Our Service
Quantity Surveyor Services
Stop losing margin to guesswork and in-house estimating overhead! Choose us for expert quantity surveying services on your residential, commercial, industrial, and civil projects. Measured, priced, and defensible from bid day to final closeout.
- 15+ Years Estimating
- 12,000+ Projects Delivered
- 98% Accuracy Rate
- 50 States Served
24–48 hour turnaround
Bid-ready in 24 to 48 hours
Reliable Quantity Surveyor Services For Better Cost Control
Win more bids with quantity surveyor services that put a measured, defensible number behind every proposal you submit. At SMA Estimating LLC, we measure, price, and control construction costs for contractors, subcontractors, developers, and owners across all 50 states. So you know what a project costs before you sign, what it is costing while you build, and what you are owed at closeout. Our senior quantity surveyors understand the realities of U.S. construction, including CSI MasterFormat trade bidding, ZIP-code labor rates, prevailing wage schedules, and AIA payment documentation. This keeps your bids competitive without reducing your margin.
You get a fixed fee and a committed delivery hour before you pay anything. Every quantity is traceable to a marked-up drawing, so your numbers survive a lender review or a change-order fight instead of collapsing under questioning. And we do not disappear the day the bid goes in. We stay through payment applications, change orders, and final cost reconciliation, which is where projects actually lose money. The result is you get a full estimating team for less than the cost of hiring one estimator, and you only pay for the bids you actually chase.
What we takeoff
Every Quantity Surveying Service We Provide
We cover the full quantity surveying scope, from the first budget question to the release of retention. We measure to CSI MasterFormat for trade bidding and UNIFORMAT II for conceptual budgets, with AACE 18R-97 classification stated on every deliverable.
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Cost Planning
Our estimators price the job from early sketches, a program, or a written scope and break the budget down by building element. You see the realistic cost range and what is driving it before spending money on full design.
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Bid Schedules and Bid Packages
For bid day, we lay your quantities out in the exact pricing format the owner or agency asked for and split the scope into clean trade packages where it needs splitting. Your submission is arithmetically clean, and every sub-bid is on the same thing.
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Detailed Quantity Takeoff, All CSI Divisions
Our takeoff team measures every item on your drawings, division by division across all CSI MasterFormat divisions. Every count in the quantity takeoff is color-coded on the sheet, so any number you submit traces back to the plan.
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Value Engineering
We price alternative systems, materials, and details against your base design and hand you a documented savings list. The tradeoff for each option is written next to it, so you are cutting costs with the consequence in front of you instead of guessing.
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Cost Reviews and GMP Validation
Our estimating consultants audit an estimate prepared by someone else and report where it is light, where it is padded, and what scope is missing. On GMP work, we build or stress-test the number with allowances and exclusions stated line by line.
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Schedule of Values and Payment Applications
We convert the contract sum into a line-item schedule structured the way the architect and lender expect. Then we prepare each month's AIA G702/G703 with percent-complete backed by measured quantities. Certification moves faster, and less of your money is wasted in dispute.
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Change Order Pricing
During construction, our estimators measure added and deleted work with labor hours, unit rates, and markup shown separately. The rates come from the same construction cost estimating database we used on your original bid, so nothing shifts between the two. Your change orders get approved at real value instead of negotiated down to a guess.
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Cash Flow and Final Reconciliation
We map projected spend against projected receipts month by month through the build, so you know when the job goes out of pocket. At closeout, final quantities are reconciled and open change orders are closed, so retention is released on schedule.
What lands in your inbox
One Package, Ready to Bid and Ready to Build
Every estimate you receive from us includes the following:
- Line-by-line quantity takeoff organized by CSI MasterFormat division
- Priced itemized estimate, bid schedule, or unit-price schedule in your required format
- Labor hours and unit rates adjusted to your project ZIP code
- Material list with counts, ready for procurement and buy-out
- Color-coded marked-up drawings so every quantity is traceable
- Written assumptions, inclusions, and exclusions sheet
- Bid summary with markup, overhead, and profit shown separately
- Fully editable Excel file, plus your own template format on request
Our Turnaround
Turnaround Times You Can Plan a Bid Around
Every project receives a confirmed delivery date and time with the quote before you pay a cent.
| Scope | Standard delivery |
|---|---|
| Single-trade takeoff | 8–24 hours |
| Residential, single-family under 5,000 sq ft | 24 hours |
| Multifamily and small commercial | 24–48 hours |
| Large commercial and industrial | 48–72 hours |
| Full itemized estimate with cost plan | 3–5 business days |
| Rush and same-day service | 6–12 hours |
Bid deadline tomorrow morning? Tell us when you upload. We state honestly whether we can hit it rather than accepting the job and missing it.
Quantity Surveyor Cost per Square Foot
Our fee works out to roughly $0.01 to $0.08 per square foot, quoted per project. What you pay depends on how many trades are in scope, how complete and readable your drawings are, how complex the build is, and how fast you need it back.
