One of the essential ingredients for a successful construction project is a reasonable contract price. A price too high obviously is detrimental to the Employer's interest. Such is also true when a price is too low as the contractor will naturally divert most of his energy towards ways and means to reduce his loss, very often resulting in poor quality of work, delays in completion, unnecessary contractual claims and arguments and unhappy relationships between all parties involved in the project.
A large part of the quantity surveyor's work is directly or indirectly related to the aim of achieving a reasonable contract price.