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Hire a Quantity Surveyor.

Cost plans, valuations and variations, managed.

Also called: QS, Cost Planner, Cost Manager

From US$6 an hourUS$6-27.50/hr

  • Construction
Book a demoTalk now on Teams

A free 15-minute call on Teams.

  • Works your hours
  • Colombia hub, on New York time or an hour behind
  • Month to month
What your QS gets doneSample day
  • Prepares order-of-cost estimates, elemental cost plans and cost checksCost planning and budgets
  • Prepares bills of quantities, schedules of rates and tender documentsTendering and procurement
  • Prepares interim valuations and payment claimsValuations and payment
  • Values variations, provisional sums, prime cost items and dayworkVariations, claims and change controlDoing
In your tools
  • Autodesk Takeoff
  • Autodesk Construction Cloud
  • Trimble Viewpoint Vista
  • Xero
  • MYOB
  • Microsoft Excel

Pick the level. See the price.

US$10.50an hourFull time, 38 hours a week, all-in

Level 2 of 4, also called mid-level.Recommended
Even a local mid-level admin costsUS$22.86/hr
A tested Intermediate QSUS$10.50/hr
At least 54% lessBasis: a Seat's hourly price against the hourly wage of a comparable local hire at the same level. Benefits and payroll taxes would add to the local cost.

Runs the commercial cycle for a project or package: prepares cost plans and bills of quantities.

  • Elemental cost plans and cost checks
  • Bills of quantities and tender comparisons
  • Monthly valuations and payment schedules

3-5 years as a QS on live projects, typically single projects up to about AUD/USD 30M, on the client or contractor side.

How the Intermediate level works

Per hour, all-in: recruiting, testing and management.

What you hand to your QS

Tasks

  • Cost planning and budgets

    • Prepares order-of-cost estimates, elemental cost plans and cost checks
    • Maintains a live cost model and a separate risk and contingency allowance
    • Runs value management and cost-saving options
    • Advises on procurement route and contract form based

  • Tendering and procurement

    • Prepares bills of quantities, schedules of rates and tender documents
    • Manages tender queries and addenda
    • Prepares subcontract and supply orders
    • Supports clarification and negotiation meetings with tenderers

  • Valuations and payment

    • Prepares interim valuations and payment claims
    • Checks every claim and payment step
    • Reconciles subcontract ledgers, payment registers, retention held
    • Verifies claimed progress against site diaries

  • Variations, claims and change control

    • Values variations, provisional sums, prime cost items and daywork
    • Keeps a variations register showing status, value, time impact
    • Assesses and responds to claims for extra cost, prolongation and disruption
    • Watches notice periods, time bars and early-warning provisions

  • Reporting and final account

    • Produces monthly cost reports showing original budget, committed cost
    • Prepares final accounts reconciling contract sum
    • Closes out projects with a lessons-learned note

Tested before you meet them

  1. Measurement testAll levels1.5 hrs
  2. Interim valuation work sampleAll levels1.5 hrs
  3. Variation pricing and assessmentIntermediate and up60 min
  4. Contract and payment law scenario testIntermediate and up30 min
  5. Cost report and forecast narrativeAll levels40 min
  6. Claim negotiation role-playIntermediate and up30 min

One score on every profileSample shown

93%

Three checks before your shortlist

  • Skills tested: A skills test for the role, marked by a senior
  • English and comms: written English tested, spoken English checked on a call
  • ID, work history and references: photo ID, past roles and two referees

From booked call to day one

  1. Step 1: Book a demo

    Tell us the role, your hours and your tools.

  2. Step 2: Meet your shortlist

    Their level and hourly price, tested before you meet.

  3. Step 3: Pick your person

    Month to month. We handle the contract, the equipment and the onboarding, and make sure it all runs.

  4. Step 4: They start work

    In your tools, within 12 to 48 hours of a successful interview.

Questions answered

An Intern QS is US$6 an hour, Intermediate US$10.50, Expert US$16.50 and Specialist US$27.50, full time (38 hours a week). That is all-in: recruiting, testing and management, month to month.

Cost planning and budgets, tendering and procurement, valuations and payment and variations, claims and change control, run to your priorities. You choose what they own first.

Six practical tests, marked by a senior, including measurement test, interim valuation work sample and variation pricing and assessment. You see the score before you meet.

Tell us and we replace them free, with a new shortlist of tested people to meet. Seats are month to month with 30 days' notice.

More questions

Within 12 to 48 hours of a successful interview. First you meet your shortlist, interview the people you like and pick your person.

Yes. Your QS works your business hours in your time zone and joins your Teams or Slack like anyone else. The hub matched to United States clients is in Colombia, on New York time or an hour behind.

Yes, where it helps. Your QS works in the AI tools you already use. They use AI for first drafts and routine work, check every output, and follow your AI policy. You can ask for no AI on any task.

An Intermediate QS runs the commercial cycle for a project or package: prepares cost plans and bills of quantities. An Expert QS owns commercial outcomes on a project: leads procurement strategy and negotiation. We usually recommend Intermediate.

It stays under your rules: your admin settings and AI policy apply. Our talent rules ban client data in personal or free AI accounts, and passwords, card numbers, health details and ID numbers never go into any AI tool.

You direct the work day to day. We handle recruiting, equipment and quality checks.

Yes. Every QS is tested live in the tools on your job description, such as CostX and Bluebeam Revu, before you meet them.

In week one: grant document access to the contract, subcontracts, drawings; hands over the current cost report, cost plan, budget, commitments register; and shares commercial procedures. You agree the first priorities with them on day one.

Yes. It's also called QS, Cost Planner and Cost Manager. Same tasks, tests and prices, whatever the name.

Their written English, with a scored test, and their spoken English, on a call with us. We also check their ID, work history and references.

Yes. You meet your shortlist on a short call and pick the person you want. Nobody joins without your yes.

In our talent hubs in the Philippines, Vietnam, Kenya, Nigeria, Brazil and Colombia, and we hire from 60+ countries. Wherever they are, they work your hours.

Pay only for the hours they work. All your Seats are on one bill, and Studio plans are billed monthly.

It can, at most once a year. Your person's hourly rate may rise by up to 5% a year, from the first anniversary of the Seat's start, with 60 days' notice and the right to end the Seat before it applies.

Only when you and your person both agree to it in advance. Otherwise they work the hours you set, and you pay for the hours they log.

You aren't charged for hours your person doesn't work, apart from paid leave. After their third month, your person earns 8 hours of paid leave a month. Paid leave hours are charged at their usual rate.

Your person logs their hours each day in the Get Hands client app, where you can see them. Your next invoice is adjusted to those hours.

Yes, with no minimum hours. From 20 to 37 hours a week, the hourly rate is 10% higher than full-time. Under 20 hours, it's 20% higher.

Yes. Tell us the roles on a call and we shortlist tested people for each.

Yes. You give them access in your own systems, and you can change or remove it at any time.

They get their own login in each of your systems, never a shared one. Any password that has to be shared goes through your own password manager, never email, chat, code or prompts.

A tested shortlist within 72 hours of your call, or your first week is free. That's part of The Right Hands Guarantee.

Yes. Book a 15-minute demo any time, or choose Talk now on the booking form for a Microsoft Teams link straight away. You can also message us on WhatsApp on +61 485 061 086, or email hello@gethands.com.au.

Book a 15-minute demo on Microsoft Teams, any time, day or night. We show you the people, levels and prices that fit. No obligation.

Meet the people who fit your work.

A 15‑minute call on Teams. You leave knowing the level you need and its hourly price.

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