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Surveyor?

Chester

Hiya,

Can anyone tell me what the average starting salary for a surveyor is? And what one can earn up to?

Ta!

Reply 1

Steeeeevo

15

Surveyor: Building
Starting salary - £7,000 (? :confused:

)
Experienced surveyors earn an average of £27,550
Senior chartered surveyors can earn more than £40,000

Surveyor: General Practice
Starting salary - £13,000
Salary with experience - around £35,000

Information is sourced from http://www.hotcourses.com/ and salaries are averages of salaries that are currently being earned. Please note hotcourses starting salaries are apparently not always accurate, however 50% of the time they are and they can still give a good indication of saleries with experience.

Reply 2

Chester

OP

Thanks - will check the website out. £7k doesnt sound very promising :frown:

Reply 3

Steeeeevo

15

Chester

Thanks - will check the website out. £7k doesnt sound very promising :frown:

lol I know, that HAS to be wrong, but don’t worry I post many replies like this (as it seems I and the only person who knows about this site, or at least the only one who is prepared to research from it) and a few of times I've posted salaries only for a few people to reply telling me how wrong the starting salary is, like I say its right 50% of the time but it can be as much as 5-10k off the rest of the time.

Reply 4

Howard

5

Chester

Hiya,

Can anyone tell me what the average starting salary for a surveyor is? And what one can earn up to?

Ta!

I'm a Chartered Surveyor (QS). I started as an assistant QS on 7k a year. My take home (after tax) pay today is about $2000 a week. But it takes quite a few years to get to my level.
--------------

Chester

Thanks - will check the website out. £7k doesnt sound very promising :frown:

That's way low. A graduate QS can a starting salary of around £20k these days.

Reply 5

Chester

OP

Thanks!

Reply 6

pjr2004

1

Howard

I'm a Chartered Surveyor (QS). I started as an assistant QS on 7k a year. My take home (after tax) pay today is about $2000 a week. But it takes quite a few years to get to my level.
--------------

That's way low. A graduate QS can a starting salary of around £20k these days.

Hi Howard,

I wonder if you could offer me a little advice? I'm currently in my placement year (3rd yr) of a 4yr Business Studies Degree. I'm seriously considering a conversion course upon my graduation into either Quantity S or Building S.

Of course, I have done preliminary research but there are a few questions troubling me and you seem a good person to ask.

Do you know much of the conversion courses. Really what concerns me is the opinion of employers towards them. Would they favour someone who had done Surveying as an undergraduate degree? Is the job market saturated or are the ample opportunities for qualified persons? How did you come to work in the US? What are the opportunities like for a British grad working in the US?

Perhaps the biggest issue facing me is whether to pursue quantity or building. Now, of course, no one can make that decision for me but I wonder, would a QS get out of the office as much as a BS? My passion driving me towards this sector is my love of architecture and all things of this nature. Would one profession strike you as more appropriate?

Thanks for your time

Phil

Reply 7

Howard

5

pjr2004

Hi Howard,

I wonder if you could offer me a little advice? I'm currently in my placement year (3rd yr) of a 4yr Business Studies Degree. I'm seriously considering a conversion course upon my graduation into either Quantity S or Building S.

Of course, I have done preliminary research but there are a few questions troubling me and you seem a good person to ask.

Do you know much of the conversion courses. Really what concerns me is the opinion of employers towards them. Would they favour someone who had done Surveying as an undergraduate degree? Is the job market saturated or are the ample opportunities for qualified persons? How did you come to work in the US? What are the opportunities like for a British grad working in the US?

Perhaps the biggest issue facing me is whether to pursue quantity or building. Now, of course, no one can make that decision for me but I wonder, would a QS get out of the office as much as a BS? My passion driving me towards this sector is my love of architecture and all things of this nature. Would one profession strike you as more appropriate?

Thanks for your time

Phil

Well, I'll do my best to answer these questions for you.

I'm not sure what there is in the way of conversion courses but I think there are two ways open to you. You could finish your Business Studies degree and then transfer onto the second year of a three year QS degree. Bear in mind though that most QS degrees are sandwich degrees so this would mean doing the second year, taking a year out in industry, and coming back for the third. That's a lot of additional study.

I think a better way would be to finish your degree and then try to get employment as an assistant QS. There's no reason that you absolutely must have a QS degree to start with; a good business degree should be fine. Then, once you are working in the industry you could do a QS degree by distance learning (The College of Estate Management ar Reading are the number one providers of this sort of thing) which would allow you to get the practical experience and a QS qualification at the same time.

Once you get your QS degree you'll then need to spend a couple of years doing your APC (this is the RICS's test of professional competence), and pass an interview, before becoming Chartered.

If I were you I'd contact the RICS to get their recommendations since I'm only guessing!

I don't think the job market is saturated. Fewer and fewer people are studying construction management disciplines so I think you'd stand a very good chance at getting employment at the bottom rung with your business studies degree.

Now, as for Building Surveying or QS'ing. Firstly, be aware that there are two sorts of QS. There's a PQS (who represents clients) and there's a CQS (who represents contruction companies) CQS's spend a lot more time out and about than PQS's. I am permanently site based myself and have rarely worked from a head office.

If you love architecture Building Surveying might be more your cup of tea but you will probably spend a lot more time in the office than you'd think; everything a Building Surveyor surveys after all needs to put down on drawings!

QS's are also better paid generally and if you think you will enjoy working overseas there are many more opportunities for QS's than Building Surveyors.

I came to work in the US after about 10 years in the business in the UK. I became a Chartered Builder, Chartered Surveyor, and Arbitrator and decided that I'd had enough working for a company so decided to go "contract" I work through an agency. That's the best way to secure overseas assignments as they handle the paperwork for you.

There are opportunities for recent QS grads to work overseas (particularly in the Middle East) though to work in the US you'll need a lot more experience to get the required paperwork.

I hope that's a bit of a help!

Reply 8

pjr2004

1

That's fantastic, thank you!

Reply 9

Howard

5

pjr2004

That's fantastic, thank you!

Phil,

Cancel (some) of what I said yesterday! Think I've found a better way! The College of Estate Management do a MSc in Surveying designed for graduates of other disciplines and recognized by the RICS!!

http://www.cem.ac.uk/courses/GDP.asp

So, you could finish your Biz Stud degree, start employment, and work on your MSc at the same time! It's probably a 2 or 3 year course.

Once you have the MSc under your belt you'd do the RICS's Assessment of Professional Competence: it's a two year program where you keep a diary, do CPD "Continuing Professional Development" and lots of other fun ******** which culminates in a detailed interview with the RICS. If you pass you will become a Member; MRICS (Chartered Surveyor)

So, you'd be Chartered in 4-5 years. You may even be able to do the APC concurrently with the MSc (you'd need to check) which could see you Chartered in 3 years.

As for salaries, a graduate building surveyor can expect to earn between 17-20k and a graduate QS perhaps a little more. Bear in mind though, if you entered the industry with a Bus St degree you might expect a little less since you'd still need to complete your MSc degree.

Visit the RICS's web site. They give detailed job descriptions for QS's and BS's.

Surveyor?

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