The posting
Operating Context
LOOM is a vertically integrated design and build firm operating with in-house designers, carpentry, and subcontractors across commercial fit-outs, F&B, hospitality, and residential renovation. The Quantity Surveyor exists to make LOOM's numbers unimpeachable: every quantity measured, every rate defensible, every quotation priced to win at a margin worth winning, and every dollar owed to LOOM claimed on time and collected in full.
The QS is the commercial spine connecting three functions: the designer's drawings and FF&E schedules, the PM's site records and progress, and the client's contract and payments. The full arc: Take-off → Pricing & Quotation → Cost Control & Variations → Claims & Payments → Final Account. Nothing in that chain rests on estimate where measurement is possible, and nothing is claimed or paid without a document behind it.
Role Overview
The Quantity Surveyor owns measurement, pricing, and commercial documentation across LOOM's project portfolio — from quantity take-offs and BOQ preparation through client quotations, variation pricing, progress claims, contractor bill verification, and final account reconciliation.
Beyond individual projects, the role builds and maintains LOOM's commercial intelligence: the company schedule of rates, vendor rate benchmarking, and the cost tracker — the institutional pricing knowledge that lets LOOM quote fast, win on carpentry and trade rates, and protect margin as it scales.
Reporting & Operating Rhythm
- Reports to the Founder & CEO, with day-to-day coordination across the Design, Project Management, Sourcing, and Finance teams.
- Maintains the QS tracker and cost trackers weekly ahead of all-hands: quotations out, claims due, VOs pending approval, payments outstanding — with named owners and dates.
- Resolves issues at team level first — identify, discuss, solve — and escalates only with a proposed solution and its cost/margin implication, never just the problem.
- Works to hard commercial deadlines: quotation turnaround, claim submission dates, and payment response timelines are met without being chased.
1. Measurement & Take-offs
- Produce quantity take-offs from drawings (PDF and CAD) with an auditable measurement trail — quantities that survive a client's or contractor's challenge because the workings are shown.
- Prepare Bills of Quantities and detailed schedule breakdowns for D&B quotations and tender submissions, structured by trade and aligned to LOOM's quotation template.
- Verify designers' cover sheets, carpentry/joinery lists, and FF&E schedules against drawings before pricing — measurement errors caught at the desk, not on site.
- Conduct site measurements where drawings are absent or unreliable, and the final as-built quantity audit with the PM at project close — the measurement basis for both the client final account and contractor payments.
2. Pricing, Quotations & Tenders
- Prepare, edit, and issue client quotations — design consultancy and builders' work — itemised, accurate, and formatted on LOOM's standard template with its full contract terms attached, including SOPA provisions.
- Price from LOOM's schedule of rates first, market quotes second, judgement last — and record which basis was used on every line.
- Obtain and compare supplier and subcontractor quotes per trade; a minimum of competitive cover on significant packages, with the comparison filed.
- Support value engineering in client negotiations: costed alternatives with margin impact visible to LOOM internally, so price reductions are traded, never just given.
- Turn quotations around at deal speed — pricing is never the reason LOOM loses a project it should have won.
3. Cost Control & Variation Management
- Maintain the live cost tracker per project: contract sum, committed costs, projected final cost, and margin — variances flagged the week they emerge, not at final account.
- Price variation orders promptly with scope, quantities, and rates documented; no VO is issued to a client unpriced, and no VO work is costed after the fact.
- Track VO status from pricing through written client approval to invoicing — approved VOs are revenue; unpriced ones are margin leakage.
- Monitor contractor and supplier commitments against the budget allowances they were priced under; overruns are surfaced with the cause named.
4. Claims, Invoicing & Payments
- Prepare progress claims with the PM against measured work done and the agreed payment milestones — submitted on schedule, every cycle, with supporting documentation complete.
- Issue quotations, invoices, and receipts through LOOM's online platforms, accurately and on time; the paper trail from quotation to receipt is continuous.
- Operate within Singapore's Security of Payment Act framework: payment claims and payment responses issued within statutory timelines — LOOM's entitlements are never lost to a missed date.
- Verify contractor and supplier bills against measured work, approved rates, and delivery records before payment is recommended — LOOM pays for what was done, at the rate agreed, once.
- Coordinate supplier and contractor payment scheduling with Finance, and chase client receivables with the project team — politely, relentlessly, and on the record.
- Track retention sums on both sides — client-held and LOOM-held — with release dates flagged in advance.
