Scale of fees or Free for All

The livelihhod of professional have never been challenged to the extent we are facing now. Professionals, especially in the building industry not only have to face declining job numbers, but their fees are also being compromised! Realising that the situation need to be checked before things get out of hand, several professional boards have got together to emphasize the need to stick to a scale of fees, or a minimum scale of fees, whatever the case may be.

Professional services are intellectual and creative products, not commodities that can be subjected to bargains. The purpose of a scale of fee is to set a benchmark to establish an equitabe level of remunerations for professionals, commensurate with the level of intellectual input and establish professional standards.

The Board of Quantity Surveyors Malaysia ( http:/www.jkr.gov.my/ljbm or www.bqsm.gov.my ) is in the process of gazetting the new rules, which inter alia, will contain the new scale of fees. The gazette will be made under PU (A), meaning that the Board can now take action on those consulting quantity surveyors who did not charge according to the scale of fees. When the new rules comes in force, hopefully fee cutting will be a thing of the past.