Building surveyor - career change
Discussion
I’m thinking about a career change to building surveying and completing the building surveyor MSC part time with UCEM.
Building design types and construction has always been of interest in me. My main concern is my age; 38 and whether it’s worth it. Secondly it would be the salary drop after I qualify.
What are the self employed opportunities? How limited would I be prior to completing my APC?
What’s the course like too?
Building design types and construction has always been of interest in me. My main concern is my age; 38 and whether it’s worth it. Secondly it would be the salary drop after I qualify.
What are the self employed opportunities? How limited would I be prior to completing my APC?
What’s the course like too?
Edited by Tlandcruiser on Monday 15th February 13:13
I'm a chartered building surveyor and came to it later but not 'cold' - qualified RICS at 35 but from an architectural and contractor background and with an HNC construction in my 20's so I had a very sound foundation in construction and found the degree and qualification straightforward (even though, to confuse matters, my actual degree is in general practice). I've been qualified as a CBS for 24 years now and run my own small firm.
It's a very interesting job with no day the same and you are always learning - there's huge variety and it's not until you get into it do you realise the variety and scope of work a CBS can undertake which in my own experience makes you pretty much recession proof so long as you are able to carry out a broad range of work. In contrast I found architectural practice limited, more prone to recessionary cycles, and less well paid.
It will help enormously if you have construction background - at your age it may be more of a struggle to pick it up and then become competent once you qualify if you have no construction experience. The soonest you could be qualified is 5 years if the degree goes to plan and you then manage to pass the APC in 2 years - that would make you mid 40's at the beginning of a new career so you may not feel confident in the job until your mid fifties.
I would say go for it but don't expect to be properly up to speed much before 50 unless you are already from a construction background.
My son is on the second years of his BS degree now at the tender age of 19 and I would be happy for him to enter the industry, it's a great career with loads of opportunities.
It's a very interesting job with no day the same and you are always learning - there's huge variety and it's not until you get into it do you realise the variety and scope of work a CBS can undertake which in my own experience makes you pretty much recession proof so long as you are able to carry out a broad range of work. In contrast I found architectural practice limited, more prone to recessionary cycles, and less well paid.
It will help enormously if you have construction background - at your age it may be more of a struggle to pick it up and then become competent once you qualify if you have no construction experience. The soonest you could be qualified is 5 years if the degree goes to plan and you then manage to pass the APC in 2 years - that would make you mid 40's at the beginning of a new career so you may not feel confident in the job until your mid fifties.
I would say go for it but don't expect to be properly up to speed much before 50 unless you are already from a construction background.
My son is on the second years of his BS degree now at the tender age of 19 and I would be happy for him to enter the industry, it's a great career with loads of opportunities.
Thanks for the information, I have a mechanical and electrical engineering background and my dad owns a stone masonry company whilst growing up i use to work for his company. Over the years I’ve renovated houses and sold them on, hopefully my experience would mean I would not be totally green.
But the duration and being early 40s in a new career is of concern to me, which may not normally be a problem as you could still Have 20 years of work ahead, but currently I have a final salary pension etc and the benefits are pretty good.
But the duration and being early 40s in a new career is of concern to me, which may not normally be a problem as you could still Have 20 years of work ahead, but currently I have a final salary pension etc and the benefits are pretty good.
I think you should be able to do a MSc in two years part-time and your second year could count as one year of the APC chartership if you are in employment as a surveyor by the start of that year- so could be a chartered surveyor in 3 years if the course provider is RICS accredited.
On my MSc year there were about 7/8 mature students studying the Building Surveyor route (all at least 40, one was 56). All got employment before graduating
You are still very young!
On my MSc year there were about 7/8 mature students studying the Building Surveyor route (all at least 40, one was 56). All got employment before graduating
You are still very young!
In this abrasive / litigious world being a successful surveyor is as much about soft skills as hard technical knowledge, which after all is in your hand most of the time courtesy of Google if you know what to look for.
If you have good people skills, which tend to improve over age, you’ll always have a job at the sharp end of the profession, which as mentioned before constantly brings new and rewarding challenges.
The pay is good too.
