Measurement in civil engineering and building is a core skill and the means by which an architectural or engineering design may be modelled financially, providing the framework to control and realise designs within defined cost parameters, to the satisfaction of the client. Measurement has a particular skill base, but it is elevated to an ‘art’ because the quantity surveyor is frequently called upon to interpret incomplete designs in order to determine the intentions of the designer so that contractors may be fully informed when compiling their tenders.