Helping you find a career in the surveying industry
Surveying can widely be divided into land surveying and property surveying, with numerous roles available within these areas. It's a responsible role and requires a range of skills, but once you've qualified you'll have a wealth of career options.
Building surveying includes:
- Analysing problems with structures and properties
- Advising on building repairs, including costs and responsibilities
- Checking planning applications
- Ensuring that properties meet building regulations
Land surveying includes:
- Checking environmental effects of projects such as roads, tunnels or water networks
- Producing maps
- Monitoring environmental changes
As a technical surveyor, you would play a supporting role to someone who is chartered. However, you could work across both land and property and expect tasks such like:
- Valuing land, property or machinery
- Organising auction sales for land and property
- Monitoring projects
- Working out finances of a project
- Surveying buildings and mapping land
Another common role within surveying is a quantity surveyor. As a quantity surveyor you would be involved in each stage of the construction process, but your expertise is in costs and contracts. You will be involved with the financial side of a project right from initial calculations in the proposal stage to post-completion fees. An element of this is negotiating contracts and keeping on top of any changes that happen throughout the course of the project.
Most of the roles within surveying will require a degree that is recognised by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). A RICS-accredited degree is recognised internationally and could enable you to travel all over the world.
Surveying enables you to be out and about in the world, visiting sites and working in the community. You will also have to spend time in an office, but your time will be split between the two. It will also require you to be outside in all conditions for inspections.
As a surveyor, you may also be involved in risk management on site and be in charge of conducting assessments to identify key areas of risk, then finding solutions so that the project is as safe as it can be.
A career in surveying is quite stable, as technical inspectors of buildings, land and construction sites are always going to be required.