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This paper aims to investigate the nature and extent of value management (VM) practice by professional quantity surveyors in South Africa. The survey explores practitioners' awareness and understanding of VM and the nature and extent of the use of VM techniques within their organisations.

A web‐based, online questionnaire survey is employed to establish VM practice by South African registered quantity surveyors. Descriptive statistics are used to analyse the survey response data.

The results suggest that, while VM (and more particularly its value engineering antecedent) is generally known among quantity surveyors in South Africa, it is less widely practiced. VM is seen predominantly as a cost reduction tool. This misperception, and the lack of awareness of the potential benefits of VM, must be remedied if quantity surveyors in South Africa are to provide clients with services that meet world's best practice standards. Quantity surveyors also need to know what those standards are.

Refresher courses in contemporary VM theory and practice are recommended, as well as exploration of the impacts on VM of other techniques such as risk, quality and environmental management.

The findings are important given the increasing globalization of construction services, especially given the international ties between designers, quantity surveyors and other built environment professionals.

Offsite construction (OSC) is a modern method of construction (MMC) that involves manufacturing and assembly of buildings. Industry 4.0-driven technological advancements have accelerated OSC uptake causing many skilled construction workers requiring re-skilling or up-skilling. Quantity surveyors currently play an important role throughout a construction project life cycle, and hence, their knowledge on OSC projects is vital for the continuity of quantity surveying (QS) profession. The purpose of this paper is to critically review QS education in an OSC perspective and to propose strategies for up-skilling.

This research includes a detailed literature review of QS and OSC to evaluate how OSC affects the QS profession. Publicly available information on the university websites on accredited QS and construction management degrees was reviewed to identify OSC and MMC references, specifically the content listing and learning outcomes.

Out of the 315 degrees offered by 157 universities, only 69 degrees in 32 universities refer to OSC or MMC. OSC concept is explicitly referred in subjects related to construction technology, production management, lean construction, digital construction and MMC. As such, the research suggests including lean production principles, OSC techniques and design philosophies such as design for manufacture and assembly be added to the QS curricula.

This research is a comprehensive desktop study that does not involve empirical data-based evaluation. Research findings inform strategies to improve QS education and professional competencies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind that evaluates accredited QS degrees and learning requirements in an OSC perspective.

Malaysia has experienced a significant surge in COVID-19. The “new normal” has plunged construction players into one of the most challenging times in their history, including the quantity surveyors (QS). Playing a primary role from pre-construction to post-construction stages, QS is essential to ensure project success. This study aims to clarify the impact of COVID-19 on quantity surveying practices to provide a better understanding of the construction sector's downturn during the pandemic.

Preliminary exploratory interviews were conducted with ten QS, architects, project managers and engineers to identify quantity surveying practices affected by the pandemic, followed by a survey involving 222 respondents to determine the significance of these impacts.

It was found that quantity surveying practices involving site visits, such as variation work valuation and interim payment valuation, were the most affected by the pandemic. On the other hand, consultative services such as value management and advisory services were the least affected.

The study faced data sampling limitations. Further research requires more insights on different groups of QS, such as consultants, contractors and developers, and reasons behind the difference in consensus between QS and non-QS respondents.

The insights from this research may help authorities and construction companies make necessary adjustments to ensure the quantity surveying profession remains resilient, hence a better chance of project success during a pandemic. This discovery can also be considered a significant opportunity to present the need for further development.

The findings are expected to explain how COVID-19 had affected the duties of QS and identify which impact is the most significant. This research will complement the existing publications on the impacts of COVID-19 on the construction industry.

Studies showed that construction consultants' ethical negligence is a contributing factor to the time and cost over-run of projects. There is limited research on the issues that may have hindered construction consultants' ethical responsiveness during contract administration. Studies regarding influencing factors in the context of Nigeria's quantity surveyors' (QS) ethical responsiveness are rare. Thus, the study aims to investigate the perceived issues and proffers initiatives to promote QSs' ethical responsiveness on construction projects in Nigeria.

To determine the perceptions of QS regarding ethical responsiveness, a phenomenologically driven perspective via face-to-face interviews was conducted with 12 senior professionals in Lagos and Abuja that showed interest in participating in the study and were interviewed. A thematic approach was adopted to analyse the collated data.

