Nikita Makna, Quantity Surveyor (Brymor)
The role of a Quantity Surveyor is to oversee the finer details of a construction project, and Nikita gets involved in everything from health and safety to building regulations in order to help manage the build of the new rehabilitation unit at Western Community Hospital. Here he tell us about his journey into the industry and his hopes for the future.
What does your role entail?
As an Assistant Quantity Surveyor, I’m tasked with handling variations at Western Community Hospital and their smallworks; essentially, that includes:
- Analysing construction drawings and blueprints to ensure plans adhere to health and safety and building regulations, and that we can manage various aspects of costs, materials and schedules.
- Preparing estimates for material costs and other expenses, such as contractor fees and labour costs.
- Assisting in writing contracts and completing required documents, conducting research for evaluating project contractors.
- Studying market fluctuations to identify commercial risks due to market changes.
- Analysing a project’s finances, preparing financial documents, cost tracking and financial forecasting, assisting with payment notices and carrying out a financial appraisal after construction.
Essentially, it’s the day-to-day assistance support for the team and our core project at the time. The role involves quite a bit of financial work and project management – I’ll often be out on site, checking everything is being done as it should be and everyone is doing what they’ve been asked to do. Basically, I try to keep things on track!
Tell us about your career and what led you to where you are now?
After school I went to college to study criminology, French and science. I wasn’t a huge fan and I didn’t really get on well with any of these subjects, so I spent the summer working in retail and I spoke to my Dad about what he thought would be a good thing for me to do. He mentioned how both he and my Grandad had always worked in project management. In Latvia – where we’re from – they don’t really have Quality Surveyor roles, but when we looked at what they’d both spent their careers doing and what that type of role would be here in the UK, it was exactly that.
So, I went back to college and studied further before going to Solent University to do a Higher National certificate in Quantity Surveying. I then was appointed to a role with ATJ Group (where I worked for three years) and now, here I am!
It was pretty different at ATJ. The team was very small and we were sub-contractors. At Brymor, I’m part of a much bigger team with lots of different specialists – including our own procurement department – and we’re actually the ones fully managing the project. I much prefer working this way and I love the broad range of projects I will get to work on.
What is your favourite part of a construction project?
Probably sitting down with all of the drawings and really understanding the project before you hit the ground running. It’s great as you get to imagine how it’s going to come together just by looking at those drawings and then, when you come to procurement, you’ve got a really good idea of what’s going on.
Working at Brymor, I love that there are so many different layers and roles that go into a construction project. I’ve got a long path of progression in front of me – from my current role all the way up to one day hopefully becoming a commercial manager – and that feels really exciting.
What is the most challenging part of a project?
Sometimes there can be a lot of pressure on your time and capacity. Luckily, I haven’t had that experience since joining Brymor as we spend all of our time on one project and get fully immersed in it, but in my past job we’d often be pulled in a lot of different directions which meant you couldn’t spend the time you wanted to on certain tasks. Working in a more focused way, as I do now, is much more effective.
Finally, are you going on holiday this year?
I’m off to France twice – to Carcassonne and then to Bergerac. I love France so I’m really looking forward to it.