Customers may get technical, design, maintenance, and repair assistance from building surveyors on several property types.
As an apprentice building surveyor, you’ll help conduct extensive building surveys to identify problems and advise on repair, maintenance, and restoration options.
Projects may include existing structures, buildings of architectural or historic value, and the construction of new ones. In addition, you may take preventative measures to keep buildings in good condition and look for ways to make them more sustainable.
Responsibilities
Throughout your apprenticeship, you may help:
- 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.
Salary
- As an apprentice building surveyor, you can expect to earn £25,000.
- With a few years’ experience, as a qualified, consultant or analyst building surveyor, you can earn in the region of £50,000, rising to approximately £77,000 as a partner or director.
- According to the RICS Macdonald & Company Rewards & Attitudes Survey 2020-2021, chartered building surveyors earn around 38% more than their non-chartered counterparts.
Working hours
Working hours are usually from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., although you may be required to work longer hours. Meeting and interacting with clients may need some after-hours effort.
The position is less desk-bound than in certain branches of surveying, with the majority of the working day spent on-site. However, working alone for lengthy periods may be required.
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.
Qualifications
Qualifications you can achieve as an apprentice building surveyor include:
- Level 6 Chartered Surveyor – Entry requirements for this level include 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) and A levels, or equivalent, for a higher or degree apprenticeship. This qualification will take 60 months to complete.
Skills
On a building surveyor apprenticeship, you’ll learn:
- 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.
Employers
Building surveyors are required in the residential, commercial, leisure, agricultural, and industrial real estate sectors.
Professional surveying credentials are recognised worldwide, and there are opportunities to work abroad with a range of multinational property and construction companies.
Many large, private practice firms accept students yearly, with application deadlines as early as December or January of your last year. Others will accept speculative applications later; begin contacting smaller companies around Easter. Vacancies in the public sector are usually posted on an as-needed basis.
Professional development
You may advance to chartered status if you hold an RICS-accredited degree or master’s degree. In addition, completing the RICS Assessment of Professional Competence (APC), a two to three-year work-based professional training programme, is required.
The curriculum includes on-the-job training, periodic meetings with a supervisor, and an assessment interview. In addition to academic requirements, completion of the APC leads to RICS membership and chartered surveyor status.
Surveyors must maintain professional competencies and practice standards. Therefore continuing professional development (CPD) is necessary. CPD is promoted by professional organisations such as RICS, and various training courses are available to help and enhance a building surveyor’s career.
Various training courses are available to assist and enhance a building surveyor’s career. RICS offers a wide range of technical courses, personal development, management and leadership, and business skills.
Membership in a professional organisation may also aid with CPD since it provides access to professional magazines, internet communications, and a network of professional peers.
Career prospects
If you work in the public sector, you may shift between local governments, universities, hospital trusts, and government jobs to get more experience and advance to a higher level.
Most big organisations provide established paths for surveyors who desire to advance into higher technical and managerial roles.
With experience, you may be promoted to full project management, where you will be in charge of project planning, control, and coordination from start to end. Success in these roles may lead to employment as a department head or manager in government, as well as a director or partner in private practice.
You might specialise and become an expert in a specific area, such as construction faults or sustainability, or a sector, such as residential or retail. Once chartered, another option is to start your own private practice.