Saturday, June 11, 2011

CYNICS AND VALUE

"A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing."
— Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde’s quote is a great one for the quantity surveyor / cost professional to remember for at least three reasons.

It is humorous.

It reminds us that it is not good enough to simply measure the quantities and then apply rates and hope to arrive at the probable construction cost.  One must also understand the intangibles; how the contractors and sub-contractors will view the design when they price it and what price they think the market will bear.

It reminds us that our role is to help bring together the designer’s vision and the owner’s budget because this creates real value and only in this does our role itself have real value. Without achieving this we simply create cynics.

posted by The QS


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