What's the difference between a Quantity Surveyor and a Cost Manager?
Posted by Steve Thomas , Construction Recruitment Director, UK & Canada on Tuesday, April 8, 2025
The terms Cost Manager and Quantity Surveyor are often used interchangeably within the construction industry, and this can become confusing at times. Quantity Surveying (QS) and Cost Management jobs are roles with duties that can overlap, but this does not mean they are the same thing.
This blog focuses on ways of defining and differentiating a Quantity Surveyor job and a Cost Manager job. We explain this by giving an explanation in the following sections:
- What is a Quantity Surveyor?
- The History of the Term Quantity Surveyor
- The Client’s QS
- The Contractors QS
- The Differences and Similarities between a Clients QS and a Contractors QS
- The Value of the QS function Internationally
What is a Quantity Surveyor?
According to the RICS, a Quantity Surveyor is “the financial linchpin of any construction job”. This is great to hear – both for those within or entering the QS profession and for us at Maxim Recruitment, as we have recruited Quantity Surveyors continuously for the last 22 years!
However, in my opinion this RICS page immediately becomes confusing as it goes on to describe generic Quantity Surveyor responsibilities such as “costing buildings” and “meeting legal and quality requirements” which to the uninitiated could sound like a lawyer or Clerk of Works job role.
In my view, to get us started, “Quantity Surveying” is best understood as being the generic term used to cover the broad QS profession which comprises having responsibility for understanding and managing construction costs for your employer. This could include related aspects such as cost plans and budgets, contractual agreements, quality and construction schedules and delays but let’s try and get the basics clear first.
The History of the Term Quantity Surveyor
The origin of the term “Quantity Surveyor” seems to come from around 1834 and according to Andrew Merilees who looks at the origin and evolution of the Quantity Surveyor , he suggests that the origin of the profession was in essence an attempt to create benchmark construction costs:
a skilled tradesman who produced schedules for building projects and wherein all labour, materials and work activities were quantified to allow a level playing field for the tendering of buildings
Over the subsequent 200 years, the construction industry has evolved massively and although the idea of ‘surveying’ quantities (of plant/labour/materials etc) has certainly endured, the scope of the Quantity Surveyor role has actually expanded considerably.
The Client’s Quantity Surveyor, Cost Manager or Professional Quantity Surveyor
In 2025, in quite uncertain economic times, the UK construction industry is highly cost conscious and “clients” or “end users” at the top of “the food chain” who are looking to invest in projects, highly value the ability to predict or project future construction costs and understand (and control?) where possible cost variances and cost risks might potentially come from.
The RICS describes the client’s QS as:
A private quantity surveyor work[ing] directly for the client. You'll focus more on budget estimations, collaborating with architects and engineers to prepare tender documents. Site visits will be less frequent, primarily for valuations and meetings
A Contractors Quantity Surveyor (QS, Senior Quantity Surveyor or Project Quantity Surveyor)
The RICS describes a contractor QS:
…represent[ing] the construction firm's [contractor’s] interests. You'll be a hands-on site presence managing subcontractors and dealing with multiple specialists.
So What are the Differences and Similarities between a Client’s Quantity Surveyor and a Contractor’s Quantity Surveyor?
From the above definitions it is fair to say that a client’s QS/PQS/Cost Manager role is to represent their client’s interests and to look to create the certainty of cost spend that we saw earlier that the profession was created in order to try and achieve.
However, the contractor’s QS is also seeking cost certainty – except this is for their employer, who is the main contractor (or subcontractor). This will therefore relate to them seeking to be able to make a profit from the works they have agreed to undertake for the client (who may be represented by the client’s QS). In order to win this work, the contractor’s Quantity Surveyor will need to undertake bidding, tendering, costing, pricing of works, manage risk, demonstrate an ability to control costs and be able to remeasure, value and prepare final accounts.
In order for the client’s Quantity Surveyor or Cost Consultant to be sure their client is getting value for money from the contractor, they will need to not only to prepare the project for tender and award but also be able to supervise the post contract construction works the contractor is undertaking.
The above paragraphs seem to summarise the essence of both the similarities and differences between the Client QS and the Contractor QS roles; both are deployed to handle financial considerations, but each represent different parties and therefore have differing but overlapping interests on a construction project. Client-side QS are seeking to minimise their client’s construction costs, while contractor Quantity Surveyors are in essence, seeking to maintain and maximise their profit from the construction works they are undertaking. (A separate debate can be had about partnering contracts and the role of NEC contracts in reducing these differences).
Both Client-side QS /PQS /Cost Managers / Senior Cost Managers, and contractor side Quantity Surveyors and Senior Quantity Surveyors undertake similar duties, and many of these duties overlap. The specialisation and focus of these Quantity Surveyor duties will relate directly to the role they are undertaking for the type of employer they are employed by.
Arising from this difference, within the profession of Quantity Surveying, client-side QS have become known more as Cost Consultants, Professional Quantity Surveyors, PQS, or similar terms, and contractor Quantity Surveyors have become known more as Quantity Surveyors, Site Quantity Surveyors or Project Quantity Surveyors. At a more senior level, consultant/ client-side QS are known as Associates, Associate Directors or Partners, while senior contractor QS are more often known as Commercial Managers or Commercial Directors.
The reality is however that the meaning of these job title phrases are often context dependent and it is worth checking the context and job duties relating to these job titles in order to be sure the meaning is clear and understood.
The good news is that Maxim Recruitment understand and recruit both consultant and contractor Quantity Surveyors to undertake work in both pre-contract and post-contract contexts. And we recruit Quantity Surveyors and Cost Managers at all levels of seniority to work on civil engineering infrastructure, rail transportation, building and refurbishment and fit-out projects both in London, across the UK and internationally around the world.
The Value of the QS Function Internationally
It is worth noting that despite the confusions and complexities of the Quantity Surveying profession that we have tried to clarify above, the Quantity Surveying profession is a very attractive career area to enter into and is a skill set that is always in high demand both across the construction sector in the UK and around the world.
In some countries the role of the Senior Quantity Surveyor does not formally exist or works under reduced scope, and there is massive potential for UK and Commonwealth trained Quantity Surveyors, especially who are Chartered with MRICS / CIQS / HKIS etc to be able to work internationally around the world and add value to client projects by managing construction costs for their employers. Maxim Recruitment is working with a number of employers in Canada for example to engage Quantity Surveyors / Cost Managers / Contract Administrators / Cost Estimators of the types discussed above into major infrastructure projects in Toronto and Vancouver as well as in Dubai, Hong Kong and elsewhere. See all our current QS related roles.
In addition to the variety of QS related roles, further career opportunities exist for Senior Quantity Surveyors to become specialists in both construction claims and in construction arbitration related work, which Maxim specialises in, both in the UK and around the world. See all our Commercial and Quantum Jobs.
In conclusion, Quantity Surveying is a rich and diverse profession, offering a range of career opportunities and personal challenges and opportunities with a range of possible employers and a range of possible international work locations around the world! Whether your job title is Senior Quantity Surveyor or Senior Cost Manager, as long as you are doing a good job and are enjoying your work, lets celebrate this diverse profession!
We would welcome comments on this article and contact from interested employers and jobseekers interested in our Quantity Surveying recruitment services.
Steve is responsible for Maxim Recruitment in the UK and Canada. He is based in the Maxim head office in Leicester, UK and the Toronto office in Canada. He regularly travels to meet employers and job seekers and attend construction industry networking events in the UK, Canada and worldwide. Steve has over 25 years of experience in construction and property recruitment and enjoys working with many repeat clients. He manages dedicated search and headhunting assignments for a range of premium UK, Canadian and international clients.