Quantity surveyor in northern Israel: building in the Galilee, the Golan and the valleys, and what it changes in the bill of quantities
A quantity surveyor in northern Israel, an engineer or a registered building technician like Yaakov Avital, meets a lot of private houses: according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), 37% of the dwellings whose construction started in the Northern District in 2024 were in buildings with one or two dwellings. In absolute numbers that is 3,485 dwellings, more than in any other district. This page explains what that changes in the bill of quantities (BOQ), alongside the soil, the concrete, the waste and the supervision.
The Northern District in CBS figures: many private houses
The district includes, among others, Nazareth, Nahariya, Afula, Acre, Tiberias, Nof HaGalil, Safed and Sakhnin. In 2024 construction started there on 9,430 dwellings, about 5% fewer than the 9,963 in 2023 and about 5% more than the 9,016 in 2022.
| Item | Dwellings | Share of starts |
|---|---|---|
| Construction starts, total | 9,430 | |
| of which in buildings with one or two dwellings | 3,485 | 37% |
| of which in buildings with three or more dwellings | 5,126 | 54% |
| of which additions to existing buildings | 818 | 9% |
| Construction completed | 8,609 | |
| Under active construction at year end | 18,488 |
Source: Central Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Abstract of Israel 2025, Table 20.6 (dwellings by stage of construction, district and type of building); 2024 data are preliminary. Each share is a part of the 9,430 starts in the district, rounded to a whole percent. The three rows add up to one less than the total; that is how the numbers appear in the table.
A quantity surveyor in northern Israel and a private house: what changes in the BOQ
A private house has almost no repeated floors, so every detail is measured separately, and the external works chapter, with retaining walls, fences and external paving, is part of the BOQ and not an appendix. A good BOQ for a house is divided into the structural frame, the finishes and the external works, so that bids can be obtained for each stage and compared. When the homeowner orders some of the works directly, the BOQ shows what is included in each package and what stays outside it. The details are on the BOQ for a private house page.
Still, 54% of the starts in the district were in buildings with three or more dwellings, and 9% were additions to existing buildings. So a quantity surveyor in northern Israel writes full contractor BOQs for apartment buildings alongside BOQs for houses, and each has a different structure.
Basalt, limestone and clay: the soil decides the foundations
Most of the Golan Heights is covered by basalt flows, and in the Golan and the eastern Galilee some of the soils that formed from basalt have plastic horizons. The hill areas have limestone, dolomite and chalk, with karst in the limestone and dolomite. Expansive clay, which changes volume with moisture, is not mapped by region in any verified source, and only the soil (geotechnical) report for the plot tells you where it is.
- Basaltic soil with plastic horizons: the type and depth of the foundations are set in the report. Until it arrives, the foundations in the BOQ are an alternative or a marked assumption.
- Limestone and dolomite: rock excavation and drilling in rock as separate items, and in karst also void filling with an estimated quantity.
- Expansive clay: if the report identifies it, it usually sets a special solution for the floor slab and the beams, and that changes items in the earthworks and structural frame chapters.
So even a small house is worth a soil report before pricing. What each type of soil tends to change in the quantities is on the soil types in Israel page.
In a private house, nobody else absorbs a surprise. An item missing from the BOQ comes back as an extra charge to the homeowner. So every assumption, from the depth of the foundations to the distance to the waste site, should be written down and marked.
Concrete plants and waste sites in the Galilee and the valleys
According to the companies' own websites, checked in October 2026 (a partial list): Hanson Israel has plants in Yarka, Beit She'an, Hatzor HaGlilit and Nof HaGalil, and Readymix has plants in places including Kiryat Shmona, Safed, Nazareth, Tiberias, Shefa-'Amr, Tefen and Alon Tavor. When the house is far from a plant, it is worth checking with the contractor what the concrete price includes (delivery and pumping) and recording the assumption in the BOQ.
The official list of construction waste sites, updated to 9 February 2019 (it comes from the Solid Waste Treatment Division and was published on the website of the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality), includes in the Northern District: landfill and recycling at the Golani quarry and in Gush Halav, landfill in Yarka and Tel Te'omim, recycling in the Kidmat Galil industrial zone and in I'billin, recycling and reception in Upper Tiberias, and a transfer station near Afula, towards Gan Ner. Whether each of them is still active and licensed has not been verified.
I found no official publication of gate fees by region, and the gaps between landfill sites are large: Israel's State Comptroller, in a July 2025 report on municipal waste, found that entry fees at landfill sites differ from one another by up to about 300%. So the disposal item records the chosen site, the distance to it and the gate fee according to a current written offer from the licensed site, all marked as an assumption.
Building a house: registered contractor, supervision and safety
The first check is the contractor. Anyone who is not listed in the Register of Contractors may not carry out engineering construction works, and even a registered contractor is limited to the scope and classification set for them (Registration of Contractors for Engineering Construction Works Law, 5729-1969). The Registrar of Contractors at the Ministry of Construction and Housing publishes the registration in an open database, so you can check before signing.
The second question is construction supervision. Under the Engineers and Architects Regulations (Licensing and Reserved Activities), 5727-1967, as explained in a document of the Division for the Regulation of Occupations dated 25 August 2021, design supervision (pikuach elyon) of residential buildings is reserved for licensed engineers and licensed architects, except for a simple structure, for example a frame that is not precast, with spans of up to 6 m and a top floor at a height of up to 11.5 m. Whether your house fits that definition is a question to check with the designer. A site supervisor you hire for full-time supervision or for construction review fills a different role, and what it includes is written into the contract.
On the site itself a works manager is required. The government services website explains that under the Safety at Work Regulations (Construction Work), 5748-1988, the works manager manages the construction work directly and constantly, and that the regional labour inspector is notified of the appointment. Anyone who works on the roof or on scaffolding needs training by a work-at-height instructor and a certificate valid for two years at most; without a valid certificate they may not be employed at height (Safety at Work Regulations (Work at Height), 5767-2007, according to the Israel Institute for Occupational Safety and Hygiene). And Regulation 2A, on a safety officer at a construction site, came into force on 16 October 2026, according to the Institute's 2026 summary; its full text, and the sites it applies to, are worth checking. What each of them does day to day is on the site safety officer and works manager page.
My training and how I work
I am Yaakov Avital, a certified construction works manager. I completed a course in detecting building defects and a course for expert witnesses in court. I work from drawings and models all over the country, so the work on the BOQ rests on the material itself: the drawings, the soil report and the specification. The home page brings my services together: quantity surveyor for construction projects.
Frequently asked questions
Are special foundations needed in the Golan?
The soil report for the plot decides that. The sources describe basalt in the Golan, and basaltic soils with plastic horizons in the Golan and the eastern Galilee, but only the report sets the type and depth of the foundations.
Does a quantity surveyor in northern Israel need a soil report for a small house too?
It is worth having one. Without a report, the foundations are written as an alternative or as a marked assumption, and each contractor prices the uncertainty in a different way, which makes the bids hard to compare.
Does my house need design supervision?
The regulations reserve design supervision of residential buildings for licensed engineers and licensed architects, except for a simple structure. Whether the house meets that definition is something to check with the designer.
Have a project? Tell me briefly what the project is and what already exists. When the project is a good fit, I usually reply with focused questions and a written quote.
Contact me for a quote* Created with AI for marketing, for illustration only. Not reviewed by Yaakov Avital and not professional advice. Every project must be checked on its own by a professional quantity surveyor and an engineer.