assistant - this time it was for Apple Meadows, a new care home in the North West of England. This one is at the latter end of the procurement, and some design issues have become apparent bringing a particular package up in the priority pecking order. We called the architect to retrieve further information and spoke to and issued a number of subcontractor enquiries.

After that we had something a bit out of the ordinary. Time to look presentable as a photographer came into the office to take new profile pictures for our websites.

That afternoon I raised an invoice and issued the final one for the Swanpond project, after which was another Teams meeting. This one was with a client's funder and Project Manager to have an update on subcontractor collateral warranty requirements, and I finished the day in the office continuing to compile some sub-contract orders.

Tuesday

The day kicked off with a meeting with a subcontractor for a clandestine get together in the car park at a services off the A1. We needed hard copy signature subcontracts for this funder, as unfortunately electronic signatures wouldn't do on this project.

Back to the office to look at the Apple Meadows project. We received more information from the architect on balustrading requirements, so the sub-contract tender pack needed to be updated and the amendments issued out to the tenderers.

In the afternoon, one of our surveyors came in. We have just started a new contract with Crocodile Construction, so we needed to get our working processes aligned and secure.

We spoke to their IT manager to gain VPN access to their system. We then started putting together a procurement schedule and analysed the contract costs to determine what the budgets were and the target margin. It's always a steep learning curve with a new client, but worth investing the time, trying to learn how they want us to behave, how contractual we need to be and ensuring we follow their systems.

After that more IT matters to resolve after I spilt half a cup of coffee over my laptop! What a pain. That night at home I took the laptop apart, got the hairdryer on it and left it overnight on the radiator (I hope our IT guys don't see this!).

Wednesday

Wednesday was an early start at home - 5.30am to be precise.

I put the laptop back together, luckily it worked! I started back on the Crocodile Construction project with a number of enquiries sent out for a project in Swansea. I sent them to the client's regulars along with some suitable sub-contractors that I have used over the years.

I then went to see a Precast Flooring subcontractor. They have provided the stairs at a project that is just ending so we needed a hard-copy signed subcontract again. I collected this before heading to our Royton office to meet our surveyor working on the Crocodile job.

I spent 4-5 hours in the Royton office with the surveyor, continuing to set up the first job with the new client. This involved sending more enquiries, speaking to the Project Manager and the estimator to get a better understanding of the requirements for the job.

I left there to go to a meeting near home with a Business Development Manager who was in the area. This particular company have done some work for us on a couple of sites so said I would go meet them and put a voice and face to a name. I had a quick coffee before heading home.

Thursday

First job was one of the most important of the week - to take the kids to school. The beauty of having flexibility in this role is that I can do this kind of thing, but for the last couple of days I've also started the working day before 6am. All swings and roundabouts, using the hours of the day to best achieve what's in front of me.

I went down south to Twinkletree care home to meet with a flooring contractor there. Unfortunately, we've had the flooring subcontractor fail spectacularly on this project, so we have been sorting it by buying the remaining materials and sourcing additional labour to get the project finished on time. It is so close, yet so far away from handover!

We did a deal on some rates to get the job finished. Hopefully, the new subcontractor can pull through for us. I have already issued the subcontractor the required contractual notice including a non-completion notice and other correspondence encouraging them to hurry up. It doesn't seem to be working so we are exercising our contractual right to get someone else in.

I also made an analysis of the subcontractor application. This involved going round and marking on a plan what they had got done to date. I briefed the site manager - I needed him to measure who is doing what now we have two different flooring subcontractors on the job to make sure everyone gets paid for what they have done. Nothing more and nothing less.

After that I met the SFS contractor. They are close to finishing on this project, but we are using them on another job. The contract has a number of amendments to the standard JCT subcontract which they don't like. So I spent a couple of hours discussing the amendments to get to a mutually agreeable contract agreement. This was all done - they asked for a break clause between 2 phases of the job. We agreed to do this - I would have to think about how to implement that in the sub-contract.

Friday

Started the day by looking at some old subcontract accounts that are sticking a bit on an old job. I have just two to finalise on this particular project that finished a couple of months ago now. In order to do this, I have turned into the middleman trying to reach a commercially acceptable final account agreement. My role here is to assess the subcontractor's application, measure and verify quantities and entitlements and convey to the main contractor representative.

All this was taking place while my assistant was driving cross country in the storm getting subcontracts collected, signed and delivered.

At 2.30pm we had a Teams meeting regarding Apple Meadows. This was an internal meeting with the main contractor. We have a progress meeting next week, so needed to make sure that everything that had to be done was done and discuss forthcoming plans and procurement.

After that meeting I drafted and issued a payment/payless notice following the flooring assessment I did yesterday. Then I continued with some subcontract prep following the meeting I had with the SFS subcontractor.

Then some good news on a couple of fronts to end the week. Firstly, a new client wants us. We quickly made an offer of employment to someone we had interviewed recently and really liked. He should be a good fit for Quantum.

Then I enquired with an estate agent about a new office we are hoping to lease. We looked at this a while ago, but we were told that someone else had taken it. However, after looking into its availability again, it turns out that it is now available so hopefully we can get the ball moving with occupying that.

The week wrapped up when I left the office at about 6pm!