5. Rates, Vendors & Commercial Intelligence
- Build and maintain LOOM's schedule of rates (SOR) by trade — carpentry, MEP, wet trades, finishes — updated from every quote received and every project closed, and treated as confidential company IP.
- Maintain the top-vendors-by-trade benchmark: who is competitive, who is reliable, and what the market rate actually is — feeding appointment decisions and rate negotiations.
- Benchmark LOOM's in-house rates against external market rates so the pricing edge on carpentry and trades is measured, defended, and renewed.
- Feed contractor performance and pricing data from every project back into the vendor database with the PM — the commercial function compounds or it doesn't.
6. Final Accounts & Close-out
- Prepare the client final account: contract sum, approved VOs, and measured as-built quantities reconciled into a statement the client can verify and Finance can close.
- Settle contractor final payments back-to-back against the client account and measured quantities — LOOM never pays out more than it billed for the same work.
- Close each project commercially: retention schedules confirmed, warranties and cost data filed, and actual-vs-quoted analysis recorded so the next quotation starts smarter.
7. Team & Process Development
- Standardise and improve QS templates — BOQ formats, cost trackers, VO registers, claim packs — so every project starts from the best version of the last one.
- Adopt and help shape LOOM's AI-assisted QS workflows — take-offs from PDF drawings, spec-to-BOQ drafting, document checks, and the rate library — treating them as core tools, not experiments, while owning the accuracy of every number that goes out.
- Support designers on costing questions early in concept, so budgets shape design before drawings harden — cheaper than value engineering after.
8. Professional Conduct
- Uphold company policies and codes of practice in every commercial dealing; LOOM's rates, margins, and cost data are confidential without exception.
- Represent LOOM with professionalism and integrity with clients, contractors, and suppliers — firm on entitlements, straight on numbers.
- Exercise sound commercial judgement when client relationships, contractor interests, and margin protection pull in different directions — LOOM's contractual and financial position comes first.
Key Competencies & Skills
- Measurement & Take-offs — accurate quantity take-offs from drawings and on site; structured BOQ preparation for fit-out and D&B works.
- Pricing & Estimating — trade-level rate fluency across carpentry, MEP, wet trades, and finishes; builds quotations that win at margin.
- Contracts & SOPA — working command of D&B contract terms, variation and claims mechanics, and Singapore's Security of Payment Act timelines.
- Cost Control — live cost tracking, committed-vs-budget discipline, and back-to-back final account reconciliation.
- Negotiation & Vendor Management — comparing, negotiating, and documenting supplier and subcontractor pricing; builds supplier relationships without giving away the rate book.
- Tools & Documentation — AutoCAD (for measurement), Excel/Google Sheets at an advanced level, and LOOM's online quotation/invoicing platforms; disciplined record-keeping; comfortable adopting AI-assisted take-off and BOQ workflows.
- Bilingual Communication — strong written and spoken English for client documentation; Mandarin for supplier and trade negotiation.
Requirements
- Degree or diploma in Quantity Surveying, Construction Management, Building, or a related field.
- Minimum 3 years' QS experience in interior fit-out or design & build in Singapore, with hands-on ownership of take-offs, quotations, VOs, and claims — not just assisting on them.
- Demonstrated command of the full commercial cycle: BOQ and tender preparation, progress claims, contractor bill verification, and final account close-out.
- Working knowledge of Singapore's Security of Payment Act and standard fit-out contract terms.
- Proficiency in AutoCAD and MS Office / Google Workspace; experience with digital take-off or AI-assisted QS tools an advantage.
- Strong written and spoken English; Mandarin required for supplier and contractor coordination.
What Success Looks Like (First 6–12 Months)
- Quotations issued on time, on template, and with measured quantities — no project lost to slow or sloppy pricing.
- Every VO priced before work proceeds and tracked to written approval and invoice — zero unpriced VO work.
- Progress claims and SOPA timelines met every cycle — no entitlement lost to a missed date.
- Contractor bills verified against measurement before payment on every project — no double payment, no payment for unmeasured work.
- LOOM's schedule of rates and top-vendors-by-trade benchmark live, current, and used in every quotation.
- Final accounts reconciled back-to-back within the agreed window, with actual-vs-quoted analysis filed on every closed project.
- Weekly QS tracker complete before every all-hands — quotations, claims, VOs, and receivables — without being chased.
