One of the biggest challenges facing the Construction sector at present is the lack of suitably qualified staff. I see it on a daily basis in the news and on social media that building companies are screaming out for willing and capable workers, many offering premium pay rates to build their teams or just to simply plug the gaps.
For many SME builders who are under staffed this can mean longer days on site having to cover all bases and often performing tasks that are outside their capabilities. The cliche ‘work smarter, not harder’ is bandied about regularly however, in a ‘needs, must’ situation it actually becomes sound advice.
So how would a SME builder go about working smarter ? This opens up (again !) the age old debate regarding the virtues of having an inhouse QS versus outsourcing pricing to an independent QS company. Many of our regular clients see a QS as a trusted advisor in the pricing process and an extension of their preferred list of subcontractors. The cost of having a QS on staff can be prohibitive for smaller building companies and the idea of paying for a QS on an ad hoc basis is appealing and just makes good business sense for them.
Whether you are pricing a job yourself or outsourcing to a QS, the pricing process is a legitimate cost of running a business and must be factored in to your margin calculations i.e. margin = offsite overheads + profit. Unfortunately, I have spoken to many builders who think that doing their own pricing is saving them money and an alarming number have found out the hard way that one mistake can quickly erode any anticipated profit.
While you may not necessarily need a QS on every job, there are definitely some projects where using a QS is more cost effective than doing it yourself. Rather than risking your precious bottom line, why not give me a call to see how we can help ? You’ve got nothing to lose !
Phone Paul on Ph. 027 238 1866, or Ph. 0800 003 070