About R&D Group
R&D Roofing Limited, trading as R&D Group, is an established family-owned construction, roofing, repairs and property-maintenance contractor operating across Greater Manchester and the wider North West.
Our work includes:
- Social housing and responsive repairs
- Roofing, chimney, leadwork and roofline works
- Insurance repairs and reinstatement
- Complex and major repairs
- Damp, mould and disrepair works
- Void-property works
- Planned maintenance and refurbishment
- Minor construction and multi-trade works
- Property and building reinstatement
Our clients include housing associations, insurers, claims-management organisations, property managers, principal contractors and commercial clients.
Following turnover of approximately £1 million during the 2025/26 financial year, R&D Group is entering a structured period of investment and growth.
Our objective is not simply to increase turnover. Growth must remain profitable, properly priced, commercially controlled, correctly resourced and supported by sustainable cash flow.
We are therefore looking for an experienced Quantity Surveyor / Estimator who can take ownership of core estimating and QS responsibilities while progressively developing into a wider commercial-management position.
The Opportunity
This is an opportunity to build our QS, Estimating and Commercial function with us as we grow — not simply step into an established department. You will have real input into how the function develops, with scope to take on greater responsibility and potentially lead the team in the future.
You will work directly with the Managing Director and alongside our Operations Director, Contracts Manager, Finance Team, surveyors, administrative staff, suppliers and subcontractors.
We are not necessarily looking for an established Commercial Manager from day one.
We are looking for someone with strong practical Quantity Surveying and estimating fundamentals who is ready to take on wider responsibility and wants the opportunity to help shape commercial systems, processes and controls within a growing contractor.
The role is intended to develop as the business grows. Initially, the position will focus heavily on estimating, applications for payment, WIP, variations, cost control, Schedule of Rates and insurance reinstatement.
As you demonstrate capability and become familiar with our contracts and systems, the position will progressively expand into broader Commercial Manager responsibilities.
Job Summary
The successful candidate will support the commercial management of projects and contracts from initial enquiry, estimating and tender assessment through procurement, delivery, valuation, applications for payment, variations and final account.
The role will combine:
- Quantity Surveying
- Estimating and pricing
- Schedule of Rates
- Applications for payment
- Valuations and final accounts
- WIP management
- Variations and additional works
- Project cost control
- Insurance reinstatement
- Procurement and subcontractor management
- Tendering and framework assessment
- Commercial reporting
- Contract profitability
- Commercial systems development
This is a hands-on role.
You will be expected to understand the commercial position of individual repairs and projects while also helping management understand the wider financial performance of contracts.
Key ResponsibilitiesEstimating, Pricing and Measurement
A major part of the initial role will involve estimating and pricing works accurately and commercially.
You will:
- Prepare quotations, estimates and detailed commercial cost build-ups.
- Review and approve pricing before client submission.
- Price responsive repairs, roofing, insurance reinstatement, complex repairs, planned maintenance, refurbishment and minor construction works.
- Review specifications, drawings, schedules, surveys, photographs and site information.
- Carry out measurements and identify missing, unclear or duplicated scope.
- Work with NHF Schedule of Rates, client-specific SORs, measured works, dayworks, non-coded works and bespoke quotations.
- Select and review appropriate SOR codes, quantities and rates.
- Identify incorrect coding, missing items and commercially unsuitable rates.
- Ensure quotations include appropriate allowances for:
- Labour
- Materials
- Plant
- Scaffolding
- Access
- Waste
- Subcontractors
- Supervision
- Overheads
- Commercial risk
- Profit
- Prepare clear assumptions, exclusions and qualifications.
- Review actual delivery costs against estimated costs.
- Use completed-job information to improve future pricing.
- Help develop estimating templates, rate libraries and cost databases.
Applications for Payment and Valuations
The successful candidate will take responsibility for preparing accurate commercial applications to clients.
This includes:
- Preparing and submitting interim and final applications for payment.
- Producing the associated costing sheets, valuation build-ups and commercial schedules.
- Measuring and valuing completed works.
- Ensuring all relevant SOR items, quantities, variations, additional works, dayworks and other recoverable amounts are included.
