A client called yesterday. He is a land surveyor with a turnover of less than R5 million. That makes him an EME? No, not so fast. He, as a land surveyor falls within the construction sector.
The construction sector codes define a land surveyor as a BEP (built environment professional) and the EME threshold is R1.5 million.
The land surveyor’s annual income is more than R1.5, but less than R5 million. He therefore has to fill in a scorecard based on the BEP section of the construction charter.
At the same time there are no verification agencies to verify the construction scorecard. He really is in a difficult situation because as from the 1st August, only verified scorecards are valid.
What should he do? Consider himself an EME based on the codes of good practice? No one, least of all his customers will question it. It is wrong to use the wrong codes though, so we cannot rcommend that. He is “stuck between a rock and a hard place”
#1 by Peter Newmarch - May 22nd, 2012 at 19:57
Land Surveyors do not fall under the construction sector code. Land Surveyors have nothing to do with the built environment council and have had no input into the construction sector codes in any way. Land Surveyors operate under their own council. I agree that if more than 50% of a Land Surveyors buisness is in construction related matters, then the wording of the charter is correct. But the reality is that most land surveyors dont do anywhere near 50% construction work. My land survey buisness is more like 80% in the legal sector buisness. The land Survey industry because of its diversity ranging from legal, accounting, natural sciences, construction, mining, marine etc… fields of practice needs to essentially have its own sector codes. BEE agencies have little understanding about what people do – if a doctor serviced the construction sector by more than 50% of his buisness – would they give him a BEE rating under the construction sector – I doubt it and land surveyors are the same – to say so otherwise shows that one has no clue as to what land surveyors do. I last did anything relating to construction about 10 years ago !