A new report has suggested that fees for QS services could be higher in Scotland and the Southwest than anywhere else in the UK. The research, which looks at fees as a percentage of contract value, showed that Scotland’s fees were the highest of all.

The findings come from the Fees Bureau, which has created an index of regional QS fees based on the reports from local surveyors of the last six months’ business activity.

The index reading for QS fees in Scotland was 112, compared to just 103 for London and a meagre 92 for the Southeast.

The Southwest’s reading was a surprisingly high 107, which made it second only to Scotland. Vince Nacey, director at Fees Bureau, warned that the figures did not necessarily indicate a trend and could instead reflect the size and complexity of contracts in particular regions during the past six months.

A breakdown of the regional findings by size of contract showed that for jobs worth under £1m the average fees were highest in both London and Scotland.

Some QSs questioned the results, however. Duncan Berry, director of DBK Back, said: “There seems to be a fair bit of workload coming out of the Southwest, so maybe some people are using that as a reason to charge more.” He added that the firm charges the same fees for the same client regardless of the location of the project.

Andrew Moore, managing director of cost consultancy, Cyril Sweett, said: “The higher fee percentages for Scotland and the Southwest compared to London appear contrary to our experience.”

He said the sample of projects used were of relatively low value – “therefore there will be a greater number of firms who could carry out these type of projects.” He added that at the lower end of the scale smaller practices may have been sampled, especially regionally. These would not enjoy the economies of scale of larger national firms and would therefore charge higher percentages.

More from the Fees Bureau report quantity surveyors Fees 2007 edition on our website qsnews.co.uk or from Fees Bureau, formerly Mirza & Nacey, at feesbureau.co.uk

Amongst the major firms like ourselves you would expect to see more harmonised rates across the regions. The build cost is usually cheaper in the regions comparative to London but the charge out rates for surveyors are cheaper. This means that the percentages for fees even out between regions and London.”

Source

QS News