Quantity Surveyors’ Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Mixed Method Approach

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak began at the end of 2019, and has evolved to a pandemic threatening various industries’ sustainability. Decisive actions have been taken to tackle the pandemic’s spread, however, various impacts continue to be felt by many industries, including the construction industry. This paper therefore focuses on the COVID-19 outbreak’s impact on Quantity Surveyors’ (QS) construction projects and activities, as a key profession in the industry. A mixed method approach, questionnaire survey followed by expert interviews, was adopted. Subsequently, 199 valid responses for analysis were obtained from the questionnaire distribution, using descriptive statistics and Significance Index. Furthermore, qualitative data were acquired through semi-structured interviews with five experts, and analyzed using a structured thematic analysis. According to the results, 56.78% of respondents experienced project slowdowns, 13.57% experienced project suspensions or terminations, and 12.56% experienced cost overruns. Most respondents acknowledged the pandemic had present changes to projects (84.92%), in the form of changes in organization structure, work culture, technological application, and project objectives. Meanwhile, the Significance Index has successfully established an 11-factors ranking, regarding the pandemic’s impact on QS activities, with impact on the overall project completion as the most profound impact followed by impacts on project scheduling, supply chain, tendering, cost controlling, and claim management. This study’s qualitative and quantitative findings tend to be in accordance, thus, providing some fundamental insights regarding the COVID-19 outbreak’s impact on the construction industry, including direct impacts on project sustainability, technology adoption, and project resiliency issues. In addition, this study also contributes to scientific knowledge by discussing the issues and trends of work culture changes in QS professional activities.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the quantity surveying practices in Malaysia

“…Since the study is only meant as a proposal, it mainly focuses on discussing the existing literature on various profitability-related strategies, such as differentiation, partnership, marketing and utilisation of information technology. On the other hand, the second study focused on examining COVID-19's impact on QS's activities in Indonesia (Hansen et al, 2021). The study claimed that the pandemic had impacted QS's contractual arrangement, cost control, tendering and claim management.…”

“…In Malaysia, a 44.9% drop in the value of construction work done was recorded in the second quarter of the 2020 (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2020). Changes and uncertainties during the pandemic had impacted Quantity Surveyors' (QS) activities in terms of decreased productivity and performances (Hansen et al, 2021). This could be one of the main contributors to the sector's downturn, as limited activities and resources prevented QS from effectively securing precious revenue for construction businesses.…”

“…Due to the currency of this issue, only a few related publications can be found on the topic. However, one solely focused on the competitive strategies of quantity surveying firms (Chong et al, 2020), while the other did not mention the direct impact of COVID-19 on quantity surveying practices (Hansen et al, 2021). The limited amount of literature is concerning.…”

Effect of COVID-19 on the small-scale construction companies: The case of Colombo district, Sri Lanka

“…In order to minimize the spread of this disease, several government restrictions and laws have been implemented, which unfortunately has a negative influence on the construction sector. Interruption of the supply chain and resources, project quarantine because of positive cases of COVID-19, project delays, and terminations are only a few of the consequences (Hansen, et al, 2021). Construction projects all over the world are expected to be delayed or cancelled due to this unexpected pandemic.…”

Covid-19 Prevention Protocol Implementation in Construction Projects

“…To prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the construction field, the Indonesian Government had issued the regulation No. 02/IN/M/2020, which was organized by The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (Hansen, Rostiyanti, Rizaldi, & Andjarwati, 2021). The protocol intends to prevent it in construction service sectors and has several requirements, including the formation of a task force, identification of the potential dangers of COVID-19 in the field, establishment of health measures in the field, and implementation of protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the field.…”