A career as a Freelance QS or Estimator can be very rewarding.

Work from home – be your own boss – work when YOU want.

You need to be dedicated to giving your clients a speedy reliable service – one of them WILL sometimes phone on a Friday evening and want you to work over the weekend --- but then expect to pay accordingly --- if you are not prepared to do this occasionally then do NOT think any more of this avenue of work.

YOUR ‘weekend’ may be a Tuesday and Wednesday but what’s the problem ?

The ideal situation is to have 3 clients – all eggs in ‘one basket’ is a very risky situation to be in. An absolute minimum of 2 is the target.

Your clients could be Contractors or Sub-contractors.

A mix of, say, one masonry contractor, one plastering contractor and a general builder would be ideal.

You will need an office at home (preferred), good telephone system, email facility, laptop AND PC, desk space to spread out drawings (A0 size drawings are around 1100mm x 900mm for example – these are the largest that may need your attention), scanner and printer – a vehicle that ‘doubles’ as an office would be perfect.

If just starting out, your prospective client wants to hear you telling the truth – "I am just starting this business and willing to work hard and LEARN – I want to give a good reliable service to you and build a good working relationship".

Believe me, the person hearing this would rather get that message than a list of qualifications that are very likely meaningless – they want you to do THE JOB, it’s as simple as that.

Your target then is to acquire 3 clients and keep them happy – if the workload becomes too much then ‘share it out’ with another freelance colleague – you will then be ‘on your way’. The industry WILL, at some stage, go really busy again so ‘be ready’.

Best of luck.