Cost engineer vs quantity surveyor

The differences between cost engineers and quantity surveyors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a cost engineer and a quantity surveyor. Additionally, a cost engineer has an average salary of $87,901, which is higher than the $71,438 average annual salary of a quantity surveyor.

The top three skills for a cost engineer include project management, cost analysis and construction management. The most important skills for a quantity surveyor are construction projects, QS, and cost estimates.

Cost engineer vs quantity surveyor overview

	Cost Engineer	Quantity Surveyor
Yearly salary	$87,901	$71,438
Hourly rate	$42.26	$34.35
Growth rate	3%	1%
Number of jobs	65,278	2,128
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 74%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Average age	45	44
Years of experience	6	6

Cost engineer vs quantity surveyor salary

Cost engineers and quantity surveyors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Cost Engineer	Quantity Surveyor
Average salary	$87,901	$71,438
Salary range	Between $64,000 And $120,000	Between $44,000 And $114,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Cheshire, CT
Highest paying state	Rhode Island	New Jersey
Best paying company	BP America Inc	Air Products
Best paying industry	Energy	-

Differences between cost engineer and quantity surveyor education

There are a few differences between a cost engineer and a quantity surveyor in terms of educational background:

	Cost Engineer	Quantity Surveyor
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 74%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Most common major	Business	Civil Engineering
Most common college	Georgia Institute of Technology	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cost engineer vs quantity surveyor demographics

Here are the differences between cost engineers' and quantity surveyors' demographics:

	Cost Engineer	Quantity Surveyor
Average age	45	44
Gender ratio	Male, 74.1% Female, 25.9%	Male, 81.6% Female, 18.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 4.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.3% Asian, 14.4% White, 64.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 10.9% Asian, 5.0% White, 75.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	6%	7%

Differences between cost engineer and quantity surveyor duties and responsibilities

Cost engineer example responsibilities.

Manage and monitor SharePoint activities and update daily tasks to ensure information is documented, remains accurate and up-to-date.
Manage Jenkins security by providing specific access to authorize developers/testers using project base matrix authorization strategy.
Create BOM for each project assuring special procedures, materials requirements and reinforcements.
Research and analyze various commodities for function to price and price to cost evaluation.
Design and install a complete integrate information management system on IBM equipment and ERP software.
Document all corporate procedures and policies instruction to establish constancy within GAAP rules and regulation.

Quantity surveyor example responsibilities.

Prepare shop drawings using AutoCAD software.
Update contract BOQ base on contractors approve shop drawings to submit update BOQ and expect cost of completion.
Base: UK, UAE, Trinidad
Assist in the preparation of tenders for new contracts including pre-contract measurements and pricing.
Follow and maintain the drawing set using AutoCAD and release them to supervisors for assign tasks.
Check the quantities in BOQ during site handover for the contractor and match them with the implemented quantities at the site.

Cost engineer vs quantity surveyor skills

Common cost engineer skills

Project Management, 9%
Cost Analysis, 7%
Construction Management, 7%
Project Controls, 7%
Cost Data, 5%
Cost Models, 4%

Common quantity surveyor skills

Construction Projects, 18%
QS, 12%
Cost Estimates, 6%
Contractual Claims, 6%
Cost Analysis, 6%
Cost Control, 6%