How to become a building surveyor
UK guide · last reviewed September 2026
Becoming a building surveyor in the UK takes two things: a qualification that RICS recognises, and supervised experience that ends in the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC), which makes you a chartered surveyor (MRICS). There are several ways to get the qualification, depending on where you're starting from, and the right one for you mostly comes down to whether you already have a degree.
If you're still deciding whether the job suits you, start with how much building surveyors earn, which also describes a typical day at each stage.
Choosing your route
- Leaving school or college: a degree apprenticeship if you can get one, otherwise a BSc in building surveying, ideally with a placement year.
- You already have a degree in any subject: an RICS-accredited master's or postgraduate diploma in building surveying. This is the usual route for career changers.
- You have an RICS-accredited degree in another surveying discipline, such as quantity surveying: you can usually go straight into building surveying roles and take the APC on the building surveying pathway without another degree.
- No degree: an HNC or HND followed by a top-up to an accredited degree, a part-time degree, or, if you only want residential work, a residential surveying diploma (see SAVA or an MSc?).
- Many years in a closely related field, such as building control, claims or defects work: read RICS's guidance on its routes for experienced professionals before starting a course.
Whichever route you take, check that the course is accredited on RICS's course finder. Accreditation matters far more than a university's league table position.
Degree apprenticeships
The Level 6 Chartered Surveyor degree apprenticeship, on the building surveying pathway, lets you earn a salary while studying part-time for your degree, usually over about five years, with the tuition paid through the apprenticeship. The APC is the apprenticeship's final assessment, so you finish with a degree, several years of experience and, if you pass, chartership.
Surveyors who have taken other routes often say this is the one they'd choose, but there are downsides. Pay starts low, the final years combine a full workload, study and APC preparation, and building surveying apprenticeships are much scarcer than quantity surveying ones. Big firms usually recruit between autumn and January, so set alerts on the government's apprenticeship service and approach local firms directly as well.
Converting from another degree
An RICS-accredited master's (MSc) or postgraduate diploma (PGDip) in building surveying accepts graduates of any subject. It takes about a year full-time or two years part-time, often by distance learning, and is mostly assessed by coursework. In England, the government postgraduate loan can cover it if you don't already have a master's, and some employers fund a part-time course for trainees, usually with a repayment clause if you leave.
Courses are full of career changers, many in their thirties and beyond. Most find that the course gets them interviews, while the first year of work teaches them the job, so it's worth getting work experience during the course, even a day a week.
Getting your first job
Qualified building surveyors are in short supply, but the first job is still the hard part. Graduate adverts can attract a hundred or more applicants, and many ask for some experience. What makes the most difference:
- Experience before you apply. Shadowing, a placement year, labouring on site with a CSCS card, a trade, or admin work at a surveying practice all count. Small and medium firms are the most open to offering it.
- Timing. Large graduate schemes mostly recruit from around September to January for the following year, often from their summer placements. Plenty of firms also hire graduates and assistant surveyors outside formal schemes, all year round.
- Going direct. Many small practices never advertise. Phoning, or messaging the head of a building surveying team, works better than applying through a portal.
- A driving licence. Outside central London, almost every role expects one, because you carry ladders and kit between sites.
Pay while you train
Early pay is modest, which is the main hurdle for career changers. Base salaries in the index so far, for the UK:
- Graduate Surveyor: not enough data yet (2 salaries so far)
- Assistant / Junior Surveyor: not enough data yet (4 salaries so far)
- Surveyor (often recently chartered): £47,500 typical, from 7 salaries
If you're changing career, plan for two or three years on a trainee salary and a few more before you earn what you do now in most professional jobs. Passing the APC usually brings the biggest single pay rise. The salary guide covers how pay grows after that.
Becoming chartered
With an accredited degree, the APC involves 24 months of structured training, recording your experience against the building surveying competencies with a supervisor and counsellor, followed by a written submission, a case study and a one-hour interview. In practice, most people take two to three years or more from starting work. Choose your first employer partly on the APC support it offers, and ask at interview how much variety of work you'll get, because too narrow a range of work is a common cause of delay.
AssocRICS is a professional grade below chartership. It's the usual qualification for residential surveyors who trained through a diploma, and it can be a stepping stone to MRICS for people without an accredited degree.
Building control: a different route
Building control surveyors check plans and inspect building work against the Building Regulations, for councils or private firms. In England and Wales they must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator as Registered Building Inspectors, starting at the trainee class. Councils run trainee schemes that often fund study, and demand for qualified inspectors is high. Starting in building control doesn't stop you moving into building surveying later.