Faithful+Gould’s fresh research into how much is spent across the world on construction design fees underlines the UK and European tradition of attaching significant worth to the exercise compared to the rest of the globe

Our market spends 15% of the total budget on architects, engineers and QSs, three times more than that spent in China, while countries such as Spain fork out a cool 22% on such fees.

Despite the relative financial importance of fees over here, should clients in fact be paying more? That’s certainly a pressing question for bosses of PM and QS firms at the moment. And it comes down to one word – salaries. Across the board pay packets are soaring, especially in the so-called lost generation of mid-30s professionals that are in such short supply following the exodus from construction during the 1990s recession. This is creating a merry go round affect, where staffers can jump from company to company depending on who is offering the biggest wedge.

This is not to paint an entirely bleak picture. Graduates might now be keener on QSing as a career due to bigger starting salaries. And firms, as we report this week, are now seeing more demand for basic bills of quantity skills and new service offerings such as sustainability consulting, may now have a stronger case to insist on due recompense for much-needed services.

Prediction: Mystic Meg set to join QS News

Should I be changing my editorial policy given that over half of you read the Sun newspaper (see online poll results across)? Do you want to read more about which celebrity has been seen on what building site? How about whether Wayne Rooney prefers the new NEC to the JCT? Or even a horoscope predicting whether your job will go to time or budget? Just a thought.

Source

QS News