Senior Quantity Surveyor

Verstand Group; Metro Manila; Remote; PHP 800,000 - 923,000; Full time

Job summary

Verstand Group Pty Ltd is seeking a Philippines-based Senior Quantity Surveyor to provide rigorous, evidence-based quantity surveying, independent financial assurance and commercial advisory for Australian projects. The role demands high independence, strong analytical skills and the ability to deliver clear professional opinions.

You will interrogate detailed commercial data, quantify effects and communicate defensible conclusions while maintaining client confidentiality and robust working

Qualifications

• Tertiary qualification in Quantity Surveying or related discipline.
• 7+ years post-graduate quantity surveying or commercial construction experience.
• Ability to operate with independence and professional judgement.
• Experience in cost management, commercial assessment or contractor-side quantity surveying.
• Experience preparing or reviewing estimates, valuations, payments, variations or substantial commercial submissions.

Responsibilities

• Assess progress claims and payment information against contracts and cost bases.
• Examine labour, plant, subcontractor, supplier, materials and other project costs.
• Review timesheets, payroll, invoices, subcontracts and other source docs.
• Test whether claimed costs are supported, correctly calculated and recoverable.
• Prepare traceable working papers and contribute to IFA reports and executive summaries.

Skills

Quantity surveying

Independent financial assurance

Advanced Excel

Reading drawings & contracts

Education

Quantity Surveying degree

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Job description

POSITION AT A GLANCE

Location: Remote - Philippines

Engagement: Independent contractor, ongoing full-time capacity

Reports to: Managing Director / Project Director, or another nominated senior project lead

Rate: A$13-A$15 per hour, depending on demonstrated experience and capability

Technical focus: Approximately 75% independent financial assurance and commercial advisory; approximately 25% estimating, cost planning and broader quantity surveying

ABOUT THE ROLE

Verstand Group Pty Ltd is seeking a Philippines-based Senior Quantity Surveyor to provide rigorous, evidence-based quantity surveying, independent financial assurance and commercial advisory services in support of Australian construction and infrastructure projects.

This is a senior technical delivery role for someone who can operate beyond routine measurement and reporting. You will interrogate detailed commercial and project information, establish what the evidence supports, quantify the commercial effect and communicate a clear, defensible professional view.

The position is expected to operate with substantial professional independence. It is not an overall Commercial Lead role: final responsibility for Verstand's client engagements, contractual authority and approval of material advice remains with the authorised Verstand lead.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Independent financial assurance and commercial review

• Assess progress claims and payment information against applicable contracts, commercial frameworks, agreed cost bases and supporting records.
• Examine claimed labour, staff, plant, equipment, subcontractor, supplier, material and other project costs.
• Review timesheets, payroll information, invoices, purchase orders, subcontracts, dockets, plant records, registers and other source documentation.
• Test whether claimed costs are supported, correctly calculated, properly allocated and recoverable under the applicable commercial arrangements.
• Identify unsupported, duplicated, incorrectly allocated or otherwise questionable costs and quantify the commercial effect.
• Review contractor cost reports, schedules, reconciliations and supporting workbooks.
• Check spreadsheet calculations, links, assumptions, formulas, totals and reconciliations.
• Assess proposed variations, commercial adjustments, allowances and cost movements where directed.
• Undertake benchmarking and first-principles analysis to test the reasonableness of claimed or forecast costs.
• Compare submissions against approved budgets, target costs, estimates, contractual allowances and other relevant baselines.
• Prepare traceable working papers recording the evidence reviewed, methodology, calculations and basis of conclusions.
• Contribute to IFA reports, payment assessments, commercial advice, audit findings and executive summaries.
• Identify matters requiring contractual, legal, technical or client direction rather than making unsupported assumptions.

