The term ‘Building Surveyor’ covers many job types but generally, building surveyors advise clients about the design, construction, maintenance and refurbishment of buildings.
The range of clients and employers vary considerably from individual dwelling owners to multi-national property companies.
Your main day-to-day responsibilities could include:
- Inspecting properties for structural defects;
- Assessing damage for insurance and loss adjustment purposes;
- Advising on issues such as boundary disputes;
- Inspecting properties to make sure they meet Building Regulations;
- Dealing with planning applications.
Working for a small company would likely involve you in all aspects of surveying work, while a larger company may require you to specialise in one area.
Qualifications
To become a qualified building surveyor you will need to complete a degree accredited by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), followed by a course of ongoing professional development. Those without an accredited degree will be required to complete a post-graduate course in a surveying subject.
If you have a HNC/HND or foundation degree in surveying or construction, you may be able to work as a surveying technician and study for further qualifications whilst working.
If you have a RICS accredited qualification, you can complete the RICS Assessment of Professional Competence (APC), a course of practical training to build up your professional knowledge and skills.
Routes to Employment
There are many opportunities and routes to employment as a surveyor. Surveyors are required in a variety of sectors including residential, commercial, leisure, local authority, health, voluntary, agriculture and industry.
Career Development
To progress your career you can continue to study for additional qualifications. You will also be required to undergo Continuous Professional Development (CPD) throughout your career.
Once experienced, building surveyors can progress to project management, where they will be responsible for the planning and co-ordination of projects from inception to completion.
Further progression could be realised as a partner in private practice. You could also, eventually, set up your own practice.
Salaries and Earning Potential
As a graduate surveyor or trainee you can expect to start on between £18,000 to £22,000 per annum. Rising, once qualified, to around £32,000 for a Chartered Surveyor up to £70,000 for a partner in a private practice.
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I have an NVQ level 3 in bricklaying and would like to further my career to become a building surveyor or a building control officer. Please could you tell me the steps I’d need to take for both? READ MORE…
Assuming you don’t have any other academic qualifications, I would do the HNC in Construction first. In theory you should have A levels but if you have enough work experience the college can waive this requirement.
Once you have this you can do a surveying degree for which having the HNC will, usually, mean you can skip the first year. Surveying covers many disciplines though so your best bet is probably joining RICS as student member and asking them for more advice. It may pay to keep your options open though since what you feel will suit you best in 3 years time might be totally different from what you think now.
Becoming a building control officer is a little more tricky since there isn’t such a defined career route; especially since many local councils have run-down their own building control departments to the bare minimum. It may be you’ll be able to apply for a job as trainee or assistant building control officer at first and, obviously, the more relevant qualifications and experience you have the better?
It may also be worth contacting your local college to see if they can offer further advice. Some heads of built environment departments have a lot of local knowledge and contacts – so it’s always worth a try?
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