A Day in the Life of a Quantity Surveyor

In this new column, we will be speaking to different people with interesting careers in Hong Kong. YHK speaks to Beverly Yau who has chosen a path that would have been quite unconventional not long ago – quantity surveying.

Beverly Yau has always wondered what goes inside a construction site whenever she walked past one as a child. Other than seeing the ongoings with lots of trucks, mixers, sand and cement being poured, her inquisitive mind went off thinking if there is ever a bigger role to play behind all those activities.

That was when she decided to pursue her childhood curiosity more, as she chanced upon a BSc (Hons) Quantity Surveying programme at the University of Reading during an education fair. “I chose the University of Reading as it has always maintained a strong positioning among UK universities, as well as world rankings.” Beverly did not stop at just being immersed in her books during her time in United Kingdom. She would make use of every term break to try to get an internship opportunity wherever she could. When it was time to graduate, she saw a clear direction for her future. She would return to Hong Kong because of more readily available jobs given the proximity of rapidly developing cities within the Greater Bay Area. Beverly is a corporate member of The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyor, and won the HKIS QSD Assessment of Professional Competencies (APC)

Best Candidate Award in 2020.

Beverly also comments that since she has always been good at numbers, she decided to specialize in quantity surveying. Her role as a quantity surveyor is mainly to prepare cost plans, tender documents, provide cost and

There is initial silence. Then everyone starts becoming very polite and talk softly, when I walk into their midst and wants to clarify something.

contractual advice, payment valuation and cost control of construction projects. It is not always about work, work and work. Beverly shares an interesting fact that as a quantity surveyor, there are interesting moments that amuse her. For instance, there is literally a change in ambience, whenever she walks into a situation full of chaos and usually full of male counterparts.

For anyone who will be keen to pursue a career as a quantity surveyor, Beverly has these tips to share: • Great communication skills – there will be coordination needed with different project teammates, such as the project manager, architect, engineer, contractor and so on.

• Be prudent – every project is unique, and may include different details; budget and lots of contract clauses.

• Being sensitive to numbers – there will be a lot of figures to run through daily

We want to hear from you!

If you think you have an interesting profession that is inspiring and worth considering as a career choice, let us know! We would love to connect with you. Drop us an email at cps@hkfyg.org.hk!