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1 INTRODUCTIONBefore consider what the changing role of Quantity Surveyor is in the future, it is worthwhile to review the background of the Quantity Surveying profession and the roles and responsibilities of Quantity Surveyor. In this chapter, the background of the Quantity Surveyor and the HKIS will be introduced first. And then, the traditional roles and evolved roles of the Quantity Surveyor will be discussed one by one. After that, responsibilities of Quantity Surveyor have some explains. What skills and knowledge are the Quantity Surveyor should be included in the past will be discussed in this chapter. Quantity Surveyor is one of important roles in the construction industry. Thus, the effects of Quantity Surveyor will be mentioned in this chapter also. Lastly, it is a summary of the history of the roles and responsibilities of the Quantity Surveyor.2.2 BACKGROUND TO THE QUANTITY SURVEYORFirstly, it has been stated that: Quantity surveyors are the profession developed during the 19th century from the earlier "Measurer," a specialist tradesman (often a guild member), who prepared standardized schedules for a building project in which all of the construction materials, labour activities and the like were quantified, and against which competing builders could submit priced tenders. Because the tenders were each based on the same schedule of information, they would be easily compared to find the most suitable candidate. QSBC (2009).A quantity surveyor is professionally trained, qualified and experienced in dealing with these problems on behalf of the employer. He is essentially a cost expert whose prime task is to ensure that the project is kept within the agreed budget and that the employer obtains value for money (Seelay, 1997, p.40).Quantity Surveyors are the financial managers of the construction team who add value by managing the functions of cost, time and quality. They have been trained as construction cost consultants who have expert knowledge of costs, values, labour and material prices, finance, contractual arrangements and legal matters in the construction filed. In general, they provide services of cost management and control in building and engineering projects of any scale (Chung, 2000, p.10). HKIS (1999) also recognized the Quantity Surveyor concerned the building contractual arrangements and cost control. They can provide private developers, government departments, contractors, mining and petro-chemical companies and insurance companies some services to suit the various demands.QSBC (2009) also stated that: A Quantity Surveyor (QS) is a professional person working within the construction industry. The role of the QS is to manage and control costs within construction projects and may involve the use of a range of management procedures and technical tools to achieve this goal. The above are some of roles of the Quantity Surveyor. And then, the definition of the role of the Quantity Surveyor should be known. Refer to RICS (1983a, p.1) which stated that In the 1971 report, the role of the Quantity Surveyor was defined as ensuring that the resources of the construction industry are utilized to the best advantage of society by providing, inter alia, the financial management for projects and a cost consultancy service to the client and designer during the whole construction process. This distinctive competence of the Quantity Surveyor is a skill in measurement and valuation in the field of construction in order that such work can be described and the cost and price can be forecast analysed, planned, controlled and accounted for.2.3 HISTORY OF HKISAccording to seeley, 1997 (in Chung, 2000, pp.3-4) The development of the surveying profession in Hong Kong goes back to 1843 with the arrival of the first Surveyor General. A Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyor was established in 1992. In 1984, Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors was formed to act as an independent organization but it still maintained close links with the RICS throughout. HKIS (2009) remarked the HKIS as the leading professional organization in surveying, real estate and construction in Hong Kong over the past 25 years.The history of HKIS can be founded in HKIS (2004, p.9) which recorded that It was in April 1984 that HKIS was founded...It was by 1990 that the HKIS qualifications were fully recognized by the Hong Kong Government and HKIS ranks at par with other recognized professional bodies in local affairs.2.4 TRADITIONAL ROLES OF QUANTITY SURVEYORAshworth and Hogg (2007) stated that the traditional role of Quantity Surveyor is still practiced on small to medium sized projects. It can be described as a measure and value system. Quantity Surveyor should prepared using a single price method of estimating, produce bills of quantities for tendering, measure the progress payments base on the work and prepare final account on the basis of the tender documentation. The following listed the traditional role of Quantity Surveyor: Single rate approximate estimates Cost planning Procurement advice Measurement and quantification Document preparation, especially bills of quantities Cost control during construction Interim valuations and payments Financial statements Final account preparation and agreement Settlement of contractual claimsThe traditional role of the quantity surveyorhas since been considerably expanded to include such functions as resources control, accountancy, legal judgment, and all within the fields of contracting, engineering, project management, etc. (Newton, 1985, p.18). As a tradition, estimating, preparation of tender documents, tender analysis, contract documentation, valuation and variation, and all quantity surveying related works of infrastructure projects are always handled by civil engineers notwithstanding that majority of these works are actually handled by quantity surveyors under the supervision of civil engineers. In the building works, the traditional role of handling these works by architects had been changed to become the role of quantity surveyors, and the Government and Private Forms of Building Contract were changed to recognize such QS role. However, in the infrastructure works, such QS role is still with the civil engineers as stated in the Government Form of Civil Engineering Works (HKIS, 2008).2.5 EVOLVED ROLES OF QUANTITY SURVEYORRICS (1983a) also pointed out that the Quantity Surveyors expertise had been further developed after 1971. For the construction project, they are involved in the field of manpower planning, resources control and in assessing the effects of time. The filed of contracting, civil and industrial engineering construction, mechanical and

