Chartered Surveyors & the Construction IndustryIn the UK, chartered surveyors are professionals with many varied roles across a wide variety 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 utilize the suffix MRICS or FRICS [Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors]. To the public generally, the chartered surveyor is a person who works in the construction industry, and even the majority are 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, along with land surveys, management of estates and different other areas relating to land and property. Chartered surveyors tend to specialise within these fields, and sometimes form professional partnerships with those working in different areas within the same industry.RICS & Construction ContractsConstruction contracts are in the heart of every 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 will be performing the work. Labour costs, the supply of 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 are 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 areas of the assorted roles of chartered surveyors during construction projects. These roles include not just building and quantity surveyors, but additionally valuers and project managers. Right To Light Surveyor Esher of the mandatory and advisory statements produced by RICS relate to the role of chartered surveyors pertaining to construction contracts, and RICS members must follow them.Contract AdministrationBuilding contracts in the united kingdom fall into various 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 focusing on building projects are therefore called on to deal not only with contract administration, but additionally with areas of project management that may 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 critical to the successful completion of a construction project, and chartered surveyors have an important role to play. And also overseeing the fulfilment of the agreed contract, and being involved in its termination, issues arising before the contract is agreed range from 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 using non-standard contracts, together with 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 role that may vary greatly depending on specific needs of the client or the project itself. The role may also be affected by the quantity of time that is available, but fundamentally the Employer's Agent acts for the 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 entire range of services and activities which might be undertaken by the Employer's Agent.These will often include, but are not limited to, picking or recommending contractors following a 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 look and management of costs and risks. Analysing tenders from contractors can be an important area of the role, and running meetings and ensuring smooth progress on the webpage itself are frequently involved.The Role of the Project ManagerProject Managers have a key role in construction projects, which include responsibility for overseeing the successful progress of the build, from the initial planning stage to completion. An excellent PM should be able to spot and resolve problems and issues before they arise, partly insurance firms the breadth of specialised knowledge essential 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 design has been fully understood by everyone focusing on the project, that the client understands the cost 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 may 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 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 have the ability to maintain the good working relationship between them in the event that unforeseen circumstances - for example, 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 be vital in producing progress reports because the project runs. These reports will include monitoring the completion of varied parts of the build, and also ensuring that costs are in line with the budget.TWC Consulting provides 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 more) all from under one roof.