Quantity Surveyors’ Adaptability to Technology: The Last Frontier of Job Displacement Challenge

Abstract

In the 21st century, where modern technologies are developed at an expeditious rate, the construction industry has survived over centuries, despite its slow rate of innovative adaptations, the poor performance of professionals, excess number of qualification holders, and vastly reported skill shortage. Technological advancement is the catalyst to solve these issues attaching extreme significance to transform the role of professionals in line with industrialisation, digitalisation and globalisation. Herein, Quantity Surveying (QS) is a key profession in the construction industry that contributes to the cost management aspect of a construction project. With the technological advancements in the industry, identifying the adaptability of QSs to 21st-century technologies and recognizing the nature of their emerging job role that may reshape the traditional role has become a pressing issue that needs to be addressed immediately. Thus, this paper investigates the potential impact of such advancements on QS employment patterns, underscoring the need for professionals to align with the shifting paradigms of digitalization. Utilizing a qualitative research approach, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten expert QS practitioners from various international contexts. This method enabled the exploration of current states, expected competencies, and the professional evolution of QSs amidst technological disruptions. The findings suggest that while core QS functions remain irreplaceable, the profession is poised for significant transformation. This paper concludes with a range of recommendations that ensure the relevance and importance of the profession well into the future. The paper provides the international QS community with a unique data source that should prove valuable for comparative purposes and general discussion about the future of QSs globally and the direction of the profession. Therefore, this research contributes to knowledge by the diversifying QS roles in the construction industry with significant competencies encountered while addressing adaptability of QSs in the 21st century technology advancements.