Chartered Surveyors & the Construction IndustryIn the united kingdom, 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 general public in general, the chartered surveyor is someone who works in the construction industry, and even the majority is 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, and land surveys, management of estates and different 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 ContractsConstruction contracts are in the heart of each building project undertaken in the UK, 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 supply of materials, and the time frame for the completion of the project are all covered in the contract, as will be 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 assorted 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 with the role of chartered surveyors pertaining to construction contracts, and RICS members must follow them.Contract AdministrationBuilding contracts in the UK fall into a number of subcategories. Probably the most common are as follows:? 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 only with contract administration, but additionally with regions of project management that can include material and labour costs, initial planning and feasibility studies (including site surveying and legalities), site and building safety, preventing and resolving any disputes that could arise, and building control. Go to this site  is critical 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 in relation to building contracts can include dealing with and managing the application of non-standard contracts, as well as those outlined above.The Role of the Employer's AgentOn a design and build contract a chartered surveyor will often be engaged being an Employer's Agent, a job that may vary greatly with regards to the specific needs of your client or the project itself. The role can even be affected by the number of time which is available, but fundamentally the Employer's Agent acts for the client on any matters associated with 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 might be undertaken by the Employer's Agent.These will often 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 and the like; and the look and management of costs and risks. Analysing tenders from contractors is also an important part of the role, and running meetings and ensuring smooth progress on the site itself are generally involved.The Role of the Project ManagerProject Managers have a key role in construction projects, which includes responsibility for overseeing the successful progress of the build, from the original planning stage to completion. An excellent PM should be able to spot and resolve problems and issues before they arise, partly by having the breadth of specialised knowledge essential for asking the proper questions. Conflict and dispute resolution will require good diplomatic skills.In the centre of the Project Manager's role is good communication. In order for a project to be completed within the allotted time scale and budget, while satisfying the original brief, a PM must think several moves ahead. It's essential, for example, for the PM to make certain the look has been fully understood by everyone focusing 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 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 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 instance, a rise in the cost of materials or labour, or revised legal duties - arise during the duration of the project.Finally, the communication skills of the PM will undoubtedly be vital in producing progress reports as the project runs. These reports will include monitoring the completion of varied parts of the build, along with ensuring that costs are in line with the budget.TWC Consulting offers a diverse selection 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 much more) all from under one roof.