Chartered Surveyors & the Construction Industry
In the UK, chartered surveyors are professionals with many varied roles across a multitude of industries and specialisations. Essentially, all chartered surveyors are members of RICS; the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, located in London SW1, and are entitled utilize the suffix MRICS or FRICS [Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors]. To the general public generally, the chartered surveyor is somebody who works in the construction industry, and even the majority are specialists in building, property management and similar fields. However, many other areas require the services of a chartered surveyor, including artwork and antiques, mineral surveying and auctioneering.
Within the construction and property fields, chartered surveyors get excited about performing surveys for homebuyers, valuations for mortgage companies, full surveys of buildings, consultancy on construction developments, as well as land surveys, management of estates and various other areas associated with land and property. Chartered surveyors tend to specialise within these fields, and frequently form professional partnerships with those employed in different areas within exactly the same industry.
RICS & Construction Contracts
Construction contracts are at the heart of each building project undertaken in the united kingdom, and are designed to be legally binding agreements between the building owner [developer] and the contractor(s) who'll be performing the work. Labour costs, the way to obtain labour for the project, costs and offer of materials, and the time frame for the completion of the project are all covered in the contract, as are the specifications, design plans, and agreements regarding any potential changes through the build.
The RICS is closely involved with construction contracts, and issues both statements that outline best practice guidelines for surveyors, and mandatory practice statements that cover all areas of the varied roles of chartered surveyors during construction projects. These roles include not only building and quantity surveyors, but also valuers and project managers. Many of the mandatory and advisory statements produced by RICS relate to the role of chartered surveyors with regard to construction contracts, and RICS members are required to follow them.
Contract Administration
Building contracts in the UK fall into a range of subcategories. Some of the most common are as follows:
? International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC)
? Property Management South London (PPC 2000)
? The Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT)
? New Engineering Contract (NEC)
Chartered surveyors focusing on building projects are therefore called to deal not only with contract administration, but also with areas of project management that can include material and labour costs, initial planning and feasibility studies (including site surveying and legal issues), site and building safety, preventing and resolving any disputes that may arise, and building control.
Contract administration is crucial to the successful completion of a construction project, and chartered surveyors have an important role to play. Together with overseeing the fulfilment of the agreed contract, and being involved with its termination, issues arising before the contract is agreed range from insurance for both contractor and the project owner, warranties and guarantees, and adequate provision to cover any potential time overruns, payment difficulties, and defective work. The role of surveyors in relation to building contracts range from working with and managing the use of non-standard contracts, and also those outlined above.
The Role of the Employer's Agent
On a design and build contract a chartered surveyor may also be engaged being an Employer's Agent, a job which can vary greatly with respect to the specific needs of your client or the project itself. The role can even be affected by how much time that is available, but essentially the Employer's Agent acts for the client on any matters associated with the construction contract. Typical projects where an Employer's Agent may be engaged include large commercial or public property building contracts. RICS provides guidelines explaining the entire range of services and activities which may be undertaken by the Employer's Agent.
These will often include, but are not limited to, picking or recommending contractors following creation and agreement of the client's brief; making certain sustainability goals are achieved; advising on adherence to CDM or Construction (Design and Management) Regulations, updated recently with new legal duties for clients, designers and contractors amongst others; and the look and management of costs and risks. Analysing tenders from contractors is also an important area of the role, and running meetings and ensuring smooth progress on the site itself are frequently involved.
The Role of the Project Manager
Project Managers have a key role in construction projects, which include responsibility for overseeing the successful progress of the build, from the initial planning stage to completion. A good PM can spot and resolve problems and issues before they arise, partly by having the breadth of specialised knowledge necessary for asking the proper questions. Conflict and dispute resolution will demand good diplomatic skills.
At the heart of the Project Manager's role is good communication. To ensure that a project to be completed within the allotted time scale and budget, while satisfying the initial brief, a PM needs to think several moves ahead. It's essential, for example, for the PM to make certain the design has been fully understood by everyone working on the project, that the client understands the price implications of the task they have requested, and that the contractors are fully conversant with both client's requirements and the legal requirements involved. These can, and do change, and can frequently affect the success of a build. The creation of clear guidelines understood by everyone involved on the project may be the first responsibility of a PM; making sure those guidelines are honored is equally important.
Targets should be set that enable cost, time scale and safety concerns to be met. Those targets should be agreed by both client and contractor, but the PM must also manage to maintain the good working relationship between them when unforeseen circumstances - for example, a rise in the expense of materials or labour, or revised legal duties - arise through the duration of the project.
Finally, the communication skills of the PM will be vital in producing progress reports because the project runs. These reports will include monitoring the completion of varied elements of the build, and ensuring that costs are in line with the budget.
TWC Consulting provides a diverse range of Construction Consultants on all sorts of major & minor works projects including Chartered Surveyors, Construction Project Managers, Employers Agents, Contract Administrators, Cost Consultants, Planning Advisors (and more) all from under one roof.