Economic, societal and professional issues emerged as the three groups of issues that hindered QS's ethical responsiveness on construction projects in a developing country setting such as Nigeria. Findings show that for ethical responsiveness to be expressed on projects, key stakeholders should be ethically responsible. This is currently missing, especially in public construction projects. Initiatives that can promote key stakeholders' ethical responsiveness on construction projects are examined in this paper.

The paper embraces an important practical implication because practices associated with QS's unethical responsiveness and behavioural impacts on construction projects were identified. This will stir both the regulatory professional bodies and policymakers to enforce and implement feasible initiatives that can promote key stakeholders' collaborative ethical responsiveness on construction projects.

This paper is amongst the few papers that attempted to uncover issues that hinder QS's ethical responsiveness on construction projects in a developing country setting via a qualitative approach. Since these issues are rampant in developing countries, findings from this paper can be used to promote QS's ethical responsiveness in other nations with similar unethical issues.

Quantity surveying education in Sri Lanka (SL) presently does not appear to be catering to the industry needs indicating that it may not be up to the expected standard. Hence, the purpose of this study is to identify the gap between the competencies of graduate quantity surveyors (QSs) and the competencies that industry in SL expects from them.

A hybrid approach was used, consisting of desk reviews, expert interviews and a questionnaire survey. A comparative analysis identifying differences between two competency levels was carried out.

Analysis reveals that competencies of graduate QSs in areas of cost planning, strategic planning, risk management, value management, life cycle cost analysis, sustainability, surveying and levelling, research and development, building surveying and business management are at levels higher than industry needs. However, majority of competencies are at levels lower than industry expectations.

This research was focused only on competencies of QSs who have successfully completed a quantity surveying degree programme accredited by Institute of QSs SL, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Australian Institute of QSs and Pacific Association of QSs. It excluded non-graduates’ competencies as they gain competencies only through work experience.

This study revealed the need for designing quantity surveying degree programmes to cater to industry needs to ensure that graduates from these programmes are acceptable to the industry.

This study made an original contribution to knowledge by identifying the gap that currently exists between industry needs and programme outcomes of quantity surveying degree programmes, which could be invaluable when improving quantity surveying education in SL.

Adoption of building information modelling (BIM) in facilities management (FM) provides an information platform to store and exchange asset data. Quantity Surveyors, with cost management expertise, are increasingly involved in FM roles in the operation phase. However, no study has been conducted on how BIM may assist Quantity Surveyors when contracted in FM roles. This study aims to identify the potential benefits and challenges of using BIM by Quantity Surveyors in FM roles.

Interviews were conducted with eight professionals from an international built and natural asset design and management company and its FM business partner in Australia.

Lack of complete and accurate data was the main issue faced by Quantity Surveyors in FM. The benefits of BIM in FM were digitizing and storing asset information and developing a cost database that would be useful for Quantity Surveyors, whereas challenges included keeping model data up to date, cost, industry resistance to change and contractors' lack of model use.

This study contributes to revealing the niche adoption of BIM by Quantity Surveyors in FM and identifying the issues faced by Quantity Surveyors in FM roles using BIM. It contributes to the knowledge of BIM adoption in post-construction. Findings will be useful to develop strategies for adopting BIM in FM and supporting Quantity Surveyors' roles in FM.

The opportunities that the emerging markets present to the players in the construction industry means that the players need to expand on the scope and size of their responsibilities and duties to the stakeholders. Each of the professionals now demands more specialised and sophisticated services from one another. The other players in the construction industry now require more emerging responsibilities and duties from the quantity surveyors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the roles that “modern” quantity surveyors play by measuring the gaps that exist in the services that the quantity surveyors provide.

Primary data are collected through survey questionnaires. In total, 23 roles played by modern quantity surveyors are identified and addressed to the respondents to rank the rate at which quantity surveyors provide these “emerging” services. The collected data were analysed statistically.

The results of the findings led to the conclusion that the quantity surveyors were not meeting the expectations of other players. Therefore, for competitiveness, quantity surveyors need to better meet demand expectations.

This findings of this research are constrained to the services or functions that the quantity provide in the construction industry.

This knowledge is valuable to academic institutions that offer quantity surveying programmes, to practicing quantity surveyors, governments, and other players in the construction industry. It will allow quantity surveyors to reconcile supply and demand expectations.

There is no known conclusive empirical study on services offered by quantity surveyors in any emerging markets. Therefore, the findings offer a fresh understanding on the services of quantity surveyors not only in Nigeria but elsewhere. While some of the services are common, others are peculiar to emerging markets.

