Head of Quantity Surveying (Residential Takeoff)

We’re TakeoffQS, a start up building AI residential estimation software. We’re live with real building companies across New Zealand and moving fast into Australia.

We’re opening a takeoff as a service function. Merchants and builders send us their plans, we do the takeoff on our own software, and we send back a material schedule they can quote off. We’re hiring a Head of QS to help us set that operation up from scratch, then run it. You’ll report to our GM.

This is a build it job, not an inherit it job. There’s no team, no process and no playbook sitting there waiting for you. You’ll help decide how the service works, what we promise clients, what we stand behind, and what good looks like. Then you own the output that goes out the door with our name on it.

You’ll also lead the refinement of our standard takeoff templates for balance of house and prenail. So we need someone who has actually done these takeoffs for years and knows exactly where they go wrong.

What you’ll own

• Setting up the takeoff as a service operation. Workflow, quality control, turnaround, sign off.
• Accuracy. You’re the person who says a schedule is right before it leaves the building.
• Refining our standard templates for balance of house and prenail, and pushing the product team on what needs to change.
• Working with clients directly. There’s real support and service work in this, especially early on.
• Setting the standard the whole function gets built on. The plan is to grow a team of estimators around this role as the service takes off, so how you set it up now matters.

You’ll fit if you

• Have done high volume residential balance of house and prenail takeoffs, hands on, for years. This is the one thing we won’t budge on.
• Know the merchant world. SKUs, material schedules, wastage factors, the lot.
• Are technically sharp and genuinely good (or back yourself to get good) with AI tools (Claude Cowork, ChatGPT Work, etc). The product changes every week and so will the way you work.
• Run on high agency and are up for the challenge in a fast, scaling, sometimes messy environment.

One thing to be clear about

This role will move as the business does. What it looks like in six months depends on what we learn and where the work is. If you want a job description that stays still, this isn’t it.

We’re Christchurch based and we’d rather have you in the room with us.

How we work (read this before you apply)

This is not a normal place to work. We work at pace, with intensity. Everyone here buckles up for the ride. In return you own your work and make the calls. We have a high tolerance for experimentation in the pursuit of winning. If that sounds like your kind of place, I want to hear from you.

How to apply

Email Nick Latty at Sign in to view email with 1 page max on:

• Why you want this job.
• Your takeoff background. Be specific about balance of house and prenail, and the volumes you’ve handled.
• One example of how you’ve used AI tools to make yourself faster.
• A link to your LinkedIn (or send through your CV if no LinkedIn).