Are you a quantity surveyor and do you think your career has stalled? Have you been overlooked for promotion but a boss that doesn’t appreciate you as they should? Are you underpaid? If so, the good news is that Randstad – and this guide in particular, can help.
What Does an Assistant Quantity Surveyor Do?
Being an assistant quantity surveyor (AQS) involves helping a quantity surveyor (QS) on large projects. You’re not a bag carrier – far from it. You might take responsibility for a ring-fenced element of a big project and you may end up running some small projects yourself (you might spend up to 3 years at this level). Either way, you should be enjoying the opportunity to start earning your stripes and being given the chance to stretch yourself and learn on the job.
Once you're working as a trainee quantity surveyor, the next step to becoming a fully qualified chartered surveyor is to obtain a RICS membership. In order to do this, you must successfully complete the RICS Assessment of Professional Competence (APC). APC is a structured training programme that usually lasts around two years (unless you have significant previous work experience). Participants need to evidence your training in logbooks and records and have regular meetings with a supervisor. The programme also involves a set number of hours of professional development and ends with an assessment interview. Continuing professional development (CPD) is an important aspect of maintaining professional competencies and practice standards.
RICS has established a lifelong learning programme for recording any professional development. The process may include open learning, private study (of academic papers or industry publications), attending conferences and events, running workshops and further study or in-house training.
If you aren’t progressing fast enough on the job, you may need to demonstrate some hunger to learn and ask for more opportunities. Without chances to demonstrate that you can work own your own, it will be harder to explain that you are now ready to move to the next level and you may find it harder to get a promotion within two or three years. If it’s not happening, it’s time to think about jumping ship for an environment with more breaks and better prospects for advancement.
The other reason to move is pay. AQS pay has come a long way in the last couple of years. In 2016, an AQS was on about £25,300. That shot up to £28,200 in 2017. Our latest data shows the national average for an AQS stands at £29,300 (12 months to 4th September) – although average pay packets vary regionally. In London, an AQS can expect to earn £31,600; this year, we’ve placed one AQS on £42,500 in the capital. Our Birmingham office has placed an AQS on £38,000, so it’s not all about London, by any means.
How much does a Quantity Surveyor earn?
Having nailed the assistant quantity surveyor (AQS) role, you’ll become an intermediate quantity surveyor or a projects quantity surveyor. After the first two or three years of your career, you’ll be a fully-fledged QS. QS jobs can be widely different and difficult to compare. The work you do will probably be driven by the sort of firm you are working for – larger companies will typically undertake bigger projects. Given you have now learned the ropes and can demonstrate your ability to work independently, you’ll find yourself running single project or working on multiple smaller projects reporting to a commercial manager. On massive projects, you’ll be part of a project team managing distinct parcels of work. This will allow you to build up your project management experience, strengthen your ability to assess risk, and give you a feel for what can go wrong on projects.
If everything goes to plan, you will be dealing with sub-contractors successfully and building upon your managerial skills. You’ll also start to pass on your experience, mentoring an AQS.
If you have worked on a couple of projects successfully and can demonstrate you have the skills to manage projects profitably (there’s nothing wrong, from your CV’s point of view, on working on a very large project lasting years, by the way), you should then be looking to take on yet more responsibility. This may come in the way of working on larger projects or taking control of more projects and / or a change in job title.
You’ll be conducting feasibility studies to estimate materials, time and labour costs. You’ll prepare, negotiate and analyse costs for tenders and contracts, managing all costs relating to building and civil engineering projects – from the initial calculations to the final figures. Working either for the client or the contractor, in an office or on site, you'll be involved in a project from the start.
You’re going to need a good boss to get through this stage of your career though – you’ll need support from your line manager to make a success of it. Too many able people are thrown in at the deep-end and given too much to do in understaffed teams. That means they sink, when, with the right support, they could swim.
That can affect how quickly you move up the senior quantity surveyor level. You might spend two years in the role. It might be more than double that.
Average pay at this level has moved from £43,600 in 2016, to about £48,200 in 2017. Last year, the average salary for a quantity surveyor tipped the £50k mark (£50,900) and it’s now gone up almost 6% to around £53,300. Average salaries are higher in London and currently float at £56,000 mark – although we have placed a couple of experienced, QS superstars on £90,000 this year.
How long will I work as a Senior Quantity Surveyor?
As a senior quantity surveyor (SQS), you will now be running your own projects, as well as managing, mentoring and developing juniors. You may also be offering advice on property taxation, providing post-occupancy advice, facilities management services, and life cycle costing advice. You’ll be assisting clients in locating and accessing additional and alternative sources of funding and helping them to initiate construction projects as well as advising on the maintenance costs of specific buildings. On the largest projects you might be part of a team, but you should have a significant role, as befits your seniority.
You should now have meaningful experience (built up on both successful and not so successful projects!), not only as a QS but in the wider construction industry. You will have a good understanding of typical contractual issues and will know how to resolve them.
You could be in the job for seven years, but it might be as few as three. Average salary is about £71,100 at the moment, up 11% from £64,200 last year. The average salary for an SQS in London now stands at around £74,900. In 2018, we placed a couple of senior M&E quantity surveyors on £100,000 in London but the max seems to have dropped five percent or so this year.
How Much Experience Do I Need to Become a Managing Quantity Surveyor?
The next step up is to become a managing quantity surveyor or MQS (also known as a “commercial manager”). It doesn’t happen for everyone and C-players may not make the grade. But, whatever your boss says, most people can make it to the MQS level given time. A-players might get there with 10 years’ of experience under their belt but 15 years’ experience is more usual.
The average salary is £82,000 nationwide, but there’s more money to be made in London. In this sort of managerial position, you’ll be the lead commercial contact on projects. While it’s not as technical a role, less experienced members of the team are still going to come to you with their problems. Ultimately, you are responsible for everything. You’re going to be in some serious meetings and you’re going to need to be helping make strategic decisions. Your KPIs should be shifting and you’ll be appraised on whether your projects or department make a profit.
What Does a Commercial Director Do?
The air is thin at the commercial director level and you certainly won’t be working on site any longer. Office bound, you’ll oversee the commercial aspects of the projects, forge strategy, and develop the business. Salaries are commensurate with the sort of responsibilities you’ll take on, if you’re good enough to hit the big time (we would expect to place twenty times more QS’s than commercial directors every year – not everyone makes the cut). Last year, the average salary of a commercial directors was around £107,500. Now, it’s more like £110,000 but we have someone on £125,000 recently and salaries of up to £140,000 are not unheard of.
Has that made you reconsider your current QS role? Check out our latest quantity surveyor jobs and get in touch with one of our consultants.
