A Good Waterproofing QS Should Tell You What You're Not Seeing
A waterproofing QS should do more than take off quantities. Discover how specialist QS support can help contractors identify commercial risks before they become expensive problems.
EDUCATIONAL
Sumit Kumar
8/28/2026
When some contractors hear “QS”, they immediately think:
Takeoffs.
Measure the drawings.
Prepare the quantities.
Put the numbers together.
Send the spreadsheet back.
That's certainly part of the job.
But if that's all your QS is doing, you're leaving a lot of value on the table. A good QS should help you see things that are easy to miss when you're running the business, managing staff, dealing with builders and trying to keep projects moving.
The value isn't in the spreadsheet
Imagine you're looking at a set of waterproofing drawings. You see 1,000m². A QS sees the 1,000m² too.
But they should also be asking:
What's happening around it?
Are there difficult junctions?
Are the details consistent?
Are there areas where the specification and drawings don't appear to align?
Is there enough information to confidently price the work?
Are there assumptions that should be clarified?
Could the construction sequence create additional work?
Those questions can be worth considerably more than the measurement itself.
A specialist sees the trade differently
Waterproofing isn't simply another square-metre trade. The commercial outcome can be heavily affected by detailing, substrate preparation, penetrations, interfaces, protection, sequencing and system requirements. A QS who understands the trade can look at the drawings with those things in mind. That means the output becomes more useful to the business owner.
Instead of simply: “Here are your quantities.”
You get: “Here are your quantities, here are the assumptions, here are the areas I'd clarify, and here are the risks I'd keep an eye on.”
That's a much more valuable conversation.
Your QS can also challenge the project
And this is something business owners should actively want. You don't need someone who agrees with everything you already think. You need someone who can occasionally say: “Have you considered this?” Maybe the scope is incomplete. Maybe an allowance looks too low. Maybe the procurement assumption needs checking. Maybe a detail creates more installation complexity than the plan suggests. Maybe the project isn't as attractive commercially as the headline contract value makes it appear. That second set of eyes can be extremely valuable.
It also gives the owner back time
The owner of a waterproofing business is usually good at many things.
Managing people.
Winning relationships.
Solving site problems.
Talking to builders.
Managing clients.
Making decisions.
But that doesn't mean the owner should spend every evening measuring drawings.
As the business grows, the question becomes: What should only I be doing?
If the answer is “everything”, growth becomes difficult. Specialist QS support allows the owner to delegate a technical and commercial function without necessarily hiring a full-time internal QS.
The real question isn't "Can you do my takeoff?"
Ask: “Can you help me make a better decision about this project?” That's the standard I believe specialist QS support should be held to. Because the best outcome isn't a beautiful spreadsheet. It's helping the business owner submit a better tender, identify risk earlier, protect margin and make better decisions about where to spend their company's time.
How AQUOSYNC can help
AQUOSYNC provides specialist waterproofing QS support across New Zealand and Australia, including drawing and specification review, takeoffs, BOQs, supplier pricing, tender preparation, scope clarification and ongoing commercial support. The service is designed around the needs of waterproofing businesses - not generic construction estimating.
If you want your QS to do more than measure drawings, talk to AQUOSYNC about your next project.
