In the civil engineering industry where the detail and number crunching can make or break a project, the role of the quantity surveyor is vital. But what does it take to get into this field and how can you get a foot in the door? To answer these questions, we’ll take a look at Apprentice Quantity Surveyor, Oliver Moxon’s journey so far and how he has navigated the early stages of his career in the Yorkshire region. As an apprentice, he sheds light on how he entered the profession, the highlights and challenges he has experienced along the way and what the future holds for himself and anybody else wanting to enter the field.

As he completes the first part of his apprenticeship, he takes time to reflect on how he came to Barhale, which was straight from school after completing his GCSEs. This was after a rugby teammate recommended he apply to Barhale which was also supported by his dad.

In terms of his qualification, at this stage, Oliver has just completed his Level 3 BTEC National in Building Service Engineering at Leeds College of Building, which took him two years to complete. He will then progress to be a trainee QS and will undertake his Level 4 qualification in September 2025. In terms of Oliver’s day-to-day duties, he updates the weekly costs, check’s subcontractor orders and liaises with site managers to see what operatives are doing each day to send an allocation diary report to the client.

Despite the great learning and skills he has gained through the apprenticeship, Oliver admits there have been challenges along the way also. One of the key ones has been to get familiar with the complicated monthly Cost Value Reconciliation excel document, which he has little experience with. Equally, his highlights include learning the payment system as well as completing the college course assignments in the last two years.

On a personal note, in Oliver’s spare time, he rows at a competitive level and has recently completed in the National School’s Championships. He is a member of the Leeds and Great Britain Start Academy Rowing Squad and completed at the Henley Regatta in July 2024. In addition, he has also been selected for a training camp with a target to join the 2028 Olympics Squad but as Oliver says, “there is stiff competiiton!”

Oliver’s line manager, Tom O’Donnell (Commercial Manager, Yorkshire Region) had this to say about Oliver’s progress and his competitive nature: “Oliver joined Barhale straight after finishing his GCSEs two years ago at the age of 16. He has been mentored by David Lister, our Senior QS who started with Barhale 6 years ago on the same apprenticeship scheme. Oliver works hard to keep up with his Barhale workload, his college assignments and training responsibilities. He has been a great addition to the Yorkshire team with his commitment and team spirit. He continues to learn and take on more and more responsibility. Hopefully, we will see him in the 2028 Olympics.”

Oliver feels he has done really well so far and not only that, he has also been thoroughly enjoying it. He feels he has been making good progress, despite the challenges and when he compares what his brother does as an Agricultural Electrician, he says his journey had been smooth sailing in comparison, particularly with all the support he has been given.

Aside from the skills he is learning, Oliver has developed his confidence, particularly by going on site and speaking to the site staff and managers. He also gets to understand the materials being used and the different roles on site, which all helps with his learning and the theory he is experiencing at college and would recommend this to anyone thinking about becoming a Quantity Surveyor. Although he is concentrating on his apprenticeship and becoming fully qualified, his long-term goal is to be a Senior QS in the future.

Mark Wood, (Director, Yorkshire Region) was also very complimentary about Oliver: “Oliver is a young, conscientious and ambitious person who is also self-motivated and disciplined in his early career as an Apprentice QS working within the Yorkshire team. Oliver is a polite, yet quietly confident individual who has no issues in pushing the senior team to keep his projects moving along. He fits in very well in a team environment, which is great to see both in his work and this approach is replicated outside work with his rowing. Oliver has a bright future ahead and we are proud to have him here within our Yorkshire team.”

We wish Oliver all the best in his apprenticeship as well as his rowing aspirations!