Value engineering originated in the 1940s with Lawrence Miles, an engineer for General Electric Company. Miles wanted to bulk up GEC’s production during that time of particular demand—it was war time, and the company needed to produce more turbo superchargers for the B24 bombers. He hoped to increase weekly manufacturing from 50 to 1000. Miles had to buy the materials, and often found himself unable to afford what he needed in terms of materials. Thus, he found different materials which would serve the same function at the right price. The alternative materials, Miles found, worked as good, if not better, than those previously used. Value engineering was born.
In the original sense of the term, value engineering represented the systematic method of doing required operations at the least cost. Value engineering, as an expense justification practice, had no repercussions on the finished product’s overall quality. Thus, the definition became altered to emphasize this. Now, value engineering is understood as the systematic method of pinpointing and extricating extraneous expense—that is, expense that does not have any effect on the final product.
There are some similarities between quantity surveying and value engineering. For example, both quantity surveyors and value engineers create and implement maintenance packages. They also both predict future spending. Quantity surveyors and value engineers advise on the limitations of spending and costs, as well as on budgeting and on life cycles. Both jobs participate in many analyses and estimates of expenses, and they both asses manual work in the realm of expense forecasting.
However, the differences are many, and specific, between quantity surveying and value engineering. Quantity surveyors do quite a few things that value engineers do not. For example, surveyors write up contracts and fit complicated plans into feasible packages. They also work up evaluations for insurance and subcontract forms. Surveyors do much as the construction process occurs, such as monitoring cost and settling construction disagreements and contracts.