The paper assessed the required drivers of mentoring practices in construction-related firms: a perspective of the quantity surveying (QS) firms in Nigeria with a view to providing possible drivers for effective mentoring relationships in the respective construction firms.

Survey design was used to assess the level of knowledge, mentoring concept adoption and the required drivers of mentoring relationships in construction-related firms. QS firms in Abuja, Nigeria were sampled through the use of semi-structured questionnaires. A total of 149 questionnaires were administered to principal partners, partners, senior quantity surveyors and quantity surveyors in QS firms in Abuja through personal delivery. A total of 142 of them were returned and found suitable for analysis, representing 95.30% effective response rate. Percentage, mean, Kruskal–Wallis and factor analyses were utilized for the analysis of the data.

The study revealed an appreciable knowledge of mentoring concept but not so much with the adoption in the respective firms. This connotes that there is a problem with the adoption of mentoring concept in construction-related firms despite knowledge of the concept. Also revealed by the study, are the required drivers of mentoring practices in construction-related firms.

The findings show the required drivers of mentoring practices in construction-related firms and the recommendations to further the adoption and implementation of these drivers to ensure mentoring practices thrive in construction-related firms in the country.

This paper reveals the required drivers of mentoring practices in Nigerian construction-related firms and provides ways through which the drivers can be implemented in the construction firms.

The construction industry is shifting towards becoming more circular by reducing waste, reusing building materials and embracing regenerative solutions for energy generation and biodiversity conservation. Thus, construction professionals must perform diversified services to achieve a circular built environment (CBE). Implementing resource planning and waste management in CBE has already posed challenges to the quantity surveying profession; thus, quantity surveyors (QSs) should be equipped with new roles and competencies to tackle challenges in achieving a CBE. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the functions and competencies of QSs at the design and building material sourcing stages in achieving a CBE according to 3R principles.

The research apprehended a qualitative approach, including two expert interview rounds adhering to the Delphi technique with 14 and 11 experts per each round. Manual content analysis was incorporated to analyse the collected data.

The research findings revealed the important roles and competencies of QSs in achieving a CBE. In addition, essential functions and competencies were categorised according to the 3R principles (reduce, reuse, recycle) to successfully implement CBE during the Design and Building Material Sourcing stages. According to the 3R principles of CBE, cost control, cost planning, feasibility studies, measurement and quantification, risk management, value engineering and innovations and technologies were well-received by most interviewees as essential roles of QSs during the Design and Building Material Sourcing stages. Further, basic/mandatory competencies (personal, interpersonal, professional practice and business skills), economic analysis, BIM management, cost management and risk management are highly regarded by experts for QS as important competencies to achieve CBE.

With new construction trends, QSs must enhance their conventional roles and competencies and search for new skills and competencies. Those skills and competencies could be linked to the CE concept, either directly or indirectly. Since QS holds a prominent place in sustainable construction in CBE, adapting to changes in the construction industry such as CBE is timely for QSs. Further, there is a shortage of literature regarding QSs' roles and competencies in achieving a CBE; thus, this study will contribute by identifying new avenues for QSs in achieving a CBE in the practice and the research.

Traditional Lump Sum (TLS) methods have been the primary procurement method within Australia. Yet, their use is beginning to wane in states such as: Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria where Design and Construct, Construction Management and hybrids thereof have become the norm. Considering the demands of clients, the increasing propensity to use non‐traditional methods, the quality of drawings that are being produced, and the role of software applications such as Computer‐Aided Design in directly generating quantities, this paper seeks to examine the role Bills of Quantities (BoQs) serve and how effective they are as a pre‐contract and post‐contract tool.

Only limited empirical research has addressed the role and effectiveness of BoQs, particularly in Australia. With this in mind, the research adopted an exploratory approach to gain insights from industry practitioners about BoQs. A questionnaire survey was developed from the literature and used to solicit the opinions of practitioners about their role and effectiveness as a pre‐contract and post‐contract tool.

The distributed questionnaire survey resulted in 86 responses from industry practitioners – quantity surveyors, building contractors, and project managers. The findings fundamentally reveal that the use of Bill of Quantities prepared in accordance with the standard method of measurement is on the decline and only useful as a tool for post‐contract control.

The research has revealed that there is a need for industry to embrace alternative forms of measuring quantities in building projects. Abridged bills and builders' quantities are being increasingly demanded in Australia. Thus, it is suggested that this demand could drive the need for alternative forms of pricing in building projects and lead to the increasing use of non‐traditional methods of measurement.