- Compiling supporting evidence required by the client.
- Ensuring applications are supported by appropriate photographs, instructions, completion information and commercial records.
- Reconciling original order values, variations, previous applications, certified amounts and remaining values.
- Maintaining accurate application and valuation registers.
- Monitoring certificates, reductions, retentions and outstanding amounts.
- Identifying completed or partially completed works not yet included within an application.
- Challenging omitted or reduced items where there is valid contractual entitlement.
- Supporting preparation and agreement of final accounts.
- Ensuring applications are prepared and submitted within required timescales.
The QS / Estimator will be responsible for producing the commercial application, costing information and supporting documentation. The Finance Team will remain responsible for raising VAT invoices following certification, agreement or the relevant contractual payment process.
WIP and Commercial Recovery
You will help ensure completed work is identified, valued and commercially recovered.
Responsibilities include:
- Maintaining accurate WIP records across live contracts.
- Identifying completed works awaiting valuation or application.
- Identifying additional works where commercial approval remains outstanding.
- Reconciling operational progress against commercial records.
- Monitoring aged WIP.
- Identifying unbilled or unrecovered commercial value.
- Supporting the reduction of commercially incomplete jobs.
- Ensuring completed works progress through application and commercial closeout without unnecessary delay.
Variations and Additional Works
You will support the identification and recovery of additional commercial entitlement.
This includes:
- Preparing and managing variation and additional-work submissions.
- Reviewing whether additional works fall outside the original instructed scope.
- Confirming contractual entitlement before additional work is undertaken wherever practicable.
- Preparing appropriate SOR codes, quantities, rates and commercial justification.
- Obtaining and maintaining relevant client instructions.
- Ensuring before, during and after photographs are available where required.
- Maintaining supporting timesheets, material costs and subcontractor evidence.
- Tracking submitted, approved, rejected and outstanding variations.
- Challenging reductions or rejections where appropriate.
- Ensuring approved additional works are included within applications for payment.
- Maintaining a clear audit trail.
Insurance Reinstatement
The role will also support the commercial management of our insurance and reinstatement workload.
You will:
- Review survey information and proposed repair scopes.
- Prepare initial and revised estimates.
- Review insurer and claims-handler schedules.
- Monitor approved values against actual delivery costs.
- Manage additional works identified during delivery.
- Review labour, material, scaffold, plant and subcontractor expenditure.
- Prepare final costing sheets and supporting commercial submissions.
- Support operational and administrative teams during commercial closeout.
- Identify recurring causes of delayed approvals or payment.
- Help introduce improvements to reduce commercial delays and unrecovered value.
Cost and Margin Control
As the role develops, you will progressively take greater responsibility for wider commercial control.
This will include:
- Monitoring actual and committed expenditure.
- Reviewing project budgets and cost plans.
- Producing cost-value reconciliations.
- Reviewing revenue, gross margin and WIP.
- Monitoring labour, material, plant, scaffold and subcontractor costs.
- Identifying underpricing, overspending and commercial leakage.
- Reviewing the profitability of individual jobs and contracts.
- Highlighting commercially underperforming works.
- Recommending corrective action.
- Supporting rolling commercial and cash-flow forecasting.
- Producing commercial information for the Managing Director and Board.
Procurement and Supply Chain
You will support the commercial management of suppliers and subcontractors.
Responsibilities include:
- Obtaining competitive quotations.
- Comparing supplier and subcontractor proposals.
- Negotiating rates and commercial terms.
- Negotiating discounts, delivery arrangements and payment terms.
- Preparing clear subcontractor scopes and commercial orders.
- Reviewing subcontractor quotations against client values.
- Reviewing subcontractor variations and applications.
- Supporting subcontractor final-account agreement.
- Benchmarking labour, material, scaffold and subcontractor rates.
- Identifying alternative suppliers and subcontractors.
- Supporting improved procurement controls.
- Working with Operations and Compliance to ensure subcontractors satisfy competency and documentation requirements.
Purchase Orders and Expenditure Control
You will support the development of stronger purchasing and cost controls.
