Chartered Surveyors and Construction Projects

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 use the suffix MRICS or FRICS [Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors]. To the public in general, the chartered surveyor is a person who works in the construction industry, and indeed the majority is specialists in building, property management and similar fields. However, a great many other areas require the services of a chartered surveyor, including fine art and antiques, mineral surveying and auctioneering.

Within the construction and property fields, chartered surveyors are involved in performing surveys for homebuyers, valuations for mortgage companies, full surveys of buildings, consultancy on construction developments, and also land surveys, management of estates and various other areas associated with land and property.  https://london-surveyors.uk/best-daylight-assessments-london/  have a tendency to specialise within these fields, and frequently form professional partnerships with those working in different areas within the same industry.

RICS & Construction Contracts

Construction contracts are in the heart of each building project undertaken in the united kingdom, and are made to be legally binding agreements between your 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 supply of materials, and enough time frame for the completion of the project are covered in the contract, as will be the specifications, design plans, and agreements regarding any potential changes during the build.

The RICS is closely associated with construction contracts, and issues both statements that outline best practice guidelines for surveyors, and mandatory practice statements that cover all aspects 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. A lot of the mandatory and advisory statements made by RICS relate to the role of chartered surveyors pertaining to construction contracts, and RICS members must follow them.

Contract Administration

Building contracts in the UK fall into many different subcategories. Some of the most common are the following:

? International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC)
? Public Procurement Contract 2000 (PPC 2000)
? The Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT)
? New Engineering Contract (NEC)

Chartered surveyors working on building projects are therefore called on to deal not merely with contract administration, but additionally 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 which could 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 in its termination, issues arising prior to the contract is agreed can include insurance for both the 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 with regards to building contracts range from working with and managing the use of non-standard contracts, along with those outlined above.

The Role of the Employer's Agent

On a design and build contract a chartered surveyor will often be engaged being an Employer's Agent, a role that may vary greatly depending on the specific needs of the client or the project itself. The role can be affected by how much time which is available, but basically the Employer's Agent acts for your client on any matters relating to the construction contract. Typical projects in which an Employer's Agent may be engaged include large commercial or public property building contracts. RICS provides guidelines explaining the full selection of services and activities which may be undertaken by the Employer's Agent.

These will most likely include, but aren't limited to, picking or recommending contractors following the creation and agreement of the client's brief; ensuring that 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 planning 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 webpage itself are generally involved.

The Role of the Project Manager

Project Managers have an integral role in construction projects, which includes responsibility for overseeing the successful progress of the build, from the initial planning stage to completion. A good PM should be able to spot and resolve problems and issues before they arise, partly insurance firms the breadth of specialised knowledge necessary for asking the right 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 must think several moves ahead. It's essential, for example, for the PM to ensure that the look has been fully understood by everyone working on the project, that your client understands the price implications of the work they will 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 will 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 certain those guidelines are adhered to is equally important.

Targets must be set that allow for cost, time scale and safety concerns to be met. Those targets must be agreed by both client and contractor, however the PM must also be able to keep up with the good working relationship between them in the event that unforeseen circumstances - for instance, a rise in the cost of materials or labour, or revised legal duties - arise during the lifetime of the project.

Finally, the communication skills of the PM will undoubtedly be vital in producing progress reports because the project runs. These reports includes monitoring the completion of varied parts of the build, along with ensuring that costs come in line with the budget.

TWC Consulting offers 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.