electrical engineering services, and project management and control also relate to the Quantity Surveyor. That means the role of the Quantity Surveyor is extended in 1980s. The Quantity Surveyor involve complex resource procurement and management processes, besides deal with complex construction contracts; provides the basis for a disciplined and well managed approach to projects.In 1980s, Quantity Surveyors roles from the historically dealt with work through prime cost and provisional sums to advice procurement method which becomes a new potential role of Quantity Surveyors because of the increasing array of options that were available. Other evolved roles have included project and construction management and facilities management. It is because the inherent adversarial nature of the construction industry which are involved in contractual disputes and ligation. More engineering services orientated increased emphasis on the services such as measurement, costs and value is other reason of this change (Ashworth and Hogg, 2007). Quantity Surveyors should more direct and more related to client. This management role is most effective when linked to authority, responsibility and risk taking. Clients need early and accurate cost advice, more often than not well in advance of site acquisition and of a commitment to build (RICS, 1991).Seeley (1997) pointed out the Quantity Surveyor not only regarded building contract and often as project manager on civil and heavy engineering contracts to control the project from inception to completion and coordinate with other parties to take over the works. Quantity Surveyor is an important member of the design team in both the public and private sectors to advising employers and architects on the probable costs of alternative designs.RICS (1983a) believed that Quantity Surveyor after gained the knowledge and experience in construction economics, management and resource control, he will evolve his role. These roles are policy making, numerate skills, strategic planning, contracting, work in construction management, multi-disciplinary working, diversity in procurement, life cycle costing and building procurement adviser.Newton (1985) raised Quantity Surveyor use the expert system of computer technology can make him become identity, independence and in first. That means the role of Quantity Surveyor can be established early in the design or construction process.As a consultant Chartered Quantity Surveyor, he should improve the quality of service and the matching of the known resources to suit for the requirement of clients. There are some services should be provided to clients during pre-contract stage and post-contract stage. In the precontract stage, Quantity Surveyor should preparing bills of quantities and examining tenders received and reporting thereon, cost planning, air conditioning, heating, ventilating and electrical services, negotiating tenders and pricing bills of quantities. In the post-contract, Quantity Surveyor should taking particulars and reporting valuation for interim certificate for payments on account to the contractor, preparing periodic assessments of anticipated final cost and reporting thereon, measuring and making up bills of variations including pricing and agreeing totals with contractor and adjusting fluctuations in the cost of labour and materials if required by the contract, air conditioning, heating, ventilating and electrical services, valuations for interim certificates, preparing accounts of variation upon contracts and cost monitoring services such as providing approximate estimates of final cost at the following frequency (RICS, 1983b).Some evolved roles stated in Ashworth and Hogg (2007) are listed as following: Investment appraisal Advice on cost limits and budgets Whole life costing Value management Risk analysis Insolvency services Cost engineering services Subcontract administration Environmental services measurement and costing Technical auditing Planning and supervision Valuation for insurance purposes Project management Facilities management Administering maintenance programmes Advice on contractual disputes Planning supervisor Employers agent2.6 RESPONSIBILITIES OF QUANTITY SURVEYORIn the past, the responsibilities of Quantity Surveyors are mentioned in RICS (1980) which listed some responsibilities of Quantity Surveyors as following: Budget estimating; Cost planning; Advice on tendering procedures and contract arrangements; Preparing tendering documents for main contract and specialist sub-contractor; Examining tenders received and reporting thereon or negotiating tenders; Pricing with a selected contractor and/or sub-contractors; Preparing recommendations for interim payments on account to the contractor; Preparing periodic assessments of anticipated final cost and reporting thereon; Measuring work and adjusting variations in accordance with the terms of the contract; Preparing final account, pricing same and agreeing totals with the contractor; Providing a reasonable number of copies of bills of quantities and other documents.Bennett (1986, p.31) said that The quantity surveyors responsibility is to ensure that the budget is complete and that no necessary costs are omitted or duplicated.Beyond this, the quantity surveyor should advise the client to make separate provision for all other costs including consultants fees, land costs, finance costs, fluctuations where appropriate and an overall project contingency. The quantity surveyors further major responsibility is to ensure that the cost control and accounting procedures adopted by the construction manager are satisfactory. This is a normal responsibility for final accounts and raises no new issues for quantity surveyors apart from the unusually large number of separate works contract accounts to be dealt with.Chartered Quantity Surveyor will provide a construction management service because of market-orientated. Some of them are towards realizing this potential (Bennett, 1986).RICS (1991) reported that something is changing of the world in 1990s such as markets, construction industry, client needs and the profession. For the changes in markets, the trend of different sectors will have different workloads and the challenges are arising for the European Union. For the changes in the construction industry, the nature of contracting will be changing. Some competition may come from non-construction professionals. For the changes in client needs, they want get the long-terms view about the initial design and construction phase. For the changes in the profession, employment patterns, the impact of fee competition, the ways in which the quantity surveyor is

appointed and the changes in their role and practice. Thus, management to time, cost and quality should be emphasized by Quantity Surveying. Bills of Quantities were still important. The areas of early cost advice, cost control and market forecasting are new services for clients business. The professions unique skill-base which combines procurement and cost management would be practiced by Quantity Surveyors. Quantity Surveyors are employed in consultancies only in the past. More and more Quantity Surveyors will be employed by clients, developers and contractor.i