Building Cost Questions? Ask a Quantity Surveyor

Renovation Collaborative

Did you know that a quantity surveyor can give you independent building cost advice on your house plans and ideas, and help you decide whether to renovate or sell?

Welcome to the Renovation Collaborative ‘On the tools’ podcast, where I interview industry experts to find out practical information to help you renovate smarter. My name is Stephanie Skyring. I'm an Australian architect with 20+ years of experience helping people create better, more environmental homes on any budget.

In the previous episode, I spoke to a building cost estimator. In today's episode, you’ll find out how a quantity surveyor can also provide you with independent building cost advice. You’ll get further insights into building costing that will add value to your residential project, whether you’re an owner, an architect, a building designer or a builder.

I’ll be talking to highly respected quantity surveyor, Flavio Costanzo from Flavio Costanzo and Associates building cost consultants, in Brisbane.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

00:00 Introduction

01:16 What is the difference between a quantity surveyor and a building cost estimator?

06:42 At what stages of the design process would a quantity surveyor provide costing advice?

11:13 Do you provide cost estimates at the tender stage for builders?

19:06 When you are putting together an estimate, where do the material and labour prices come from?

20:01 What are the benefits of obtaining independent building cost advice from a quantity surveyor?

20:39 Can a quantity surveyor give advice for the whole of Australia or are they more locally based?

21:17 Key Points Summary

KEY POINTS SUMMARY

We cover so much useful information in this interview, however there are three critical points that came out of the discussion:

1. The first point was that quantity surveyors (QS) and building cost estimators come from different backgrounds, but when it comes to residential costing they work in very similar ways.

• Either one can provide the cost education you need. You just need to find someone local.
• Although I did not cover it in this episode, the costs for a quantity surveyor's services are very similar to those of building cost estimator. I covered a building cost estimator’s services and costs in the previous episode.

2. The second point was again about the critical importance of obtaining costing advice early in the design phase, to ensure your budget and design brief are aligned, before you go too far. Ideally this should happen at two stages:

• First at the concept design stage when you have just got rough floor plans, to confirm your ideas are even feasible.
• The second stage, if you proceed that far is at the detailed (developed) design stage, when you have floor plans and elevations and a bit more information. But you haven’t gone to Town Planning and you haven’t gone as far as getting full engineering done. You may have partial engineering if you need that information based on your design. This is so important, I just can’t stress this enough.

3. The third interesting point is that both quantity surveyors and cost estimators provide costings for builders at tender stage. Many builders don’t have the time or inclination to prepare their own tender estimates. It’s important to note that all builders will have their own suppliers and buying power, and this will lead to a different final tender price outcome.

WANT TO READ MORE?

Download the written version of the entire interview as a PDF.

S1:E3 On the Tools with a Quantity Surveyor - Transcript

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IN THE NEXT EPISODE

You’ll find out all about square metre rates - What they are, how they are calculated, and why building cost professionals hate them!

I’ll be talking again to Quantity Surveyor Flavio Costanzo from Flavio Costanzo and Associates, Building Cost Consultants, in Brisbane.

RESOURCE LINKS

Flavio Costanzo and Associates. Quantity Surveyors and Building Cost Consultants

https://au.linkedin.com/in/flavio-costanzo-6165b22a

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