EDWARD RUSWA

Sheet 01 Cape Town, South Africa

Measure twice.
Certify once.

Senior Quantity Surveyor · Commercial Management

Commercial clarity for complex construction. I’m Edward Munashe Ruswa. I work where measurement, contracts and cost meet, and turn project information into commercial positions that management can rely on.

Selected projects Get in touch
Prepared by
E. M. RuswaQuantity surveying and commercial management
Registration
SACQSP Candidate QS · IT8343Progressing toward PrQS registration
Experience
7+ years
Base
Cape Town, ZA
Contract forms
JBCC · GCC · FIDIC
Scope
Pre- and post-contract
Revision
Sep 2026
Sheet
01 of 07

Sheet 02 Method

From the drawing to the decision.

Sound commercial decisions rest on quantities that hold up, costs that are current and a contract position that has been properly recorded. My job is to keep those links intact, so the site, the certificates and the forecast all tell the same story.

  1. Step 1

    Measure

    Quantities taken from drawings and specifications, then checked against what has actually been built.

  2. Step 2

    Price

    Estimates, cost plans and rates tested against buildability and current market conditions.

  3. Step 3

    Administer

    Notices, instructions and records kept to the requirements of the contract in use.

  4. Step 4

    Value

    Valuations, variations and payment applications substantiated line by line.

  5. Step 5

    Report

    Cost-to-complete, cash flow and emerging risk put in front of management while there are still options.

On siteMuch of my career has been spent measuring on site and checking progress against payment applications. That is where a valuation either reflects reality or drifts from it.

In the reportThe same records feed the management reporting that commercial decisions are made from, covering contract value, certification, variations and outstanding revenue.

Sheet 03 Expertise

Bill of expertise.

Set out the way a quantity surveyor would set it out: item by item, in the order the work arises on a project, from budget to final account.

Core expertise, listed in project order
ItemDescriptionStage
A

Cost planning and estimating

Budgets, elemental cost plans, feasibility input and estimates, checked against buildability and market conditions.

Pre-contract
B

Procurement and tendering

Bills of quantities, tender documentation, pricing analysis, tender adjudication and procurement recommendations.

Pre-contract
C

Contract administration

Day-to-day administration under JBCC, GCC and FIDIC, with disciplined notices, instructions, records and correspondence.

Post-contract
D

Valuations and claims

Progress valuations, payment applications and certification, and the evaluation of contractual claims.

Post-contract
E

Commercial control

Cash-flow forecasting, cost-to-complete, change control, cost reporting and early warning of commercial risk.

Throughout
F

Variations and final accounts

Measurement, rate build-ups, variation registers, subcontractor accounts, reconciliation and final-account close-out.

Post-contract to close-out
Carried to Sheet 05, Projects →

Sheet 04 Sectors

Five sectors, one discipline.

I have worked for a specialist subcontractor, for consulting practices and alongside main contractors, so I know how each side reads the same contract.

Legend

  • Fire protection

    Commercial management of specialist fire-protection subcontracts on live building projects.

  • Water and wastewater

    Construction-stage commercial support on City of Cape Town treatment-works projects.

  • Civil infrastructure

    Reservoir, bulk-water and heavy-duty slab works, measured from engineering drawings and specifications.

  • Mining and industrial

    Infrastructure and storage works at operating mines in the Northern Cape, where access, safety and production constraints shape cost.

  • Buildings

    Institutional refurbishment and staff accommodation, from cost planning and bills of quantities through procurement and delivery.

Sheet 05 Projects

Selected projects.

A selection rather than a full history. Client and contract details are held back where the work is commercially sensitive.

P-01Specialist subcontracting2026 – presentCape Town

Fire-protection subcontract commercial management

Commercial management for a specialist fire-protection subcontractor across several live building projects, advising management directly on the commercial position of each.

  • Payment information, claims and variations, with the records to support them.
  • Management reporting that connects contract value, amounts claimed and certified, approved variations and outstanding revenue.
  • Contractual correspondence on payment, time and completion.
  • Review of labour and subcontractor compliance matters that affect payment.
  • More structured project controls, meeting records and reporting processes.
  • Payment
  • Variations
  • Reporting
P-02Municipal wastewater2025 – 2026Cape Town

Potsdam and Wildevoelvlei Wastewater Treatment Works

Construction-stage support within a multidisciplinary engineering consultancy on two City of Cape Town projects, including the Potsdam expansion from 47 to 100 ML/day.

  • Reviewed contractor measurements and monthly payment applications against drawings, site records and physical progress.
  • Maintained the variation, payment and daywork registers.
  • Supported monthly cost and cash-flow reporting, variation assessment and final-account records.
  • GCC
  • FIDIC
  • Payment certification
P-03Mining infrastructure2020 – 2024Northern Cape

Reservoir, loading-slab and underground storage works

Infrastructure for mining clients in the Northern Cape, including a multi-phase water-reservoir upgrade and a loading slab at an operating manganese mine.

  • Prepared bills of quantities and cost estimates from engineering drawings and specifications.
  • Built cost models and tracked expenditure across a multi-phase upgrade.
  • Carried out site measurement and progress verification, and prepared construction programmes in Microsoft Project.
  • Measurement
  • Cost models
  • Programming
P-04Institutional and mining buildings2023 – 2025Northern Cape

Youth-centre completion and mine staff accommodation

Completion and refurbishment of a partly built institutional hostel, and a staff-accommodation development for a mining client, both carried from early cost advice into procurement.

  • Prepared cost plans, estimates and bills of quantities from inception through design development.
  • Supported procurement strategy, tender documentation, tender evaluation and contractor selection.
  • Handled valuations, variation tracking, cost reporting and final-account reconciliation.
  • Pre-contract
  • Procurement
  • Post-contract

Sheet 06 Profile

Comfortable on site. Clear in the commercial meeting.

I work with directors, project managers, engineers, contractors and site teams, and I try to give each of them the same thing: information they can act on. In practice that means clean measurement, current cost and a contract position that has been kept up to date rather than reconstructed later.

I am an SACQSP Candidate Quantity Surveyor working toward PrQS registration, and I continue to build depth in construction contracts and commercial management alongside it.

Portrait of Edward Munashe Ruswa
Detail 1 · E. M. RuswaNTS
Registration
SACQSP Candidate Quantity Surveyor · IT8343
Location
Cape Town, South Africa
Experience
7+ years in construction and infrastructure
Qualifications
BSc (Hons) Quantity Surveying, 2019BSc Quantity Surveying, 2018 · University of the Free State
Contract forms
JBCC · GCC · FIDIC
Languages
English · Afrikaans · Shona
Software
  • Microsoft Excel
  • WinQS
  • DimensionX
  • CostX
  • Bluebeam
  • Microsoft Project
  • CCS Candy (familiarity)

Sheet 07 Enquiries

Direct, and in confidence.

For senior QS, commercial management and selected project discussions, a short email outlining the role or project is the best place to start.

Emailejayruswa [at] gmail.com LinkedInin/edwardruswa(opens in a new tab)