This includes:
- Supporting the company's No PO, No Pay procedure.
- Ensuring appropriate client instructions and orders are in place before significant costs are committed.
- Reviewing supplier and subcontractor purchase orders.
- Maintaining visibility of committed costs before invoices are received.
- Ensuring additional expenditure is authorised.
- Checking supplier and subcontractor costs against agreed rates.
- Identifying unsupported, duplicate, excessive or incorrectly allocated expenditure.
- Supporting improvement of purchasing and approval processes.
Tendering and Business Growth
As the position develops, you will also become increasingly involved in assessing new contract opportunities.
This may include:
- Identifying suitable tenders and frameworks.
- Supporting PQQ and framework applications.
- Preparing and reviewing tender pricing.
- Assessing anticipated contract values and margins.
- Reviewing mobilisation costs.
- Assessing resource and delivery requirements.
- Considering working-capital requirements.
- Identifying commercial and contractual risks.
- Supporting structured bid/no-bid decisions with the Managing Director.
- Supporting tender clarifications and commercial negotiations.
- Attending client meetings and tender interviews where required.
- Supporting the commercial mobilisation of successful contracts.
The objective is to help R&D Group secure profitable and sustainable contracts, rather than pursue turnover without appropriate commercial control.
Contracts and Commercial Risk
As your responsibilities develop, you will support the review of construction and framework contracts.
This may include:
- Reviewing contract conditions.
- Reviewing payment provisions.
- Reviewing variation mechanisms.
- Identifying onerous or unusual commercial terms.
- Highlighting commercial risks to management.
- Supporting contracts delivered under JCT, NEC, framework agreements and client-specific terms.
- Maintaining appropriate commercial correspondence.
- Supporting commercial negotiations and payment disputes.
Systems and Commercial Reporting
You will work with and help improve our existing systems, including:
- Xero
- EPIX / Markus
- Microsoft SharePoint
- Excel
- Controlled commercial registers and reporting tools
You will help create stronger links between operational job information and commercial reporting.
This will include developing and maintaining information around:
- Revenue
- Gross margin
- WIP
- Committed costs
- Applications for payment
- Variations
- Quotations
- Insurance works
- Supplier and subcontractor expenditure
- Contract profitability
- Tender opportunities
Formal statutory accounting, taxation, payroll and bookkeeping will remain with our Finance Team and appointed external accountant.
Initial Priorities
During the first three months, we would expect the successful candidate to begin:
- Reviewing the commercial position of live contracts and workstreams.
- Establishing reliable WIP, application, variation, quotation and tender registers.
- Identifying completed works not yet included within an application.
- Reviewing current estimating and pricing processes.
- Reviewing labour, material, scaffold and subcontractor rates.
- Reviewing contract and job margins.
- Supporting improvements to purchase-order and expenditure controls.
- Reviewing outstanding insurance works.
- Reducing outstanding quotations, variations, applications and commercial closeouts.
- Improving the commercial information available to management.
- Helping develop a structured approach to tender and contract assessment.
Skills and ExperienceEssential
- Practical experience within Quantity Surveying, Estimating, Commercial Construction or Construction Cost Control.
- Experience preparing estimates, quotations and commercial cost build-ups.
- Experience preparing applications for payment, valuations or commercial submissions.
- Understanding of WIP and commercial recovery.
- Experience dealing with variations or additional works.
- Strong understanding of labour, material, plant and subcontractor costs.
- Ability to measure works accurately.
- Ability to identify missing scope, underpricing and commercial risk.
- Understanding of construction payment processes.
- Strong numerical and analytical ability.
- Strong Microsoft Excel capability.
- Excellent attention to detail.
- Strong written communication.
- Confidence dealing with clients, surveyors, suppliers, subcontractors and operational teams.
- Ability to work independently.
- Ability to manage competing deadlines and priorities.
- Full UK driving licence and willingness to attend sites and client meetings.
