Why the best QS teams rarely fight fires

1 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief dialogue, the speakers explore how Quantity Surveying (QS) teams can minimise "fire‑fighting" by eliminating risk rather than merely mitigating it. They argue that when a team maintains a single, authoritative set of records that all members have signed off, the need for interpersonal trust diminishes because the data itself becomes the trusted source. By ensuring that the solution – the data platform and associated processes – is robust, reliable and operates with integrity, the team can rely on the system itself to prevent issues, allowing them to focus on delivering value instead of constantly troubleshooting problems.

I guess it's a bit like risk, isn't it? If we can just avoid the risk altogether, then that's better than attempting to mitigate it. And if we've got really good records that we've both signed up to as a single truth, then maybe we don't have to actually dabble in too much trust in that because it's inherent in how we've established ourselves. And that goes for writing the appropriate things that meet our expectations.
So, so you're suggesting if they're authentically if they are reliable and they are the facts, then I don't have to trust you when you tell me that X happened because we both agree that those, those are the facts. Yeah. So we can avoid having to—
yeah, sort of built in, isn't it? So we trust in the solution. We trust that the solution's operated well and it's, it's, it's, you know, it's got integrity to it. It's robust.