Quantity Surveyor resume

A quantity surveyor resume should show the contract stages you handle, the size and type of projects, your commercial results and the software and standards you use. Employers want to see quickly whether you work on the client (PQS) or contractor side and whether you can manage cost from estimate to final account.

Core sections:

• Header with name, "Quantity Surveyor", contact details and location.
• Summary naming your side (consultant or contractor), sector and years.
• Key skills: take-offs, BOQ preparation, tendering, valuations, variations, final accounts.
• Experience with project-based bullets including contract values where you are allowed to share them.
• Education (quantity surveying, construction management or similar).
• Professional memberships and certifications.

Example summary line (fictional): "Contractor-side quantity surveyor with seven years on high-rise residential projects, handling monthly valuations, variations and subcontractor final accounts."

Keep it to two pages and put the most relevant projects in your most recent role first.

In three or four sentences, state your QS side (consultant or contractor), years of experience, sector, the contract stages you cover, and one commercial strength. Recruiters for QS roles scan for these details first.

Formula:

• Title, years, side and sector.
• Stages: estimating, tendering, post-contract, final accounts.
• Contract forms or measurement standards you use, if relevant.
• A strength or result.

Example (fictional): "Consultant quantity surveyor with six years in commercial and healthcare projects. Prepares cost plans, bills of quantities and tender reports, then manages interim valuations and variations through to final account. Experienced with FIDIC contracts and CESMM and NRM measurement."

Example for a junior (fictional): "Graduate quantity surveyor with a BSc in Quantity Surveying and one year of take-offs and BOQ preparation on residential projects."

Contractor QS bullets should show how you protected and recovered money: valuations, variations, subcontractor accounts, cost reporting and claims support. Here are fictional examples to adapt so they are accurate for you:

• Example: "Prepared monthly interim payment applications for a 30-storey residential tower, agreeing valuations with the client's QS."
• Example: "Priced and submitted 45 variations, recovering cost for scope changes on time and with full backup."
• Example: "Issued and managed packages for MEP and finishes subcontractors, from tender to final account."
• Example: "Produced monthly cost-value reconciliations (CVR) highlighting margin risk to the commercial manager."
• Example: "Compiled records to support an extension-of-time claim with the planning team."

Use the contract values only if your employer allows it; otherwise describe scale in words, such as "large mixed-use development".

A consultant or client-side QS resume should emphasise cost planning, tender documents and protecting the client's budget, while a contractor QS resume emphasises valuations, variations, subcontractors and margin. Many hiring managers look for this distinction first.

Consultant (PQS) focus:

• Early cost estimates and cost plans.
• Bills of quantities and tender documents.
• Tender analysis and recommendations.
• Certifying valuations and assessing variations.

Contractor focus:

• Tender pricing and take-offs.
• Payment applications and variation claims.
• Subcontractor procurement and accounts.
• Cost-value reconciliation and margin.

Example PQS bullet (fictional): "Prepared the cost plan and BOQ for a new school, then analysed five tenders and recommended award."
Example contractor bullet (fictional): "Negotiated subcontractor final accounts on a hotel project, closing all within six months of handover."

If you have done both, say so in your summary; it is valued in many markets.

List the estimating, measurement and office tools you use on real projects, using the names job ads use. Commonly requested tools include Excel (often advanced), CostX, Bluebeam, PlanSwift, Candy, CCS, Primavera P6 or MS Project for programme awareness, AutoCAD for reading drawings, and ERP systems such as Oracle or SAP for cost reporting.

How to present them:

• Group them: measurement, estimating, cost control, office.
• Show one strength in a bullet. Example (fictional): "Built take-offs in CostX directly from 2D and 3D models, cutting measurement time on repeat house types."
• Mention BIM-based quantity work if you have done it, as some employers ask for it.

Only list software you could use in a test. If you have only seen a tool, leave it out or say "basic".

Show results in money recovered or saved, accuracy, speed and volume of work, using figures you can explain. Quantity surveying is a commercial role, so results matter more than lists of duties.

Useful measures:

• Variations or claims agreed.
• Savings from value engineering or tender negotiation.
• Final accounts closed and how quickly.
• Accuracy of estimates against tender or outturn.
• Number and size of packages managed.

Example bullets (fictional):

• "Value-engineered façade and ceiling options, saving the client a significant sum without changing the design intent."
• "Closed 18 subcontractor final accounts within three months of practical completion."
• "Kept the cost plan within the approved budget across four design stages."

