Quantity surveyor 23-year-old Morgan Loughnan is loving being part of this thriving industry. The list of things Morgan enjoys about working in construction is long, and includes the speed of the work – “It’s a very fast paced industry with challenges that pop up every day.” He also loves the people (“There are so many different personalities on each job”), the teamwork (“Knowing that the guys you’ve got on site have got your back and will happily muck in and help you out where needed”), and the diversity. Morgan points out that the opportunities for quantity surveyors within the construction industry are endless, both within New Zealand and abroad.
“There is definitely no shortage of work and this is showing no signs of slowing down. The demand for construction professionals at the moment is huge; you get calls and emails from different recruitment agencies weekly, if not daily. “There are so many different niches to specialise in with quantity surveying and a lot of transferable skills throughout.” Morgan is currently based on site at the Wynyard East 2 Job in Auckland, where his employer LT McGuinness is building four standalone apartment buildings separated by a communal lane, which provides access to car parking and commercial buildings.
The main apartment block is 11 storeys high and made up of 80 apartments. According to the New Zealand Institute of Quantity Surveyors, “Quantity surveyors are the construction cost professionals who measure and estimate the cost of resources for construction projects. They aim to keep projects on budget, among many other roles.” “It’s quite hard to explain what a typical day is like as things are always changing and no two days are the same,” says Morgan, but his job includes material procurement, liaising and negotiating with sub-contractors, pricing variations and tracking spending. “Supplementary to that, my day could include anything from cooking a barbecue for the boys to placing concrete. Everyone mucks in where needed.” The satisfaction Morgan gets from his job is obvious. “I enjoy problem solving and striving to find better, more efficient ways of doing things.” Growing up on Auckland’s North Shore “keen on sports, the outdoors, building and fixing things”, Morgan went to Westlake Boys’ High School where he took maths, physics, PE and business studies in Year 13. Other subjects he found useful included graphics and English, which he took to Year 12. After school Morgan enrolled in the Bachelor of Construction at Massey University, intending to major in Construction Management.
During his final year there he changed his major to Quantity Surveying – prompted by conversations he had with industry professionals while working part-time for a door hardware firm – and he’s never looked back. Morgan’s advice to school leavers is to consider quantity surveying as a career option. “You’re not stuck in an office all day, you progress quickly and there is definitely good money to be made.”