Quantity surveyor vs PropertyLord AI

Stop paying QS quotes
on deals you haven’t
won yet.

Screen 10 deals for free. Instruct a QS on the one that closes. 28 trades, RICS-benchmarked, 11 UK regions. The build-cost number a developer needs to decide, before the one a lender needs to sign.

QS sense-check: £2,000-£5,000·Quick Check: free to screen
Underwrite your first site freeTry the build-cost modelSee sample report

Same scheme, two paths through it

SW9 2A

0.18 acres · consent for 4 units

Asking £495,000

Path A

Hire a QS for a sense-check

Paid up-front

£3,200 fee · 2-4 weeks · final tender quality

Paid up-front. Deal hasn't closed yet.

Path B

Run a Quick Check

Screen first

Free to screen · 30 seconds · 28 trades, RICS-benchmarked

Decide if the deal deserves a paid QS instruction.

Screening 10 deals a year

10 × £3,000 in QS fees = £30,000 paid on deals that mostly don’t close.

Cost of QS-on-every-deal screening

£2k-£5k

Cost of a QS sense-check on a single deal. Paid up-front, before you know if the deal closes.

2-4 weeks

Time from instruction to first QS number. Auction deadlines and viewing slots don’t wait.

1 in 5

Typical close rate on screened deals. The other 4 in 5 don’t close. You paid for them anyway.

The honest workflow

Screen 10. Instruct a QS on the one.

The developers we talk to don’t want to replace their QS. They want to stop paying one £3k at a time on deals they were always going to walk away from.

Four steps

  1. 1Source 10 sites this quarter. Rightmove, auction, agent stock, off-market.
  2. 2Run all 10 through Quick Check in under an hour. Postcode in, numbers out.
  3. 3Shortlist the 2 to 3 that actually stack on margin, planning, and comparables.
  4. 4Instruct a QS on the one you commit to. They get better numbers from day one.

The math

QS-on-every-deal
10 × £3,000
Fees paid on deals that close
~£6,000
Fees paid on deals that don’t close
£24,000
Screening on PropertyLord AI
£0

Free to screen. Paid plan launches at £29/mo.

Row by row

What a QS gives you. What PropertyLord AI gives you.

A QS gives you precision on the scheme you commit to. PropertyLord AI gives you a credible number on every postcode still on the shortlist.

Where it shows up

Cost per deal screened

Quantity surveyor

£2,000-£5,000, paid before you know if the deal closes.

PropertyLord AI

Free to screen. Paid plan launches at £29/mo for the deeper workflow.

Where it shows up

Time to first number

Quantity surveyor

Two to four weeks once the QS has drawings and a brief.

PropertyLord AI

30 seconds from postcode in to itemised build cost out.

Where it shows up

Trades covered

Quantity surveyor

Full bill of quantities, drawn from the actual spec.

PropertyLord AI

28 trades, three quality tiers, RICS-benchmarked.

Where it shows up

Regional pricing

Quantity surveyor

Yes, from local market knowledge and current sub-contractor quotes.

PropertyLord AI

11 UK regions with the regional multiplier applied automatically.

Where it shows up

Best for

Quantity surveyor

Final tender, complex builds, lender-grade valuations, dispute resolution.

PropertyLord AI

Screening, feasibility, deciding which deals deserve a QS instruction.

Where it shows up

What you ship

Quantity surveyor

A signed RICS-grade document a lender or main contractor will accept.

PropertyLord AI

An itemised feasibility one-pager you can re-run on the next postcode.

Run the 28-trade build cost model on a real postcode

Where each tool earns the fee

When you need a QS. When you don’t.

A PropertyLord AI subscription doesn’t make a QS redundant. It makes one affordable on every deal that actually deserves one.

Instruct a QS

When you genuinely need one

  • Final tender and contractor negotiations.

    Once you are comparing real quotes against a real bill of quantities, you want a qualified surveyor in the room.

  • Lender-grade RICS valuations.

    PropertyLord AI is a screening tool, not a regulated valuation. For Red Book work, instruct a RICS-registered QS.

  • Complex builds where spec drives cost, not postcode.

    Non-standard structure, listed-building rework, deep retrofit. A QS reads the drawings. We read the area.

  • Disputes and contract valuations on site.

    If the scheme is mid-build and the numbers are being argued over, that is a QS job, not a software job.

Use PropertyLord AI

When the screen is enough

  • Screening before you commit a deposit.

    Postcode in, build cost out, regional multiplier already applied. No QS invoice on a deal you might not pursue.

  • Sense-checking an asking price against the build.

    28 trades RICS-benchmarked gets you a credible number for the offer in 30 seconds, not 3 weeks.

  • Comparing 10 deals to find the 2 worth pursuing.

    Re-run the same model on every postcode in the pipeline. The cost of one QS instruction screens the whole shortlist here.

  • HMO and conversion costing with regional accuracy.

    11 UK regions, RICS-benchmarked. Specific enough to tell a Birmingham flip from a Manchester conversion before you ring the agent.

See the full 9-tool feasibility suite

One scheme, one screen

What screening before the QS looks like in practice

Illustrative pre-QS screen on the same SW9 site. A 2-unit new-build run can return build cost (£210,600), SDLT (£8,300), and a 38.2 percent ROI estimate in one view. Enough to decide whether the deal deserves a paid QS instruction or a walk away. No £3k committed to the maybe.
Internal example, 2-unit new-build screen, SW9

Before your next offer

Screen the deal before you instruct the QS.

28 trades. 11 UK regions. RICS-benchmarked. Postcode in, itemised build cost out. Free to screen, no card, no sign-up.

Underwrite your first site freeTry the build-cost model

Not running a deal right now? Take the build-cost data with you.

We'll email you the regional UK build-cost PDF: 28 trades, RICS-benchmarked, segmented across 11 UK regions. One click to unsubscribe.

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Five questions before the switch

What developers ask before they stop instructing a QS on every deal

Does PropertyLord AI replace a quantity surveyor entirely?
No, and we don't want it to. For final tender, lender-grade RICS valuations, and disputed builds, instruct a quantity surveyor. For screening, feasibility, and budgeting before you commit, PropertyLord AI gives you a credible number in 30 seconds. The paid plan launches at £29 a month. Most developers we talk to use PropertyLord AI to screen 10 deals, then instruct a QS for the one they pursue.
How accurate is the build-cost estimate compared with a QS quote?
It uses 28 trades, three quality tiers, and 11 UK regional multipliers benchmarked against RICS data. Expect the PropertyLord AI figure to land within roughly 10 to 15 percent of a full QS bill of quantities on a standard build. Close enough to make a confident offer, not close enough to sign a contract on. For final tender you still want the QS.
Why do quantity surveyors charge £2,000-£5,000 per project?
A QS reads your drawings, prices each trade against current sub-contractor quotes, and produces a signed document a lender or contractor will treat as authoritative. That is real work and worth the fee on the deal you actually pursue. The problem is paying it on every deal you screen, including the ones that never happen.
Can I send the PropertyLord AI output to a lender or main contractor?
It is an itemised feasibility, not a Red Book valuation. Lenders and main contractors will still want a QS-signed document for the scheme they are funding or building. Use PropertyLord AI to decide whether the deal is worth instructing a QS in the first place.
What does PropertyLord AI cover that the build-cost figure alone doesn't?
SDLT (HMRC-accurate, including the 3 percent surcharge), planning flags (Article 4, conservation, flood), comparables from Land Registry, basic capital stack maths, and the 28-trade build cost engine itself. The paid plan covers the whole feasibility surface, not just the build cost number.