If figures are confidential, use relative terms: "within budget", "ahead of programme", or describe scale instead of exact amounts.

Yes, if you have used them, because many quantity surveyor job ads ask for experience with a specific contract family. Name the forms you know and show what you did under them.

How to include them:

• In skills: "Contracts: FIDIC Red and Yellow Book, NEC4, JCT" (only those you know).
• In bullets, link the form to a task. Example (fictional): "Administered compensation events under an NEC3 ECC contract, assessing cost and time impacts."
• Mention measurement standards too, such as NRM, POMI, CESMM or SMM7, if relevant to the market.

Do not claim expert contract knowledge from one short course. Write "working knowledge" if that is honest. In the Gulf, FIDIC is often mentioned; in the UK, NEC and JCT appear frequently, but always read the job advert.

List the memberships and certifications you actually hold, with the body and year. Examples often seen on QS resumes include chartered membership of RICS (MRICS or FRICS), membership of a national institute of quantity surveyors, CIOB membership, and cost or project management certificates.

How to present them:

• Put chartered status after your name only if you hold it: Example: "Amal Rahman MRICS".
• Add a Professional Memberships or Certifications section with full names and dates.
• If you are on a pathway, say "working towards APC, expected 2027" rather than implying you are chartered.

Rules about using professional titles differ by country. If your country requires registration with a local engineering or surveying council for your role, list it as the regulator requires, with its number and expiry if it has one.

Put your degree, any placements and your measurement and software skills first, and show you understand the QS workflow even at a basic level. Graduate QS employers mainly want to see accuracy, numeracy and a real interest in the commercial side of construction.

Suggested order:

• Summary naming your degree and the side (consultant or contractor) you want.
• Education with relevant modules: measurement, contract law, cost planning.
• Placements or internships, with bullets.
• Final-year project or dissertation, if related.
• Skills: Excel, CostX or similar, reading drawings.

Example placement bullets (fictional):

• "Measured blockwork, plaster and tiling quantities for 40 villas using CostX."
• "Helped prepare a BOQ for a small retail fit-out under supervision."

Part-time jobs can stay, written briefly, to show reliability.

A senior QS or commercial manager resume should lead with portfolio size, commercial leadership and strategic results: margin protection, claims, dispute avoidance, team management and client relationships. Detailed measurement tasks can shrink to a line.

Bring forward:

• The value and number of projects you oversaw, if you can share them.
• Team size and the grades you managed.
• Commercial strategy: procurement routes, risk registers, claims and settlements.
• Reporting to directors or clients.

Example bullets (fictional):

• "Led a commercial team of six QSs across three live projects, reporting monthly forecasts to the board."
• "Negotiated a settlement on a delay claim, avoiding formal dispute."
• "Introduced a standard CVR template used across the business."

Two pages is usually enough. Older roles can be summarised under "Earlier career".

Frequent QS keywords include take-off, bill of quantities (BOQ), cost plan, estimating, tendering, tender analysis, valuations, interim payments, variations, final account, cost-value reconciliation (CVR), cost reporting, value engineering, subcontractor procurement, claims, FIDIC, NEC, NRM and CostX.

How to use them:

• Compare two or three adverts and note what repeats.
• Use the advert's exact form ("BOQ" or "bill of quantities"); writing both once helps readers and software.
• Place the strongest terms in your summary, skills and the first bullets of your latest role.
• Only use terms you can discuss in interview.

Example bullet using keywords naturally (fictional): "Prepared BOQs and pre-tender estimates, then led tender analysis and value engineering for a 200-bed hospital."

A job-description comparison can show which frequent advert terms your resume is missing.

You can, if the figure is public or your employer is happy for it to be shared, because project value is a quick signal of scale for QS roles. If it is confidential, describe the size another way.

Options:

• Public value: "Hotel and serviced apartments, contract value [amount in local currency]."
• Range or approximate, if allowed: "large-scale, multi-tower residential development".
• Physical scale: floors, units, built-up area, kilometres of road.

Example (fictional): "Post-contract QS on a 45-storey tower with three basement levels and 400 apartments."

Do not inflate a value or claim ownership of a project you only supported. Write "as part of a commercial team of four" where that is the truth. Interviewers often ask follow-up questions about these figures.

