Why Your Perfect Building Surveyor Might Not Exist

As an executive consultant on the building surveying desk, I see the same pattern every week: a client/employer sends me a job description; writing a brief for a candidate the market can no longer supply, then wonder why the role is so hard to fill.

If this sounds familiar, the problem isn't your recruiter. It's the brief. It’s no secret that Chartered building surveyors are in short supply across the UK and therefore in high demand, and employers are still hiring with outdated briefs and bonus packages and are losing out to firms that have adjusted to the market as it is in 2026.

Here's what IS working for the clients who fill building surveying roles quickly, based on the live briefs we handle here at Cobalt.

Ask yourselves is MRICS a necessary requirement?

I completely understand why clients insist on MRICS. Chartered status is still the clearest signal of capability, and some work e.g. certain surveys/inspections can only be signed off by a chartered surveyor. But in many parts of the country, chartered candidates simply aren't there in the numbers that firms assume. For example, if a client’s head office is based in a remote location and they require someone to be in the office full-time, the pool of suitable candidates becomes significantly smaller or simply doesn't exist. We can't create a pool of chartered building surveyors in an area where they don't exist, so employers need to be realistic about what is actually achievable.

Before writing the brief, perhaps ask yourselves:

• Do you need MRICS for every instruction, or only for specific signoffs?
• Could a strong AssocRICS/MCIOB surveyor, backed by a clear plan to sit their APC in the next one to two years, cover the rest?

The harsh reality is that clients who widen their brief fill roles much faster. The ones who hold out for those magic letters can spend months, sometimes years, searching for someone who doesn't exist in their area, while the seat sits empty and unbilled. In that time, an AssocRICS hire could have sat their APC and become chartered.

Price the role accordingly for the competitive market you're hiring in.

Building surveying salaries have moved sharply, and not evenly. I recently had a client ask me to find them an AssocRICS surveyor on £40,000. Five or ten years ago, that would have been entirely appropriate. Today it's well below market: many of the hundreds of AssocRICS surveyors I speak to daily are on salaries ranging from £50,000 - £70,000, and some are earning more than chartered colleagues whose pay bands haven't been reviewed in years. If your salary bands haven't been looked at recently, they're probably most certainly out of date.

It's also worth considering other factors looking beyond just that basic pay. In 2026, the candidates I am speaking to are looking at the whole package:

• Uncapped commission versus a capped annual bonus
• An electric vehicle scheme versus a traditional car allowance
• Genuinely remote or hybrid working versus fixed office days

The car point catches a lot of employers out. An offer could be £10,000 more than a candidate's current salary, but once they've done the maths on a taxed £5,000 car allowance against a company electric vehicle, the higher salary still loses every time. Employers who benchmark the whole package, not just the base salary, are the ones winning offers, there needs to be an incentive overall.

Match the flexibility candidates already have elsewhere

As opposed to being stuck in a corporate office, residential surveyors are typically home-based five days a week and are out on inspections most mornings using their afternoons to type up reports from home.  That flexibility, plus uncapped commission, is a big reason I'm seeing experienced MRICS building surveyors completely move from project-based work/ professional services into residential work. We've placed several chartered surveyors from major multi-disciplinary consultancies, where they were expected in the office two, three days a week, into fully remote residential roles on the same pay; if not a lot more.

If your role requires fixed office days that aren't essential to the work, expect to lose candidates to firms that don't. Separate what work must be site based from what is simply habit or tradition and say so clearly in the brief. Ambiguity here costs you candidates before you've even had a first conversation.

Make chartership support real, not a promise

Almost every pre-APC candidate I speak to tells me the same story: their employer promised to support them and get them through their APC to achieve MRICS, and three years later it still hasn't happened. They’re stuck in a cycle of too much backlog, doing the work of two or three of their peers. There is simply too much work and due to a retiring workforce not enough chartered surveyors to mentor them, so unfortunately candidates are forced into looking elsewhere.

Employers who want to attract and retain surveyors should be able to point to an APC programme with clear timeframes:

• Named mentors
• Protected study time
• Funded fees
• A successful track record of previous surveyors who've successfully gained MRICS

In a market where chartered candidates are scarce, being known as the firm that gets people chartered is one of the strongest differentiators you have. It also ensures you are sustaining a loyal workforce: an AssocRICS surveyor you've put through their MRICS is far more likely to stay long term; due to the significant part you’ve played in their success.

Move at the speed of your competitors

There is a lack of qualified surveyors, not a lack of jobs, so these candidates are rarely short of options and are very much in control of their next move. A slow process will lose them to a faster one, even when your eventual offer would have been competitive.

A few practical steps that help:

• Pre-book interview slots so strong candidates can be seen within days, not weeks
• Shorten decision cycles between stages
• Give fast, specific feedback to keep candidates engaged in the process

Think pipeline, not just vacancy

The candidates available today are only part of the picture. Routes like the Sava Diploma in Residential Surveying and Valuation are bringing new people into the profession, including career changers who have no prior construction experience. The diploma has no formal entry requirements and leads directly to AssocRICS, meaning I am placing surveyors who are coming from completely different backgrounds such as musicians, recruiters and teachers. Employers who sponsor Sava students; taking them on once they hit 75% through their assessment phase or build structured apprenticeships are the ones who will have a pipeline in two years' time, rather than another open brief; still waiting to be filled.

Building surveying also faces a perception challenge particularly among younger generations. For many, the profession still carries outdated stereotypes that fail to reflect the variety of opportunities available today. Research from New London Architecture's Skills for Places programme found that just 7% of young Londoners were familiar with the term "built environment", highlighting a wider lack of awareness about careers within the sector.

Changing this traditional perception is essential if the industry wants to attract the next generation of talent. Greater visibility around career progression, earning potential, flexible working arrangements and the diversity of projects building surveyors are involved in could help position the profession as a more attractive career choice. It's also important to highlight the long-term value of the role.

Whilst AI and technology will continue to change how surveyors work, the need for practical expertise, on-site inspections and professional judgement remains and due to the physical nature of the work; always will.

Alongside attracting new talent, the industry should be responsible for demonstrating the range of career paths available to existing professionals, including opportunities within consultancy and client-side organisations. For further insight, explore Cobalt's article on working client-side versus consultancy.

The bigger picture

This doesn't mean compromising on quality or professional standards by any means. Instead, recognise that the building surveying market has evolved, and recruitment strategies therefore need to evolve with it. Employers must take a more flexible and realistic approach to hiring, looking beyond chartered status alone and placing greater value on practical experience, transferable skills and long-term potential. Adapting to the talent available today will be key to addressing skills shortages and building a more sustainable workforce for the future.

Help build the evidence base: complete the Map the Gap survey.

Cobalt has spent 25 years specialising in real estate recruitment, across the housebuilders, contractors and consultancies shaping the built environment in the UK, US and Germany. That depth shows up in the detail: hiring strategies, workforce planning, and remuneration advice grounded in what the market is actually doing right now.

If you'd like to talk through the current building surveying market, or a hire in your own team, speak to Ashleigh Pearce, Executive Consultant, Cobalt Recruitment UK.

Sources

• RICS, Surveying Skills Report (2025)
• RICS, Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)
• New London Architecture, Skills for Places (2025)
• Sava, Diploma in Residential Surveying and Valuation
• Cobalt Recruitment, “Building Surveying: Working Client-Side vs Consultancy"
• Cobalt UK building surveying desk placement data