THE SOUTH AFRICAN COUNCIL

for the

QUANTITY SURVEYING PROFESSION

Established in terms of the Quantity Surveying Profession Act 49 of 2000

20th January 2015

ELETTER 59 2015 NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS
Firstly, welcome back and here is hoping that 2015 is a wonderful year for you commercially and
personally. In this long delayed newsletter, we will deal with a number of issues and strategies that we
as a Council intend to tackle in the next 12-months:

The office of the Registrar

Expediting professional registration
New categories of registration
Upliftment of registered professional education
Professional discipline
Public awareness of the quantity surveying profession.

These are major projects over and above the run-of-the-mill function of the Council.
Secondly, the theme of the September 2014 QS Research Conference was MAPPING THE
FUTURE; which highlighted many of the tools available and research that has been undertaken both
within the profession and academia, in order for the profession to both survive and grow going
forward. These conferences are not merely CPD events, but important arenas where the profession
can meet and grow themselves both intellectually and commercially. As a Council, together with our
voluntary professional bodies, we will be expanding on various aspects raised at the conferences to
ensure that you as a QS professional are well positioned to survive and lead the professional team in
building a better South Africa.
The office of the Registrar
Mid-2014, I personally was diagnosed with a very rare and odd disease call Myasthenia Gravis which
is a neuromuscular condition that shows up as stroke-like symptoms. This required open chest
surgery, lengthy hospitalisation and an ongoing myriad of drugs to halt the symptoms. Initially I
scaled back my workload and worked from home whilst recuperating. In early November, Council
took the decision to ensure 100% rest for me, and between the Council members and the
management staff, they assumed all my functions and forcefully cut me off from all outside
communication with the profession to ensure this. The doctors advised that my condition has
stabilised and now it is a slow 12 18 month recovery period to regain most of my physical and
mental abilities.
The office of the Registrar continues to operate normally; in the first quarter of 2015 we are expanding
the office space and have invested in sophisticated video and telecommunication facilities to enable
us to operate more efficiently. We will be engaging additional personnel to speed up various
processes that have been identified as problem bottlenecks, plus will be engaging additional legal
resources to expedite disciplinary matters.
Expediting Professional Registration
Unit C27, Lone Creek, Corner Mac Mac Road & Howick Place, Waterfall Park, Bekker Road, Vorna Valley Ext 21,
MIDRAND 1682
P O Box 654, HALFWAY HOUSE, 1685
Tel: 011 312-2560/1
Fax: 011 312-2562 E-mail: registrar@sacqsp.co.za
Website: http://www.sacqsp.org.za

There are approximately 1,600 Candidate Quantity Surveyors on our official register, with
approximately 600 new applications submitted every year. Less than half of these new applications
will translate into Candidate QS registration due to inadequate education or lack of suitable
employment within the profession. This area of lack of suitable employments is being discussed with
the CIDB and CETA to financially incentivise employers to take on more learnership employees. Of
the 1,600 existing Candidate QS that have been officially registered on our database, they have been
registered from between 3-months to 25-years. In 2012, legislation was passed where the time limit
for being a Candidate QS was set at 10-years (similar to the legal and accounting profession). A
concession of 3-years was allowed for those Candidates who have not expedited the process of
completing the requirements for professional registration and been registered for >10 years already
(i.e. minimum level of education, work experience with log-books, project reports and APC
interviews).
If you registered as Candidate QS or have employed a Candidate QS that was
registered before January 2005, you/they have until November 2015 to complete all the requirements
to meet the SACQSP Registration Committees needs. Failure to comply, will lead to deregistration
with fair warning, and it will consequently bar the individual from practicing professionally in the QS
profession (See section 20 and 23 of the Quantity Surveying Professions Act 49 of 2000).