Estimating and quantity surveying

• Prepare and review cost plans and estimates.
• Measure quantities from drawings and specifications and prepare or review quantity take-offs.
• Prepare and review bills of quantities, pricing schedules and first-principles rate build-ups.
• Benchmark costs using relevant project, historical and market information.
• Assess and value variations and review contractor or subcontractor pricing.
• Undertake tender analysis and tender comparisons.
• Prepare pre-tender and post-tender commercial advice, forecasts and reconciliations.
• Review scope completeness and pricing assumptions and maintain clear basis-of-estimate records.

Technical quality and stakeholder engagement

• Check calculations, spreadsheet formulas, links, ranges, reconciliations and document revisions before submission.
• Clearly distinguish facts, assumptions, professional judgement, valuation issues and matters requiring contractual or legal interpretation.
• Maintain orderly working papers that another competent reviewer can understand.
• Participate in remote meetings with Verstand personnel, clients, contractors, consultants and other advisers.
• Explain and professionally defend the methodology and evidence supporting commercial analysis.
• Challenge positions not supported by available evidence while remaining open to competing explanations and new information.
• Escalate missing information, uncertainty and delivery risks early.
• Where authorised, allocate defined tasks, technically review work and guide less experienced team members.
• Contribute to improving Verstand's templates, methodologies and working practices.

ABOUT YOU

Essential requirements

• A tertiary qualification in Quantity Surveying, Construction Economics, Construction Management with a substantial quantity surveying component, or another directly relevant discipline.
• Normally seven or more years of relevant post-graduate quantity surveying or commercial construction experience.
• Demonstrated ability to operate with the independence and judgement expected of a Senior Quantity Surveyor.
• Experience in construction cost management, commercial assessment or contractor-side quantity surveying.
• Experience preparing or reviewing estimates, valuations, payment assessments, variations or substantial commercial submissions.Ability to interrogate detailed commercial information rather than relying only on summary reports.
• Experience on projects of sufficient scale or complexity to demonstrate senior-level commercial judgement.
• Advanced practical Microsoft Excel capability, including formulas, linked calculations, lookups, pivot tables, filters, reconciliations and large datasets.
• Strong construction measurement, valuation, numerical and analytical capability.
• Ability to read and interpret drawings, specifications and commercial contract documentation.
• Ability to prepare clear professional reports and commercial correspondence.
• Professional written and spoken English suitable for client-facing commercial advice, technical meetings, questioning project information and defending a professional position.
• Discipline to work effectively in a remote environment while maintaining confidentiality, accurate records, clear communication and reliable delivery.
• An exceptional candidate with fewer than seven years of experience may be considered only where the required senior-level competencies can be objectively demonstrated.

Desirable experience

• Membership of AIQS, RICS or another recognised quantity surveying professional body.
• Major civil, infrastructure, marine or government project experience.
• Independent financial assurance, cost-auditing or open-book contracting experience.
• Contractor-side, consultancy or client-side quantity surveying experience.Experience assessing complex payment claims and reviewing labour, plant and project on-cost structures.
• Experience conducting detailed spreadsheet or transaction-level commercial audits.
• Experience with target-cost, alliance, collaborative or other open-book commercial models.
• Experience presenting commercial findings to senior client or contractor representatives.
• Australian construction industry experience.
• Australian experience is desirable, but it is not a substitute for demonstrated technical capability.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

• Calculations, quantities, references and conclusions withstand reasonable peer review.
• Material findings are traceable to source documents, calculations and the applicable commercial or contractual basis.
• Factual discrepancies, insufficient substantiation, valuation issues, commercial reasonableness and matters requiring contractual or legal interpretation are correctly distinguished.
• Inconsistencies and unsupported positions are identified without detailed step-by-step direction.
• Agreed deliverables are completed when promised, or foreseeable risks are raised early enough for action.
• Communications with colleagues, clients, contractors and advisers are clear and professional.
• Working papers allow another competent reviewer to understand the evidence, calculations and reasoning.
• The role holder takes ownership, corrects errors promptly and remains receptive to review and competing evidence.

ABOUT US

Verstand Group is an Australian commercial and project advisory consultancy providing quantity surveying, project management, project controls, commercial assurance, independent financial assurance and contract administration services across major infrastructure, building and resources projects throughout Australia.