Here's a quantity surveyor course for NZ builders. Whenever you meet with a new client to discuss a potential building job, you can guarantee they will ask you one question you hate answering. “What's the ballpark figure this will cost?”

With all building projects, cost is the number one thing on everybody's minds. When it comes to builders answering this question, you have a moral dilemma. Do you guess on the spot with minimal information, or do you tell them you don't know?

What clients never want to hear is the reality: their project will cost more than they want to pay. Costs in the industry continue to increase – materials in New Zealand cost 25 per cent more now than in 2015 – and skills shortages only push those costs higher each year. A good rule-of-thumb for builders' quotes, start with a very conservative evaluation. Even then, as every builder (and any client who has ever been through the construction or renovation process before) knows, you can only cost what you can see. When walls, floors, and ceilings start to come off, hidden problems with additional costs always appear.

Quantity surveyors accurately cost a building project and will actually be able to save a client money by finding ways to cut costs through alternative solutions, competitive quotes, etc. They should be used for projects that are in any way architectural in design, or on a difficult hill site or unknown ground. If the job will be tendered, a quantity surveyor should be used, and priced into a job like any other trade, because it's essential that tenders including an up-to-date and competitive market pricing. This is a quantity surveyor's specialty.

However, builders can always provide rough guides for their clients. These could be particularly useful in signing a new client on board in the first instance, for jobs with small budgets, and for simple or procedural builds and renovations you have a lot of experience doing.

With the appropriate tools like Xero Quotes and buildxact.co.nz builders should feel confident in pricing two types of jobs:

A standard house
A typical volume house method (historical m2 rate) can be applied, then you can add on any additional features.

For example, if the client wants cedar gables, take the materials quantity required, and then look at practically how much labour will be required by using physical hours from previous experience.

For example: a particular gable could take two tradesmen four hours to complete. Using your charge out rate (say $60 per hour) that’s eight hours x $60.00 + GST. Total labour cost is therefore $480 + GST.

A flat land site

If it’s solid ground, you can apply a m2 rate for a standard raft or typical NZS 3604-type foundations and slab.

Exclude (also known as “tagging out”) out all unknowns. If there is no ground report, tag out foundations. If there is limited documentation, tag “price subject to consented documentation issued”. If there are no landscaping drawings, tag them out too or include Provisional Sums for clients budgeting purposes.

Suckling Stringer Quantity Surveyors is available at any stage to supplement your chosen quantity surveyor course. We can also provide advice, peer review builders quotes, or complete a simple price check to ensure your quote provides adequate cover for you as a builder. This minimises your risk during the construction contract.