Quantity Surveyor (QS) had been established in Malaysia since 1930s due to migration of several numbers of Quantity surveyor from United Kingdom to Singapore. First QS firm in Singapore, Waters And Watson was formed in 1932 and was operated until January 1942 (due to World War 2). QS profession was known and developed in Malaya (that time) after the war ended. Government of Malaya had formed QS Department in Public Works Department but the scope of works were boundless (unlimited) at that time. SMM for building works for use in the Federation of Malaya, Singapore and Borneo was produced by RICS branch in 1960.

The first major building for which “bills of quantities” were prepared was the Supreme Curt building in Singapore, constructed during the period 1937 until 1939. The QS responsible was David Niven of the Public Works Department (PWD). The beginning of war South East Asia in1941, severely affected the QS profession. The office was kept open and manned by a skeleton staff headed by Seah Mong Hee until January 1742, when the Japanese occupied Singapore.

 In early 1946, Eric Watson restarted the firm and adds their branch office in Kuala Lumpur (1947) after Japanese surrender in1945. Most of the project that carried out by this company is reconstruction work. In 1949, Seah Mong Hee became a partner and was promoted as senior partner in 1956 following the return of the Senior Partner, F L Angell to the UK. In the same year, the name of the firms was changed to Langdon & Every (Far East). Subsequently, the words “Far East” were dropped to reflect the Firm’s expansion beyond the region. In 1969,the practicechanged its name to “Langdon Every & Seah” (Asia, 1940)

Davis Langdon & Seah (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (DLS) practice in conjuction with the practices of Juru Ukur Bahan Malaysia (JUBM) and JUBM Sdn Bhd. Juru Ukur Bahan Malaysia was established in 1972 and is one of the earliest fully Malaysian Quantity Surveying practices to be set up in Malaysia. Today, the DLS-JUBM Group is one of the largestquantity surveying and construction cost consultancy practice in Malaysia and operates throughout Malaysia from five main office located at Kuala Lumpur, Penang,Johor Bahru, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching.

In 1961, institution of surveyors in Malaya was dividing in 3 divisions, which known as Surveying, Quantity Surveying, and General Measurement Practices division. Latest version of SMM used in Malaysia is SMM 6 (second edition), which was released inMay 2000.