Highly Desirable
Experience in any of the following would be particularly beneficial:
- Social housing
- Responsive repairs
- Insurance reinstatement
- Roofing
- Planned maintenance
- Property refurbishment
- Complex repairs
- Damp and mould
- Disrepair
- NHF Schedule of Rates
- Client-specific SOR contracts
- Non-coded quotations
- Applications for payment
- WIP
- Final accounts
- Housing-association frameworks
- Public-sector procurement
- JCT or NEC contracts
- Xero
- Job-costing systems
- Purchase-order controls
A relevant HNC, HND, degree or professional qualification in Quantity Surveying, Commercial Management, Construction or a related discipline would be advantageous.
RICS, CIOB or equivalent professional membership would also be welcomed.
However, equivalent practical experience will be considered where the candidate can demonstrate strong commercial capability.
Salary and Career Development
The starting salary is:
£38,536.48–£45,000 per annum
The exact starting salary will depend on experience, qualifications and the level of responsibility the successful candidate can initially undertake.
Company pension is included, with the opportunity for performance-based bonuses and future salary increases, subject to individual performance, business growth and agreement by the Board of Directors.
Candidates bringing particularly strong experience in areas such as Quantity Surveying, estimating, insurance reinstatement, social housing, Schedule of Rates, applications for payment, WIP and final accounts may be considered towards the upper end of the starting salary range.
Progression to Commercial Manager / Commercial Lead
This vacancy is specifically intended to develop into a broader commercial-management position.
As the successful candidate demonstrates capability and the business grows, responsibilities may progressively expand into:
- Full commercial ownership of contracts
- CVRs and commercial forecasting
- Board-level commercial reporting
- Procurement strategy
- Contract commercial reviews
- Commercial risk management
- Tender strategy
- Contract mobilisation
- Development of commercial policies and controls
- Recruitment and supervision of future QS, Estimating and Commercial staff
The long-term objective is for the successful person to help build, develop and potentially lead R&D Group's QS, Estimating and Commercial team.
There is potential for earnings to progress towards £60,000 per annum by the end of Year 3, subject to the successful development of the role, increased responsibilities, individual performance and continued business growth.
Progression is performance-led and is not automatic or guaranteed. Any salary increase or change in position will be separately reviewed and agreed.
Benefits
- Company pension
- Company laptop
- Company mobile phone
- Free on-site parking
- Contractual holiday entitlement
- Reimbursement of authorised business travel
- Training and professional-development support
- Direct involvement with the Managing Director and senior management
- Opportunity to shape the company's commercial function
- Genuine progression towards Commercial Manager / Commercial Lead responsibility
- Opportunity to build and potentially lead a future commercial team
- Potential future company vehicle or vehicle allowance as the role develops
Working Arrangements
The position is primarily office based from our Manchester / Trafford operation, with travel to sites and client meetings across Greater Manchester and the wider North West where required.
Normal working hours are Monday to Friday, 8:00am–4:30pm, approximately 40 hours per week.
Some flexibility may occasionally be required around tender deadlines, month-end applications, client submission deadlines, commercial meetings and contract mobilisation.
How to Apply
Please submit your current CV together with a short statement outlining your relevant experience.
We are particularly interested in candidates who can demonstrate practical experience in:
- Estimating and construction costings
- Applications for payment and valuations
- WIP and commercial recovery
- Variations and additional works
- Schedule of Rates
- Insurance reinstatement
- Improving margins or project profitability
- Supplier or subcontractor negotiations
- Strengthening commercial controls
Please also include your current notice period and details of any relevant qualifications or professional memberships.
R&D Group is committed to equality of opportunity. Applications will be assessed based on competence, experience and suitability for the position.
Direct applications are welcomed.
Recruitment agencies must obtain prior written approval from R&D Group before submitting candidates.
Pay: £34,536.48-£45,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Bereavement leave
- Casual dress
- Company pension
- Employee stock ownership plan
- Employee stock purchase plan
- Flexitime
- Free parking
- On-site parking
- Paid volunteer time
- Profit sharing
Education:
- A-Level or equivalent (preferred)
Licence/Certification:
- Driving Licence (preferred)
Work authorisation:
- United Kingdom (required)
Willingness to travel:
Work Location: In person
