Overlapping professional services, and who signs what
Measured surveys, construction valuation, building consultancy and remote advisory work — with every statutory signature provided by a registrant of the profession that owns it.
Six disciplines touch quantity surveying. We work inside all of them, and sign inside one.
A great deal of construction advice in Nigeria sits in the space between professions. A client wants a building measured, a cost tested, a claim verified, a site inspected, a plot checked against a plan. Each of those touches a different profession, and none of them is helped by being handed to five separate consultants who never speak to each other.
So this practice works across that space. We handle the measurement, the costing and the verification in each area — the part that is quantity surveying — and where the law reserves a signature to another profession, that signature comes from a registrant of that profession, with their name and registration number on the document.
What follows is the honest version: what we do, what we do not, and who signs what.
The overlaps, area by area
Read the last two columns before you brief us. They are the whole point of this page.
| Area | What we do | The work | What needs another registrant | Who signs that |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surveyor | Measured building surveys and site measurement | Dimensions, levels and built work measured against the drawings, for owners, developers and diaspora clients. Setting-out verification before concrete goes in. | Structures and structural adequacy | A registered structural engineer, where a structural opinion is needed. |
| Consultant | Independent construction cost consultancy | Cost advice, BOQ review, contractor quote comparison and pre-payment verification, so a figure is tested before funds are released. | None — this is core quantity surveying | Us, as quantity surveyors. |
| Land surveyor | Measured site surveys and setting-out checks | Boundaries, areas and site levels verified against your architectural drawings to support quantity take-off and cost control. | Survey plans, charting, cadastral work and title boundaries | A SURCON-registered surveyor. Not us, and never presented as ours. |
| Estate valuer | Construction-cost and reinstatement valuation | Rebuild cost for insurance, cost to complete, valuation of work done. Building cost, not open-market land value. | Market and statutory valuation for banks, courts and probate | An ESVARBON-registered estate surveyor and valuer. |
| Building consultant | Building consultancy for residential projects | Drawings review, material specification, cost planning, quality checks and snagging inspections, to keep the build matching the design and the budget. | None — this is core practice | Us, as quantity surveyors. |
| Property surveyor | Property and progress surveys on live sites | Measured progress, defect and snagging lists with photographs, and verification of contractor claims before interim payment. All 36 states and the FCT. | Structural and building-survey certification | A registered engineer or building surveyor, as the question requires. |
| Property valuer | Valuation of work done and materials on site | Work done, materials on site and cost to complete valued in a written report with photographs, so a payment is certified on measurement. | Market value of the property as an asset | An ESVARBON-registered estate surveyor and valuer. |
| Property consultant | Advisory for diaspora and remote owners | Remote supervision, verified progress with photographic evidence, and independent certificates a client can pay against. | None — this is our specialism | Us, as quantity surveyors. |
How the endorsement actually works
This is a working arrangement, not a badge. Four things make it real:
We prepare the measurement and the evidence
Quantities, levels, photographs, valuation of work done, cost to complete. The technical substance of the report is ours and is signed as quantity surveying.
The registrant reviews before issue
Where a statutory signature is required, the file goes to a registrant of that profession — SURCON for survey plans, ESVARBON for market valuation, a registered engineer for structural questions. They check it, and they are free to disagree with it.
Their name and number appear on the document
Not a logo, not a partnership claim. A named registrant, their registration number, and their professional responsibility for that part of the report.
The fee is shown separately and no commission passes
The registrant invoices for their own work. We take no referral fee from them, and they take none from us. That is what keeps the arrangement an endorsement rather than a sale.
What we never claim
- We are not a licensed surveyorSite measurement, levels and setting-out checks are ours. Survey plans, charting, cadastral work and title boundaries require a SURCON-registered surveyor, and we say so on every page where the distinction matters.
- We are not an estate valuerConstruction cost, reinstatement cost and cost to complete are ours. Market and statutory valuation for a bank, court, probate or company accounts must be signed by an ESVARBON-registered estate surveyor and valuer.
- We are not a structural engineerWe record what we see and measure its cost. Whether a structure is safe, or whether a crack is structural, is an engineering opinion and we do not give it.
- We are not a solicitorContract interpretation, title and litigation are for a lawyer. We prepare the quantity surveying evidence a solicitor needs.
- No title on this site is a claim to another profession's registerAdjacent capability means we do the adjacent work competently and bring in the signature the law requires. It has never meant otherwise, and it will not.
Why clients prefer one point of contact
Because coordination is where projects lose money. A surveyor's plan, a valuer's figure, an engineer's opinion and a quantity surveyor's cost plan only work together if somebody is holding all four. On a diaspora project, that coordination happening across four time zones and four separate invoices is how the information arrives late and the money leaves early.
One practice holding the measurement, the costing and the verification — and bringing in the statutory signatures as needed, with the fee visible — is usually both cheaper and faster than assembling the same result from four firms. It is also easier to hold to account, because there is one report with one set of dates on it.
Endorsement and overlap questions
If your work is endorsed by a surveyor or valuer, whose report is it?
Yours is a single report with clearly attributed parts. The measurement and costing sections are ours and are signed as quantity surveying. Any statutory section carries the name and registration number of the registrant who signed it. If you ever need only the statutory part, we can introduce the registrant directly and step out — no commission passes either way.
Does this mean you can produce a valuation report my bank will accept?
It means we can prepare the construction cost evidence and have it signed by an ESVARBON-registered valuer, who becomes responsible for the statutory opinion. If your lender insists on appointing its own valuer, we will supply the measured construction data so that report is not built on an area-based guess.
Can you sign a survey plan if I need one?
No. That is a SURCON-registered surveyor's document and signature. We can coordinate with one, show their fee separately, and do the measurement and costing that follows from the plan.
Is the endorsement available on every job?
It applies where the job needs it. Most instructions — BOQs, material schedules, progress valuation, snagging, cost-to-complete — are pure quantity surveying and need nobody else. The endorsements exist for the cases where a client wants a statutory answer as well, and we will tell you at quotation stage whether your job needs one.
What does the endorsement cost?
The registrant's fee, quoted separately and paid to them. We add nothing to it. Where a job does not need a statutory signature, nothing is added at all.
Not sure which profession your job needs?
Describe the situation in two sentences. We will tell you whether it is quantity surveying, another profession, or both — and what each part costs.
We read everything sent to info@peterch.org. Replies go out by WhatsApp — include a working number, with country code, in your first message.