Irrespective of this, if you have 11-months or 9-years remaining in your route to registration
as prescribed, the steps to follow are:
1. Review what is outstanding from completing your registration and sitting the APC
interview. Log-in to your SACQSP profile and check your records:
a. Are your fees up-to-date, which allows you to continue with this process?
b. Are all your contact details and employer details correct?
c. Are all your documents submitted and viewable online?
2. Do you require to do the SACQSP Exam (Part 1 or 2 or both) or the replacement
Professional Skills Modules (PSM)?
a. If you do not have an accredited honours degree in QS, or have not been
specifically excluded from writing the SACQSP Exams, you need to have
completed the Professional Skill Modules (PSM) applicable.
b. The PSM programme is an excellent series of academic upliftment modules
that take all Candidates to an equal level of minimum technical knowledge
required for professional registration. The modules are run on a set 13-week
cycle and are offered as distance learning at affordable rates.
c. The next semester of PSM commence 2nd February 2015 and more
information can be found on the SACQSP website under the PSM tab.
3. Have you been activated on the QS Diary software this is only possible if you have
submitted the new Letter of Undertaking since February 2014.
For a detailed reminder of the route to professional quantity surveyor registration
requirements, we recommended that you download and re-read the informative official
REGISTRATION POLICY and APC GUIDELINE. If you are uncertain of where you are in
the registration process, please ask the Registration Manager for advice
registration@sacqsp.co.za
Candidate QS are constrained in terms of the Code of Professional Conduct on what they
may do and their rights to practice independently are limited. Therefore it is critical that
Candidates do not neglect to complete their formal professional registration as soon as
possible.
New Specified Categories of Registration
The addition of the 2 new Specified Categories of registration (per Clause 18(1)(c)) of the Quantity
Surveying Professions Act that will enable the formal registration of Construction Quantity
Surveyors and Technician Quantity Surveyors was regretfully delayed due to my absence in
the 2nd half of 2014. The necessary completion of the drafting of the formal legislation and the
Unit C27, Lone Creek, Corner Mac Mac Road & Howick Place, Waterfall Park, Bekker Road, Vorna Valley Ext 21,
MIDRAND 1682
P O Box 654, HALFWAY HOUSE, 1685
Tel: 011 312-2560/1
Fax: 011 312-2562 E-mail: registrar@sacqsp.co.za
Website: http://www.sacqsp.org.za

necessary consultative process will be expedited during the first half of 2015. For insight into the
draft technical requirements for each new specified category, you can view them under the
REGISTRATION tab on the SACQSP website. Comment to registrar@sacqsp.co.za is encouraged.
Upliftment of Registered Professional Education
Continuing Professional Development that has been implemented and enforced by the SACQSP is a
vital part of our mandate to ensure that the professionals keep abreast with the latest technical
knowledge within the profession, reinforced with the likes of the QS Research Conferences noted
above. As a Council, we have observed that many professionals that have been registered for over
15 years (irrespective if they hold a 4-degree or a diploma) are missing vital elements within their
formal education as compared with current honours graduates and under-graduates who have
completed the PSM programme. The traditional PrQS of who are outstanding measurers and
contract overseers are full-filling only part of the full spectrum of services that are listed in the
PROCSA agreement.
To enable all PrQSs to be empowered with the knowledge that the Council believes being essential,
the full range of the PSM programme will be made available online to all PrQSs as CPD. The
learning made available is current and will be examined online to evaluate that true learning has taken
place. The amount of reading/learning required may be equated to a 70 150 page textbook per
module. We encourage each PrQS to attempt at least 3 modules per year and undertake these
modules at your own pace which are available online 24/7. These modules, besides being excellent
for your personal development and have formal CPD value, are an excellent reference resource for
your office.
We have been advised that some PrQS do study the same modules at the same time as their
Candidates and group learning of applying experience of mentors with younger (receptive to change)
minds make the grasping of the concepts all that much easier. Candidates do however have to sit
formal written exams which are set at a much higher level of evaluation per the legislative criterion set
in the Quantity Surveyor Unit Standards. PSM undertaken for CPD are listed on the Council website
under the CPD tab.
Please dont forget that the annual CPD submission deadline is 31st January 2014 and if you have
any query in this regard, please contact Lesley at pa-registrar@sacqsp.co.za or Rebecca at
cpd@sacqsp.co.za
Professional Discipline
The SACQSP fundamental mandate is to establish a professional Code of Conduct and the
enforcement of the code thereby protecting the public from unethical behaviour from within the
quantity surveying profession.
Ethics is about making decisions on what are good and bad acts, about right and wrong in practical
situations. It is concerned with judging what people do and the consequences of what they do. This
formal Code of Professional Conduct was compiled and legislated in 2006 with minor revisions as
circumstances arose. The content of the document consists of morally oriented policies and a formal
guide for the behaviour of users. The document itself and downloadable web references have been
circulated to every professional and candidate a number of times in the past 3-years. Yet, there
remain numerous infringements reported to the Disciplinary Investigative panel of late. We encourage
all Professionals and Candidates to familiarise themselves with and adhere to the Professional Code
of Conduct. This is a serious matter that needs to be resolved as quickly as possible. In this light, we
will in 2015 require that every registered person is familiar with the content of the Code of
Professional Conduct on a regular basis. Commencing 2015 CPD annual cycle, every registered
person will be required to undertake an annual online assessment of their knowledge of the Code of
Professional Conduct. Reading/preparation should take 30 40 minutes and the online assessment
10 15 minutes.
Due to my absence during 2nd half of 2014, many cases that required formal disciplinary intervention
were held over in abeyance. But as mention previously, the additional legal resources engaged will