Describe the documents you produced, the method you used and the outcome of the tender. Pre-contract work is about accuracy and judgement, so show both.

What to mention:

• Take-offs from drawings or models.
• Rates build-up and supplier or subcontractor quotes.
• Tender documents, BOQs, pricing schedules.
• Tender queries, clarifications and qualifications.
• Results: bids won, tender reports accepted.

Example bullets (fictional):

• "Priced civils and structural packages for infrastructure tenders, building up rates from labour, plant and material costs."
• "Prepared BOQs and tender documents for a commercial building, issuing addenda during tender."
• "Analysed six contractor bids and wrote the tender recommendation report."

For contractor-side roles, say how many bids you supported and how many won, if you know; for consultant roles, mention the accuracy of the pre-tender estimate.

The biggest mistake is a list of duties copied from a job description with no projects, values, sides or results. Every QS does "valuations and variations"; what separates you is where, how big and with what outcome.

Other common mistakes:

• Not stating whether you are consultant or contractor side.
• Leaving out the type of projects (residential, infrastructure, oil and gas, fit-out).
• Overstating titles, for example "Senior QS" when you were an assistant.
• Long lists of software you cannot use well.
• Sharing confidential contract or claim details.
• Claiming chartered status while still on the pathway.

Quick fix: rewrite each bullet to answer "which project, what did I do, and what did it achieve?" Example (fictional): "Agreed the final account on a hospital MEP package two months after handover."

Group them under each employer and name only the most relevant three to five projects, each with type, scale and your role. A long table of every project makes the resume harder to read; you can keep a full project list as a separate appendix if an employer asks.

Format example (fictional):
Senior Quantity Surveyor – Northgate Contracting, Doha, 2020–2025

• "Al Waha Towers (residential, 2 towers, 600 units): post-contract QS, valuations and variations."
• "District school (education, design and build): tender pricing and subcontractor procurement."
• "Retail mall extension: final account and claims support."

Then add two or three general bullets for responsibilities that ran across projects, such as monthly cost reporting. Keep project names only if public or approved.

Yes, and your resume should highlight the commercial and measurement parts of your existing work. Civil engineers, site engineers and supervisors often already read drawings, track quantities, check subcontractor work and understand construction methods, which helps in QS roles.

How to reposition:

• Write a summary saying you are moving into quantity surveying and why.
• Pull forward bullets on measuring completed work, checking subcontractor bills and material reconciliation.
• Add QS training or a part-time degree in quantity surveying, if you have one.
• List Excel and any measurement software.

Example summary (fictional): "Site engineer with five years on infrastructure projects, moving into quantity surveying. Experienced in measuring completed works, checking subcontractor claims and reconciling materials."

Example bullet (fictional): "Measured monthly earthworks and concrete quantities to support the QS team's interim valuations."

Name the specialism in your title or summary and use its specific terminology, because MEP and oil and gas QS roles often recruit for that background only.

MEP QS points:

• Measurement of ductwork, pipework, cabling and equipment.
• Pricing with manufacturer quotes and labour norms.
• Variations from design coordination changes.

Oil and gas or industrial points:

• Lump-sum and reimbursable contracts.
• Cost control against work breakdown structures.
• Change orders and progress measurement.

Example MEP bullet (fictional): "Measured HVAC ductwork and chilled-water pipework for a hospital and priced variations from layout changes."
Example oil and gas bullet (fictional): "Tracked change orders and earned value on a gas plant shutdown, reporting weekly to the cost controller."

If you are moving between specialisms, highlight common skills such as cost control and change management.

Use a short, grouped skills section of three or four lines covering technical, commercial, software and contract knowledge. It should mirror the advert and be backed up by your experience bullets.

Example skills section (fictional):

• Technical: take-offs, BOQ preparation, rate build-up, measurement to NRM2 and POMI.
• Commercial: cost plans, CVR, valuations, variations, final accounts, claims support.
• Software: CostX, Bluebeam, advanced Excel, Oracle Primavera (viewer).
• Contracts: FIDIC 1999 and 2017, NEC4.

Soft skills such as negotiation and report writing are best shown through bullets. For example: "Negotiated variation rates with three subcontractors." Avoid skill bars or ratings; they are hard to read and say little.

Use a clear two-page A4 resume with your contact details, nationality or visa status if you choose, notice period, and a summary naming your regional experience. Gulf employers often look for regional project experience, FIDIC knowledge and the type of projects (towers, infrastructure, hospitality, oil and gas).