The table below shows what most projects land at, but your number depends on your scope. Send us the drawings and we will quote a fixed price, with a committed delivery date and time, usually within the hour.
| Project type | Typical size | Typical fee | Approx. per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-family residential | Up to 5,000 sq ft | $150 – $400 | $0.04 – $0.08 |
| Multifamily / townhome | 5,000 – 50,000 sq ft | $400 – $1,200 | $0.02 – $0.05 |
| Commercial: retail, office, restaurant | 10,000 – 100,000 sq ft | $600 – $2,500 | $0.012 – $0.04 |
| Industrial / warehouse | 50,000+ sq ft | $1,000 – $3,500 | $0.008 – $0.02 |
| Single-trade takeoff | Any | $100 – $600 | Varies |
| Dedicated quantity surveyor retainer | Ongoing | $1,800 – $3,500 / month | Unlimited within scope |
| Hourly consulting | — | $35 – $60 / hour | — |
No subscription requirement. No minimum commitment. No charge for the quote. You see the price before work starts.
Who Do We Provide Our Quantity Surveying Services For?
We prepare measured, defensible numbers for anyone who has to justify a construction cost, before the bid and after it.
- General contractors on GMP and cost-plus contracts
- Subcontractors pricing change orders
- Construction managers checking trade bids
- Developers who need a lender-ready bill of quantities
- Owners auditing a submitted price
- Contractors billing on AIA G702/G703
- Projects at closeout with retention held
- International contractors working in BOQs
- Public agency and municipal bidders
Our Expertise in Quantity Surveying
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Credentialed Senior Surveyors
Our team holds degrees in quantity surveying, civil engineering, and construction management, several holding AACE International credentials.
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Measurement to Published Standards
CSI MasterFormat for trade bidding, UNIFORMAT II for conceptual budgets, and AACE 18R-97 classification on every deliverable.
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A Full Takeoff and Cost Stack
Planswift, Bluebeam Revu, On-Screen Takeoff, Trimble, and BIM 360; pricing against RSMeans and cross-checking every rate with live supplier quotes.
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Sector Depth Across the Board
We cover work across residential, commercial, healthcare, education, industrial, hospitality, and civil infrastructure.
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Model-Based Where Possible, Hand-Measured Where Necessary
Where a Revit model exists, we extract from the model. We measure by hand and mark up every single count where only 2D PDFs exist.
What Software and Standards Do We Work In?
Your quantities are measured in industry-standard takeoff software, priced against published cost data, and classified to the standards US owners, lenders, and agencies expect to see.
Measurement and Takeoff Software
- PlanSwift
- Bluebeam Revu
- On-Screen Takeoff
- Trimble
- Autodesk BIM 360 and Revit model extraction
- Navisworks for clash and quantity validation
Credentials Held by Our Team
- AACE AACE International (American Association of Cost Engineers)
- ASPE ASPE (American Society of Professional Estimators)
- PMI PMI (Project Management Institute)
- AEO AEO (American Estimators Organization)
- DQSCE Degrees in quantity surveying, civil engineering, and construction management
Six simple steps
How We Work as Quantity Surveyor Services Providers
We work in a step-by-step approach, so you know exactly where your estimate is at every stage.
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Send Your Plans and Get a Fixed Quote
You upload the drawings and scope, and we come back usually within the hour with a fixed fee and a committed delivery date and time, with no charge for the quote.
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Drawing Review and Scope Lock
Before any measuring starts, a senior surveyor reads the full set to find missing details, conflicts between architectural and structural sheets, and unclear specifications, then sends you the gaps as a written query list.
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Measurement by a Trade Specialist
The takeoff is assigned to a surveyor who works in that trade every day, extracted from the Revit model where one exists and measured by hand from the PDFs where it does not, with every count color-coded on the drawing as it is recorded.
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Pricing to Your Local Market
We apply labor hours, crew productivity, and unit rates for your project ZIP code, benchmark them against RSMeans, and cross-check the volatile items with live supplier quotes so the number reflects this month's prices and not last year's.
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Senior Review, Then Delivery
A second senior surveyor checks the arithmetic, the scope coverage, and the exclusions before anything is released. We deliver the package on the date and time we committed to, with revisions inside the original scope handled free.
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Ongoing Support Through the Contract
After delivery, we stay available for schedule of values, payment applications, and change order pricing for as long as the project runs.
Questions we get asked
Quantity Surveyor Estimating FAQs
Is "quantity surveyor" a real job title in the US?
Not really. In America, the same job is usually called a cost estimator or cost consultant. 'Quantity surveyor' is the British term, still used here by estimators trained abroad and on international contracts. The scope of work is identical.
What is the difference between a quantity surveyor and a cost estimator?
A cost estimator prices the work to produce a bid number. A quantity surveyor measures the work, prices it, then manages the money across the whole contract. It includes payment applications, change orders, and final cost reconciliation.
Do you provide quantity surveying for US projects that don't use BOQs?
Yes. We deliver in CSI MasterFormat and UniFormat and map measured quantities to an AIA schedule of values so billing and certification work under standard US contract forms.
What if the drawings change after delivery?
Revisions within the original scope are free. We quote significant scope additions separately and tell you the difference up front.
Do you work with owners and developers, or only contractors?
We work with both. Owners hire us to check whether a contractor's price is fair before they sign.
Do I have to sign a contract or subscription?
No. You pay for each project separately, and there is no contract to sign. If you bid often, we offer monthly plans, but they are completely optional.