Visionaries: Samuel Star (Archi-QS Founder and Principal) has been published in the June-August 2022 Built Environment Economist. With over 30 years of accumulated knowledge and experience in the quantity surveying industry, Samuel is undeniably a visionary of his field.
Taking some time off his busy schedule to reflect, he offers insight into his own journey as a quantity surveyor. From his career’s starting days of manually preparing bills of quantities, to what it’s like in today’s growing profession and opportunities.
‘According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a visionary is a person who has the ability to imagine how a country, society, industry, etc. will develop in the future and to plan in a suitable way. AIQS has handpicked two members to tell us about their visions for the construction industry and quantity surveying profession’ – Built Environment Economist, June 2022
In Samuel’s words:
‘It is with pride that I now see our profession emerging as a key player in the industry. As a quantity surveyor, we see the bigger picture when it comes to what it takes to construct, maintain, and evolve a built environment many years after post-occupancy. Very few professions are privileged to say this. As such, I have always believed that we were underutilised. Underutilised for our in-depth knowledge of project feasibility, procurement frameworks and contracts, construction methodology, and how buildings fair over time. When I first started my career, the quantity surveyor was little known, and far and few to come by. We had one or two predominant roles: estimating costs for builders during tender and preparation of bills of quantities. I remember spending long nights calculating bills of quantities manually. It was tedious, high pressure, time consuming; but laid the foundations needed to evolve my firm with the forever changing industry trends.
The Building Commissioner’s changes to legislation of late, (such as asset management plans for retirement villages, and the Strata Building Bond and Inspections Scheme, among others), has opened new doors for the quantity surveyor. I see this paving the way for future generations to grow the profession. Perhaps, we will become widely recognised for the added value we offer: ensuring projects are procured for success, ensuring construction is carried out with high quality standards, and ensuring that the maintenance of our built environment is advocated for.’
Access the whole Built Environment Economist article here:
To learn more about Samuel’s work, visit the Archi-QS website here: