The Role of a QS — Pre-Contract vs Post-Contract

The role of a QS — Pre-Contract vs Post-Contract

URL slug must never change  ·  Service page: roryconnollyqs.ie/cost-plan  ·  ~1,600 words

So folks, people ask me this all the time. Rory, what is it you actually do? And I always say the same thing back. The job splits in two halves. Before the builder signs the contract, and after.

That's it. Two halves. And they could not be more different from each other.

Now, I know that sounds simple. And in some ways it is. But most homeowners I meet in Dublin — whether they're planning an extension, a renovation, or a full new build — have never thought about it in those terms. They think a QS turns up, measures things, and gives them a number. And that's the end of it. It really isn't the end of it.

Let me walk you through both halves. Because understanding what I do — and when I do it — is the difference between a build that holds together and one that slowly comes apart at the seams.

The pre-contract half — protecting you from the number

Before a builder sets foot on your site anywhere in Dublin or across Ireland, my job is to protect you from the number.

What do I mean by that? I mean this. You have an idea. You've been to the architect. You have drawings you love. And in the back of your head you have a number — a number you arrived at somehow. Maybe you read something online. Maybe a neighbour told you what their extension in Ranelagh cost three years ago. Maybe the architect gave you a rough steer.

That number is almost never right.

My job in the pre-contract phase is to get you a real number. A cost plan. Not a back-of-envelope figure — a properly worked cost plan that reflects your actual drawings, your actual spec, your actual site in Ireland. So when tenders come back from builders, you are not shocked. You are prepared.

And here is the thing. Getting the cost plan right is not just about money. It is about protecting the relationship between you and the builder before it even starts. A builder tendering against a vague spec will price in risk. He has to. That risk goes somewhere — either into the tender price up front, or into variations later. Neither is good for you.

The spec I write for you is protection. It closes the gaps. It says: this is what we are building, this is the standard we are building it to, and this is what we are asking you to price. The builder who comes in on that is pricing the same job as every other builder. You can compare them properly.

Then there's the tender process itself. I run it. Letters of tender go out. Prices come back. I sit down with you and the architect and we go through them together — not just the numbers, but what is and isn't included.

The cheapest tender is nearly always the most expensive tender by the time the job is done. I've seen that happen more times than I can count on residential projects right across Dublin and Ireland. The builder who went from two hundred and fifty thousand to a million and looked at me and said — this shite doesn't work. That wasn't bad luck. That was a tender process that didn't do its job.

I don't chase the cheapest tender. I chase the fair one that will actually finish.

Win-win. That's the only way I work.

The post-contract half — protecting the project from drift

Now. Once the builder signs the contract, my job changes completely.

Before, I was protecting you from the number. Now, I'm protecting the project from drift.

What's drift? Drift is what happens when a residential construction project in Dublin — or anywhere in Ireland — runs without proper oversight. Variations creep in. Changes get agreed verbally on site and nobody writes them down. Payments get made on the basis of what the builder says he's done, rather than what's actually done. The spec gets bent here and there — nothing dramatic, just a substitution here, a product swap there. And before you know it you are building a different job to the one you agreed.

I'll be honest with you. This is where most projects go wrong. Not at the start — at the middle. When everyone is tired, under pressure, and the builder is starting to feel the squeeze.

My post-contract role is to hold the line.

Variations get checked — was this variation necessary, was it agreed, what does it actually cost? Payments get certified honestly. What is done is done. What isn't, isn't. I am not there to squeeze the builder — a builder under financial pressure loses creativity, loses resourcefulness, loses the ability to do good work. I have seen that happen too. But I am there to make sure the money is going where it should be going.

And then at the end — the final account. This is where everything gets settled. Every variation, every agreed change, every provisional sum that was opened during the job. Done fairly, this is a moment of real clarity. Both sides know where they stand. The project closes properly.

Win-win. Even at the end.

The bit that matters most

I'll come back to something. Because I think it's the most important thing I can say on this.

Most of the residential construction projects across Dublin and Ireland that go wrong don't go wrong over bricks and mortar. They go wrong because expectations weren't managed. Pre-contract or post-contract — it doesn't matter. Someone assumed something. Someone didn't say something out loud. Someone signed something they didn't fully understand.

That's it. That's the whole thing.

And that's the bit a good QS holds. On both sides of the contract. Before the builder signs, I'm managing expectations around cost, spec, and process. After the builder signs, I'm managing expectations around payment, variations, and what was actually agreed.

It's not glamorous. It's not the bit you see on the architecture shows. But it is the bit that decides whether your project — your extension, your renovation, your new home in Ireland — finishes well or not.

Anyway, that's my way of saying — the job splits in two halves, and both halves matter very much.

Conversion layer — bottom of post

If you want me to look at your job before you sign anything, here's how a cost plan works. →  roryconnollyqs.ie/cost-plan

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