Research Methodology is one of the module included in our syllabus. This module basically taught us on how to write our thesis. In this semester, we were able to learn two chapters among 5 and 3 chapters will be learned next semester. Chapter 1 described how to write a research proposal whereas chapter 2 explained on how to write literature review. A lot of researches and literature reviews has been analyzed. I'm currently writing a thesis on "Factors influencing the real estate purchase among young buyers in Klang Valley". I find this topic quite interesting and wanted to find out what are the real reasons behind of their decision and the key considerations of young house buyers before they make their decision to buy a residential real estate. Questionnaires will be distributed to young potential house buyers between the age of 25 to 35 to study their housing preferences and what they will consider before they proceed in buying residential real estate.
Building Economics is basically a module which concerns all the economic aspects of construction developments. Through this module, I've learned how does a shape of the building provide affect economic aspect of the building. Besides, whole life costing is one of the important topic I've learned. It basically described how does a cost spent on building can provide value for money to the client. There is formula to analyze this. On top of that, we get to learn the 6 important formulas to calculate the future value of $1, the Present Value of $1 in the future, Years Purchase, Sinking Fund and the Annuity of purchase by $1. In addition, we are able to learn the cost indices and the adjustment of price, quality and quantity. This module does a lot of analysis like Financial Management Module.
Financial Management module is basically for us to understand what is accounting and financing. It is said to be one of the most module in the whole industries. Every industry need to know how accounting and financing works. throughout this module, I've learned more about balance sheet, income statements, cash flow statements, ratio analysis, Internal Rate of Return and so on. This module was quite challenging for us as we QS always dealt with construction but not financing. However, I find it quite interesting and important as this module definitely help us to analyze a business's performance before making decision on whether to award or work together with the analyzed company.
In Professional Practice 2 module, I've learned a lot of new knowledge about payments, loss and expenses, extension of time, determination of contractor and employer, insurances and etc. Before this module, I did not even know what how does insurances, payments, loss and expenses etc. work in construction industry. On top of that, I'd also be able to understand more on the determinations of contractor or employer due to causes stated in provisions of PAM Contract 2006. Nowadays, there are a lot of disputes regarding payments, EOT and many more in the construction industry, thus this module taught us how to settle disputes and avoid any further loss between both employer and contractor. Besides, I've learned more about Variation Orders, Final Accounts, Interim Payment Certificate, and mostly importantly how to value a scenario whether it is entitled to a Variation Order. This subject enables us to be more professional in our construction industry.
This module is quite challenging for us as this module has no particular text book we must use. Our lecturer is a well experience lecturer as he gave a lot of readings and interesting examples of business strategies to us. He mentioned that a successful business doesn't always use the same strategies all the time as business market varies all the time. He further mentioned that Strategic Management is a module for us to study and think on how to be an Employer instead of an Employee. Although we have no particular text book to refer, but our lecturer recommended us to use the famous book written by Michael E. Porter ; Competitive Strategy Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. It is a very good book to be read. We all appreciate of what he taught us.
Measurement 5 is a whole new learning among all previous measurements. This module comprises the measurements of Civil works and M&E works. What we learned in Civil Works measurement were Geo-technical Work, Re-Wall, Environmental Protection, Sediment Basin and so on. Where as for M&E works we learned how to measure Cold Water system, Fire Protection system, Air Conditioning, Electrical Installation and etc. The main difference of this module compared to previous measurements is the method of measurement. For civil works, we have to refer to the Handbook Measurement called Malaysian Civil Engineering Standard Method of Measurement (MYCESM) instead of our normal practice using Standard Method of Measurement 2 (SMM2). However, SMM2 is still applicable for M&E works. I find this module interesting due to the different method of measurement and be able to understand how to measure civil works and M&E works.
