Until the early 1980s Quantity Surveying was practically unknown in the Philippines. In colleges and universities the course most related to Quantity Surveying is BS Civil Engineering, a well-known and an established engineering course in the country. Civil Engineering has very diverse application. This diversity opens various career opportunities to graduates, some of whom secure employment as Estimators or Cost Engineers in the country and abroad. With their work primarily involving construction cost, estimators and cost engineers have thus been doing a part of the Quantity Surveying profession. This is no less true for Mechanical or Electrical Engineering graduates from Philippines who undertake a part of the Building Services QS role.
The Quantity Surveying profession was first introduced in the country by Davis Langdon in 1982 when it had some commissions for one of the projects of Asian Development Bank. However, it became widely known as a profession only in the mid 1990s during the boom of the local construction industry. Davis Langdon was at the forefront for having an excellent record of providing the highest standards in professional consultancy services and commitment aimed at achieving quality client program objectives. They employed around 30 expatriates over various large developments in the Philippines with Filipino Engineers as their assistants.
Along with Davis Langdon, other international QS firms, such as DG Jones and Rider Hunt Liacor (now Rider Levett Bucknall) among others, have established their own offices in the Philippines.
During the Asian Crisis which started in late 1998, expatriates were forced to return to their home country leaving their Filipino assistants to take over their positions. Davis Langdon for one has developed structured trainings in Quantity Surveying for their Filipino staff to ensure that they are well-equipped in competently undertaking a proper QS role.
Despite the trainings acquired from Davis Langdon and other reputable QS firms, Filipino QS trained Engineers, or QS trained Engineers of some other nationalities for that matter, are not well-acknowledged by recognized QS professional bodies. To illustrate, it is a requirement by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) – based in the United Kingdom and the pioneer institution of QS professional bodies – from QS trained Engineers to undertake an RICS accredited course in order to become eligible to enter a route to chartered membership.
As of this writing, not one college or university in the Philippines is offering a course in Quantity Surveying, let alone a course accredited by RICS. In 2007, however, there was an effort to give a QS Training Course through the partnership between TIP-CCE school and Davis Langdon and Seah Philippines Inc. Unfortunately the training course did not push through as planned.
Furthermore, relative to the cost of college education in the Philippines, the cost of taking QS education from abroad is very expensive. Yet, some are fortunate enough to have an employer such as Davis Langdon to sponsor their QS studies.
With the steep rise of demand and good offers for quantity surveyors abroad during the mid 2000s, mainly because of the construction boom in the Middle East and elsewhere, the majority of Filipino QS trained Engineers were encouraged to embark on a career outside the Philippines. The training and experience they have gained from QS firms in the country meant that they already have the competency in quantity surveying that is necessary to keep them at par with other QS professionals who had formal QS education. This opened for them opportunities of employment abroad and international exposure.
Presently, it is important to highlight that some Filipino Quantity Surveyors have already achieved chartered status. And with financial capability that working abroad as a QS often provides, as well as essential QS experience, most QS trained Engineers have now the capacity to pursue QS education abroad (many from universities in UK) and work towards chartered status.