Tips:

• Put your current location and availability near the top.
• Name regional projects if public, or describe them.
• Mention FIDIC and the measurement standards used on your projects.
• Add memberships you hold, such as RICS, and any local registration if your role requires it, as the regulator requires.
• List languages; Arabic can help in client-facing roles.

Example summary line (fictional): "Quantity surveyor with eight years in the UAE and Qatar on high-rise and infrastructure projects under FIDIC Red Book."

Describe your role in the claim process, the type of claim and the result, without sharing confidential details. Claims experience is valuable, but readers want to know whether you led it or supported it.

Points to include:

• Type: extension of time, disruption, prolongation cost, variations.
• Your tasks: gathering records, quantifying cost, drafting notices, preparing submissions.
• Who you worked with: planners, legal advisers, experts.
• Outcome in general terms: settled, agreed, partly agreed.

Example bullets (fictional):

• "Quantified prolongation costs for an extension-of-time claim, working with the planning team on delay analysis."
• "Prepared notices and records to support a variation claim, agreed at negotiation."

Avoid naming the other party or amounts if the matter is confidential or ongoing.

Yes. Quantity surveying skills transfer well to cost management, project controls, commercial management and procurement, and your resume should frame them in the new role's language.

How to adapt:

• Project controls: emphasise cost reporting, forecasting, earned value and change control.
• Procurement: emphasise tender packages, supplier evaluation and negotiation.
• Commercial management: emphasise margin, risk and client negotiation.

Example summary for project controls (fictional): "Quantity surveyor moving into project controls, with six years of cost reporting, forecasting and change management on infrastructure projects."

Example bullet for procurement (fictional): "Ran tenders for 20 subcontract packages, evaluating bids and negotiating terms."

Keep the QS title in your history; only the summary and emphasis change.

Put experience first once you have a year or more of QS work; put education first if you are a student, a graduate or changing career into quantity surveying with a new degree.

Experienced QS order:

• Header and summary.
• Key skills.
• Experience.
• Education.
• Memberships and certifications.

Graduate or changer order:

• Header and summary.
• Education with relevant modules and dissertation.
• Placements and related work.
• Skills and software.

Example education entry (fictional): "BSc (Hons) Quantity Surveying – Northfield University, 2024. Dissertation: cost risk in design and build contracts."

Accredited degrees can be noted as such if your degree was accredited by a professional body; check your certificate before claiming it.

Show the full subcontract cycle you handled: package preparation, tendering, award, monthly valuations, variations and final accounts. Subcontractor management is a core contractor-side skill, so use specific bullets rather than one generic line.

Example bullets (fictional):

• "Prepared and tendered 12 subcontract packages, from scope documents to award recommendations."
• "Assessed monthly subcontractor applications, checking measured work on site before payment."
• "Negotiated and agreed variation claims from the drylining subcontractor with full records."
• "Closed out subcontract final accounts and released retentions after defects period."

Mention the trades if helpful (MEP, façade, finishes), because some employers want experience with specific packages. Keep amounts out if they are confidential.

Usually no for experienced quantity surveyors; your projects belong inside each job entry. A separate section helps only in specific cases.

When a separate projects section helps:

• You are a graduate and want to show placements and university projects clearly.
• You are a freelance or contract QS with many short assignments.
• An employer asks for a detailed project list; then provide it as an appendix.

Example appendix line (fictional): "2023 | Mixed-use tower, 38 floors | Post-contract QS | FIDIC Red Book."

For most applications, keep the resume to two pages, with each employer showing its key projects and your best bullets. Offer the full list on request.

Name the design stages you costed, how you reported to the client and how the budget moved, because cost planning is the main early-stage skill consultant employers look for.

What to include:

• Stages: feasibility estimate, elemental cost plan, pre-tender estimate.
• Methods: elemental, unit rates, benchmarking against past projects.
• Reporting: monthly cost reports, change registers, forecast final cost.
• Client advice: options appraisals and value engineering workshops.

Example bullets (fictional):

• "Prepared elemental cost plans at concept, schematic and detailed design stages for a 300-bed hospital."
• "Issued monthly cost reports to the client, tracking approved and pending changes against the budget."
• "Ran value engineering workshops with the design team, presenting cost options for façade and MEP systems."

If you benchmarked costs, mention the source in general terms (internal cost database) rather than naming confidential projects.