Building surveying masters?

Jgb1999

I am about to start a part time course in building surveying. I have no construction background or work experience. I am hoping to get a job through uni which I can do along side my studies.

Is building surveying a difficult industry to learn? Will I struggle having no background in construction? Is a real estate postgrad better for someone starting out in property?

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 1

route255

Original post by Jgb1999

I just graduated witha degree in Building Surveying. Its quite methodical , reports and some CAD. Id try and get work experience. Its a varied role altough appears to be BS jobs, everyone jumps on the QS bandwagon for some reason.

I tried to get a part time BS role in final year , never got anything and needed to concentrate on final modules. At the moment trying to get work experience and my foot in the door.

Reply 2

Jgb1999

Original post by route255

I am going to be doing a part time building surveyors masters course. I have been told that the uni will help me to get work along side my studies which will be helpful.

I have heard being a building surveyor is quite dirty work. This is the only thing which sways me towards real estate more. I am interested about property defects but am also interested about valuation.

Reply 3

route255

Original post by Jgb1999

In what will the uni find you work? In my uni it was all down to the student. Ive never heard it as dirty work, there is site visits but your also in offices too.

Reply 4

Jgb1999

Original post by route255

In what will the uni find you work? In my uni it was all down to the student. Ive never heard it as dirty work, there is site visits but your also in offices too.

Building surveying. I have been told that they have a scheme which helps find part time masters students jobs through employers linked with the university.

Good so is that just a myth about the job role?

Reply 5

route255

Original post by Jgb1999

Depends what you mean by dirty. Its quite a varied role.

Thats good , our uni sometimes emailed a job to students. Id say a degree apprenticeship is more suited to Building Surveying

Reply 6

Jgb1999

Original post by route255

Depends what you mean by dirty. Its quite a varied role.

Thats good , our uni sometimes emailed a job to students. Id say a degree apprenticeship is more suited to Building

I have a business management degree already but this is just a postgraduate course because I am eager to get involved in property. I feel like the skills I have already are suited more to the real estate role and the course still covers a module on building pathology.

There are a lot of jobs available in building surveying which attracts me to doing the course. However, I feel that I may be more interested in the real estate course.

Reply 7

route255

Original post by Jgb1999

Yes, ive noticed loads of jobs for Building Surveyors but with experience.

Reply 8

Jgb1999

Does anyone have any experience doing a building surveying masters? Was it difficult? Could someone with a undergraduate degree in another subject do well in it?

Reply 9

timleebcu

Some building surveying masters are designed for people who did something else first, some are a more specialist degree that develops on existing knowledge.

Most real estate masters will be designed for the person with any undergrad degree.

Building surveying masters tend not to include any valuation - it isn't a required competency for the RICS for the building surveying chartered surveyor route.

Real estate degrees tend to include measurement and inspection as these are required for their route to RICS chartered surveyor status - some offer a building pathology (defects) route as well as this is an optional competency for the RICS.

Certainly the real estate surveyor is far less likely to get messy crawling around in a loft etc.

Also when weighing up the choice between building surveying and real estate I'd consider the RICS salary survey (p.10 media salary by specialism - the real estate topics come out top)
https://www.rics.org/globalassets/rics-website/media/footer/media/2019-rics-macdonald-company-salary-survey.pdf?_ga=2.187099368.1780593603.1586424144-1555600447.1586424144

So I reckon real estate will serve you better than building surveying - you get your valuation stuff, you still get your building pathology, it's better geared up for having a different undergrad, and you're giving your career prospects a good chance. (But as real estate course leader at Birmingham City, I would say that wouldn't I!)

Reply 10

Jgb1999

Original post by timleebcu

Thank you for that’s advice! I have weighted up both options and I feel that the real estate course would benefit me more. Thank you for attaching the information about the RICS salary survey as well. I am looking forward to switching careers and getting involved with surveying.

Just a quick question for you. With the real estate masters course, did your students work along side the part time course? If so what were the job roles which they did? And what opportunities have come to your students after finishing the course?

Reply 11

timleebcu

The majority on my part time course are working in the industry and are being supported by their employers through the degree. However, this year the number doing the part time route has understandably fallen significantly, but I do have an increase in the full time students (full time one year, part time two years). The vast majority have ended up with jobs in commercial real estate working for the big real estate firms. I've already been posting jobs to the new students and highlighting the graduate recruitment schemes as some of the firms are already open and looking to close in November.

Reply 12

Jgb1999

Original post by timleebcu

Thank you. I will be doing a part time degree because the final year of my undergraduate degree was a struggle. I feel like I would benefit from having more time to focus on each assignment properly over the two years. I am wanting to secure a job in real estate along side the course. I don’t mind paying for the degree myself but i am eager to find work related to my course which I can do along side the masters from January. Did you have any students who are in the same position?

Reply 13

timleebcu

I know that some have picked up part time work during their degrees, it's been more common at undergrad but that's mostly because I don't get many people self funding a part time masters who aren't already in the industry.

Reply 14

route255

Original post by timleebcu

Some building surveying masters are designed for people who did something else first, some are a more specialist degree that develops on existing knowledge.

Most real estate masters will be designed for the person with any undergrad degree.

Building surveying masters tend not to include any valuation - it isn't a required competency for the RICS for the building surveying chartered surveyor route.

Real estate degrees tend to include measurement and inspection as these are required for their route to RICS chartered surveyor status - some offer a building pathology (defects) route as well as this is an optional competency for the RICS.

Certainly the real estate surveyor is far less likely to get messy crawling around in a loft etc.

Also when weighing up the choice between building surveying and real estate I'd consider the RICS salary survey (p.10 media salary by specialism - the real estate topics come out top)
https://www.rics.org/globalassets/rics-website/media/footer/media/2019-rics-macdonald-company-salary-survey.pdf?

_ga=2.187099368.1780593603.1586424144-1555600447.1586424144

So I reckon real estate will serve you better than building surveying - you get your valuation stuff, you still get your building pathology, it's better geared up for having a different undergrad, and you're giving your career prospects a good chance. (But as real estate course leader at Birmingham City, I would say that wouldn't I!)

I recently graduated with a degree in Building Surveying, how easy would it be for a BS to get into the real estate side of things?

Reply 15

timleebcu

Original post by route255

I recently graduated with a degree in Building Surveying, how easy would it be for a BS to get into the real estate side of things?

If you could get a bit of real estate work experience (even a weeks shadowing) that would help in applying for the graduate schemes - or you could just apply for the BS graduate schemes and the big firms will have real estate as well and you could potentially move over.
If you want another year of studying pretty much everywhere would be happy to accept you onto a masters (subject to degree classification)

Reply 16

route255

Original post by timleebcu

Currently applying for the big grad schemes at the moment. Applied to 4 of them last year to, got through all the hoops for one and in March and due to the virus , it was cancelled. So will apply again and few i didnt last year.

I have been emailling employers for contacts to send my CV to, few dont get back to me and one or two say they arent doing work experience at the moment. I dont have any BS experience. Did manage to get two interviews in my final year of uni but never anything came about from it.

Just looking for a bit of experience, would it be wise to message people on linked in asking too?

Reply 17

Lt1999

What was the outcome of this?

I'm in the exact same situation at the minute Looking to do a part time masters in building surveying or real estate surveying but want to get part time work experience alongside my studies. I'm not in the industry and I'm going to be funding it myself.

Do any of the big firms offer anything? I've emailed a few but no replies.