Surveying: Quantity vs Commercial/Residential

Hey guys,

I am currently exploring possible careers in surveying and I am aware that there are many specialities: quantity, building, rural, commercial/residential etc. I have a keen interest in real estate as well as strong accounting and business acumen but no experience in on-site construction. I figured out that quantity and commercial/residential surveying are the ones that would suit my interests the most.

I understand that quantity surveyors include contractor and consultant surveyors and I'd rather choose the second path (being located rather in the office vs on-site).

Is there a person here currently working in the industry and could give me an insight into how these two specialities differ or overlap? What would be career progression frames and salary potential? And are these equally influenced by economic bum and bust cycles? What is the market like for new graduates at the moment?

Cheers :smile:

Reply 1

route255

I have graduated with a degree in Building Surveying, I wouldn't say there is many grad roles at the moment outside the grad schemes. But there is not too many BS graduates. For qualified BS jobs, there's loads, so looks better once you get experience.

QS always seems more popular but to me was not as interesting. For both QS and BS you will study the same construction foundation topics.

Reply 2

timleebcu

I'm biased (course leader for real estate at Birmingham City), but I'd say real estate/commercial property is potentially less sensitive to downturns than construction related built environment specialisms: existing buildings still need managing etc, even if no new ones are being built during a downturn.

This is the RICS salary survey https://www.rics.org/globalassets/rics-website/media/footer/media/2019-rics-macdonald-company-salary-survey.pdf?_ga=2.187099368.1780593603.1586424144-1555600447.1586424144 which gives some indication of potential salaries in different specialisms (the figures given are the median salary across entire careers, so won't be achieved immediately on graduation, or achieving chartered status).