Go for it
If you have good people skills, which tend to improve over age, you’ll always have a job at the sharp end of the profession, which as mentioned before constantly brings new and rewarding challenges.
The pay is good too.
Go for it
N111BJG said:
In this abrasive / litigious world being a successful surveyor is as much about soft skills as hard technical knowledge, which after all is in your hand most of the time courtesy of Google if you know what to look for.
If you have good people skills, which tend to improve over age, you’ll always have a job at the sharp end of the profession, which as mentioned before constantly brings new and rewarding challenges.
The pay is good too.
Go for it
This is actually so true - I often remark 10% technical skill and 90% people skills/pyschology/management of expectation (which in a way sort of contradicts some of my earlier comments!). What I don't know however is whether those skills are a natural consequence of age or develop as a result of the confidence built over years of working in one particular field.If you have good people skills, which tend to improve over age, you’ll always have a job at the sharp end of the profession, which as mentioned before constantly brings new and rewarding challenges.
The pay is good too.
Go for it
Are there plenty of opportunities for self employed or contracting work, whilst I imagine the QS route has more international opportunities, is there much scope for BS roles in Europe?
The BS route appeals more to me compared the QS role. Am I right to say QS is mostly contract, project management and costing? Where as the BS route is surveying, dispute, insurance claims etc?
The BS route appeals more to me compared the QS role. Am I right to say QS is mostly contract, project management and costing? Where as the BS route is surveying, dispute, insurance claims etc?
Tlandcruiser said:
Are there plenty of opportunities for self employed or contracting work, whilst I imagine the QS route has more international opportunities, is there much scope for BS roles in Europe?
The BS route appeals more to me compared the QS role. Am I right to say QS is mostly contract, project management and costing? Where as the BS route is surveying, dispute, insurance claims etc?
Certainly what you say is true of QS in my experience (QS and PM, MRICS).The BS route appeals more to me compared the QS role. Am I right to say QS is mostly contract, project management and costing? Where as the BS route is surveying, dispute, insurance claims etc?
Greater scope for contracting roles with QS; for both BS and QS, if either self employed or contracting, you'll need experience though.
Tlandcruiser said:
Are there plenty of opportunities for self employed or contracting work, whilst I imagine the QS route has more international opportunities, is there much scope for BS roles in Europe?
The BS route appeals more to me compared the QS role. Am I right to say QS is mostly contract, project management and costing? Where as the BS route is surveying, dispute, insurance claims etc?
You'll get to do a lot of PM, Contract Admin and costing work in a BS role as well - I do all my own QS work up to a contact value of £500k then would employ a QS after that and/or where the work is relatively complex or subject to significant scope for variations.The BS route appeals more to me compared the QS role. Am I right to say QS is mostly contract, project management and costing? Where as the BS route is surveying, dispute, insurance claims etc?
I was 32 when I started studying with UCEM (now 33) just coming to the end of my first year QS degree part time. I have 7 years commercial management experience so knew what I was getting myself into.
I really enjoy the UCEM platform, the lectures are always recorded and 'on demand' and the available information to supplement your learning is immense.
The only one real problem I have encountered, which if you raise as a problem will get you 1 on 1 time with a Tutor to discuss, is the difference in feedback you receive dependent on the marker, sometimes it is difficult to pinpoint what it is they are asking you to do and even at times they don't acknowledge the ability to include it within a restricted word count.
I work full time, have two kids under 3 years of age and roughly spend 10 hours per week per subject (total 20 hours per week) you will very quickly identify items that will not take that amount of time or items that are not particularly assignment relevant and therefore can 'gain' time back for the relevant topics.
I really enjoy the UCEM platform, the lectures are always recorded and 'on demand' and the available information to supplement your learning is immense.
The only one real problem I have encountered, which if you raise as a problem will get you 1 on 1 time with a Tutor to discuss, is the difference in feedback you receive dependent on the marker, sometimes it is difficult to pinpoint what it is they are asking you to do and even at times they don't acknowledge the ability to include it within a restricted word count.
I work full time, have two kids under 3 years of age and roughly spend 10 hours per week per subject (total 20 hours per week) you will very quickly identify items that will not take that amount of time or items that are not particularly assignment relevant and therefore can 'gain' time back for the relevant topics.
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