People.
Ken Hubble
Founder & owner of KMH Quantity Surveying Online
I started work in 1964 as a trainee surveyor working in a main contractor’s office. It was not long before I realised, I had found my niche in life. Promoted to Chief Surveyor in 1980.
During this period, I attended Northampton Tech College and obtained my Ordinary National Certificate. Northampton Tech College in the mid-sixties had excellent tutors who had a significant impact on my career.
After a chance meeting with a freelance quantity surveyor around 1982 I was sold on the idea of Freelance Quantity Surveying. By 1986 I decided it was now or never to take the plunge. Just beating the forty-year deadline.
So, after doing as much research as possible; business cards printed I got my first client. A professional quantity surveyors practice in Cambridge, where I completed many outstanding final accounts. The company went on to asked me to represent them on a major project in Cambridge, which I eagerly accepted. I gained extremely useful knowledge acting as the client’s quantity surveyor rather than the contractors.
The duties I was commissioned to undertake were: Monthly Valuation. Cost Reports, Prepare and agree Variation Accounts, dealing with two claims one of which was quite challenging, Preparing and agreeing the Final Account with the Main Contractor. As my work with the PQS firm was coming to an end; I changed direction and started working for main contractors undertaking bill of quantities production and estimating.
As a freelancer I considered I needed to obtain a professional qualification. I attended Luton University and got my full membership of the Chartered Institute of Building. MCIOB in 1991. Several years later I took a distance learning course with The College of Estate Management received a Diploma in Quantity Surveying.
In 1991 my eldest son joined me. Fortunately, my son had the same passion for the construction industry. We became remarkably busy with bill of quantities production for many of the UK’s latest main contractors and professional quantity surveyors’ practices.
Our workload and reputation continued to grow, by 1999 my youngest son joined us, and we formed KS Associates Quantity Surveyors Limited. It was not long before we needed help to manage our workload. However, finding the right staff experienced in producing bill of quantities from limited information proved difficult. We finally concluded that the only way forward was to train our own quantity surveyors and where applicable offered further development via The College of Estate Management BSc in Quantity Surveying.
By introducing our employees to bite-size assignments, as they gained knowledge, we increased the assignment complexity. We found our method worked extremely effectively, and still does.
I am now semi-retired and believe the system I developed at KS Associates Quantity Surveyors Limited has merit in sharing to help others in or joining the industry.
