THE SOUTH AFRICAN COUNCIL

for the
QUANTITY SURVEYING PROFESSION
Established in terms of the Quantity Surveying Profession Act 49 of 2000

NEWSLETTER
18 April 2019
Issue No. 1

CANDIDATE ELETTER 1

It’s hard to believe that the first four months of 2019 are almost at an end. The Easter
period is upon us, and we would like to wish those that are taking advantage of the public
holidays, a good break, and safe travels.

1. APC INTERVIEWS

Not only are the May/June 2019 interview sessions the biggest we’ve had, but submissions
were generally of a poor standard, and lacking documentation.

It is really disappointing to see how most of the submissions were of a poor standard. It
seems as though not much effort was taken in putting the document together, even after
constant communication regarding the quality and the standard of the presentation of the
submissions. It makes one wonder what type of reports are presented to clients when the
Council office receives such unprofessional submissions.
The majority of the submissions were not in the order requested. Initials and page
numbers were missing and the declaration block at the end of the project specific report
was missing. I cannot tell you how many submissions were received that were simply a
very bad photocopy of the final submission. Most times annexure F (declaration) was not
even changed to the correct APC declaration and the requested general report was
completely overlooked. This really does not give the assessor looking at the submission,
the confidence that future paperwork will not be submitted in the same manner, or that
you are even ready for professional registration.

The office has been accommodating and sympathetic, but in the future, these kinds of
submissions will be rejected.

The reason why the Council moved away from the old database system was for the
profession to manage their profile, hence the adoption of “MY MEMBERSHIP” database.
We work according to individual’s profiles, so if your profile is not updated on a regular
basis, we won’t be unaware that you perhaps moved from Port Elizabeth to Gauteng, or
Durban to Cape Town, etc. It is imperative that the profiles be kept up to date.

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This could explain why the Gauteng bookings filled up really fast, and left some candidates
without a time-slot. We have had to shuffle things around, and have hopefully come up
with a solution to accommodate all.

The dates are as follows:

9 May 2019 Bloemfontein
14 – 16 May 2019 Cape Town
20 – 29 May 2019 Gauteng
30 May 2019 Port Elizabeth
4 June 2019 East London
12 June 2019 Kwa-Zulu Natal

2. SUBMISSION DATES

It is very important to check your registration letter to see what dates have been indicated
for submissions.
Interim submissions must be done after 18 months, and you need to ensure that your
submission date is noted and adhered to.
Final submission dates vary, and again your registration letter needs to be checked in
order to ensure that you submit on the set date.

The next submission dates are as follows:

12 July 2019 - Final submissions ONLY
19 July 2019 - Interim submissions
26 July 2019 – Backdating submissions

Please take note: we will only accept submissions that have reached the Council office
before the closing date and/or on the closing date by 12:00. Any late submissions will
NOT be entertained at all.
It is your responsibility to ensure that the documents are couriered timeously.
DO NOT send your submission via the local postal service, as these are never received on
time.

Again, please be aware that if you have NOT submitted an interim submission and submit
one marked final, the submission will be considered as an Interim and submitted as such
for assessment. This is a requirement stipulated in the registration policy.

Please get a friend, your supervisor and an impartial person to check the content and the
grammar before binding the documents. Make sure that you have the correct number of
zeros on your figures.
These submissions should not be done in haste, and it is on your experience that the
assessor wants to be informed. If you’ve had some mishaps on a project mention this,
and also, state how you overcame the problem. The assessors do not need to know what
the architect, contractor or general laborer did on the project, unless it is was relevant.

The order in which the submissions need to be submitted:

1. Annexure F (declaration)
2. Assessors report (if applicable)
3. PSM Statement of results (if applicable)
4. Copy of qualification
5. Activity summary report (extracted from the QS diary)
6. Project summary report (extracted from the QS diary)
7. Project specific report - Annexure D in the policy
Each page of the submission needs to be numbered and initialed by the candidate and
mentor, and on the last page of the project specific report, a signature block should
appear consisting of the name, signature and date of both candidate and mentor.

1. Select a single project where, if possible, you have been involved from concept to
completion
2. Do not select a project where you have been a mere observer, but have been an active
participant in most aspects and phases of the project from Stage 1 to 6. The value or
complexity of the project selected is not important.
3. The assessors have signed letters of confidentiality, therefore all specific details of the
project must be reported, i.e. budgets, tender results, final accounts amounts, etc.
4. The report should be of sufficient details so that the assessors can get a confident
insight into the candidate’s abilities.
5. The report should be approximately 2,000 – 3,000 words in length. Size 11 or 12 font
and 1.5 line spacing. Being a professional report, the candidate should report in a clear
and concise manner using point formats and tabulate technical figures where
applicable.
6. Use of photographs is acceptable, but should not exceed 10.
7. Personal insights into the project and stating what you learned from the project is
essential.
8. The project selected should commence before your interim APC paper submission and
concluded in the final APC paper submission.

If the submission does not meet with Council standards, or if there is anything missing, we
will not forward the document for assessment, but will e-mail the candidate to that effect
and ask that they arrange for the document to be collected.

Check, check, and re-check before sending.

Sincere Regards,

Issue 1 – 2019
Mrs Lesley Bergström
Registration Manager

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