Building surveyor
Building surveyors advise clients about the design, construction, maintenance and repair of buildings.
What you'll do
Day-to-day tasks
In your day-to-day duties you could:
- survey properties, identify structural faults and recommend repairs
- assess damage for insurance purposes
- establish who's responsible for building repair costs
- advise clients on issues like property boundary disputes
- act as an expert witness during legal proceedings
- make sure properties meet building regulations, fire safety and accessibility standards
- deal with planning applications and improvement or conservation grants
Working environment
You could work on a construction site, at a client's home or in an office.
Your working environment may be at height, outdoors in all weathers and you may spend nights away from home.
You may need to wear protective clothing.
Career path and progression
With experience, you could move into project or senior management.
You could go into partnership in private practice or become self-employed as a consultant.
You could move into a related field, like building control.
What it takes
Skills and knowledge
You'll need:
- knowledge of building and construction
- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- the ability to use your initiative
- analytical thinking skills
- patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
- knowledge of public safety and security
- thinking and reasoning skills
- persistence and determination
- to be able to use a computer and the main software packages confidently
How to become
You can get into this job through:
- a university course
- an apprenticeship
- working towards this role
- a graduate training scheme
You'll usually need a degree or professional qualification approved by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in a subject like:
- surveying
- construction
- civil engineering
- building engineering
If you graduated in any other subject, you could do a surveying postgraduate conversion course. These usually lead to a master's degree or postgraduate diploma.
Entry requirements vary, so check with individual universities which degrees might be preferred.
Entry requirements
You'll usually need:
- 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree
- a degree in any subject for a postgraduate course
More Information
You could do a chartered surveyor degree apprenticeship.
It may be possible to work towards this role by doing a surveying technician apprenticeship. This will teach you some of the skills and knowledge required. You would then need to take further qualifications to gain chartered surveyor status.
RICS has more information on surveying apprenticeships.
Entry requirements
You'll usually need:
- 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship
- 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) and A levels, or equivalent, for a higher or degree apprenticeship
More Information
If you have a relevant foundation degree or higher national diploma and are working, for example as a surveying technician, you may be able to get more qualifications on the job.
You could do a postgraduate surveying qualification through:
- a company graduate trainee scheme
- distance learning with the University of the Built Environment
Registration
- you can register with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors to become a chartered surveyor through the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) scheme
Further information
You can find out more about careers in surveying through the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Chartered Institute of Building.
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This page contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.