Unit C27, Lone Creek, Corner Mac Mac Road & Howick Place, Waterfall Park, Bekker Road, Vorna Valley Ext 21,
MIDRAND 1682
P O Box 654, HALFWAY HOUSE, 1685
Tel: 011 312-2560/1
Fax: 011 312-2562 E-mail: registrar@sacqsp.co.za
Website: http://www.sacqsp.org.za

be used to action outstanding issues and to ensure that future matters are investigated and resolved
in the intended 6 8 week turn-around basis.
Public awareness of the quantity surveying profession.
Construction Professionals of Value is the message that we need to jointly communicate to
the public as a matter of priority. Why this message the word Value has many connotations;
each ticks the boxes when considering the appointment of a quantity surveyor for a project:

Noun:
The quality (positive or negative) that renders something desirable or valuable.
The degree of importance given to something.
The amount (of money or goods or services) that is considered to be a fair equivalent for
something else.
Precise contractual meaning; import or the value of a word
Verb
Numerical quantity measured or assigned or computed.
Impart the precise contractual meaning of a word
Esteem; regard.
Synonyms
Worth - (quality that renders something desirable)
Quality (positive or negative) that renders something desirable or valuable
Degree of importance you give to something
Amount (of money or goods or services) that is considered to be a fair equivalent for
something else
Numerical quantity measured or assigned or computed
Ideal accepted by some individual or group
To estimate the value of; judge the worth of something
To regard highly; think much of; place importance upon
Assess / Valuate
Esteem /respect/treasure/regard highly/hold dear/appreciate
We encourage every QS to use the above professional brand message of VALUE within their own
marketing. In time the common message will be accepted as a unified brand of the Professional
Quantity Surveyor.
The above New Year resolutions to be undertaken by the Council for and on behalf of both the
profession and the public are monumental and will need a positive commitment from everyone
involved that is passionate to see the profession build from strength to strength.

Regards

Eletter 59
Steven Lyons
Registrar

Unit C27, Lone Creek, Corner Mac Mac Road & Howick Place, Waterfall Park, Bekker Road, Vorna Valley Ext 21,
MIDRAND 1682
P O Box 654, HALFWAY HOUSE, 1685
Tel: 011 312-2560/1
Fax: 011 312-2562 E-mail: registrar@sacqsp.co.za
Website: http://www.sacqsp.org.za