Surveying

This wiki page is about graduate jobs in surveying.

Types of Surveying

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There are many different types of surveyor:

For more information about graduate jobs in surveying, visit the WikiJob forums.

Building Surveyor

Building surveyors advise clients about the design and construction of new buildings and the maintenance, repair, renovation and conservation of existing ones. Clients can range from individual house owners to large commercial and industrial companies..

Your work as a surveyor would vary depending on the type of project, but would usually focus on three main areas: surveying, legal work, and planning and inspection. The typical day to day work of a building surveyor includes surveying properties, identifying structural defects and making recommendations for repairs; assessing damage for insurance and loss adjustment purposes, for example as a result of bad weather, fire or flooding; assessing dilapidation liability (who is responsible for building repair costs) and; advising clients on issues such as property boundary disputes.

Depending on the size of the company you work for, you may cover all of these and other work areas, or specialise in just one.

Qualifications

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To qualify as a building surveyor you will need to complete a degree course accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), followed by a professional development course; or start in a trainee position with a surveying firm and study for qualifications whilst working.

Relevant degrees include: surveying, construction, civil engineering, building engineering.
If you have a non-accredited degree, you will need to take a postgraduate course in surveying. You can do this through a graduate traineeship once working or by studying full-time at an RICS-accredited university.

Land Surveyor

Land surveyors collect information and map out the shape of natural and artificial features on civil engineering and construction schemes, and use this data to develop site plans. Land surveyors work on road, tunnel and bridge building projects; land redevelopment, mining and quarrying; and the installation of power and water supply networks.

What do Land Surveyors do?

Working as a land surveyor, your work will involve:
  • Carrying out feasibility studies, including initial surveys and environmental impact assessments on potential sites to assess whether plans are workable.
  • Using surveying instruments and GPS to conduct geospatial measurements and chart exact coordinates of site features; producing digital images of sites (photogrammetry); and mapping land use with satellite photography (remote sensing).
  • Gathering data and using geographic information systems (GIS) to analyse and interpret site features.
  • Monitoring land movement and subsidence caused during the construction project or by natural processes.
  • Drafting 2-D and 3-D charts and maps of an area using CAD programs and and other cartographic techniques.

You may also be able to specialise in mapping inshore and offshore features, known as hydrographic surveying, which covers:

  • natural waterways and canals for environmental projects
  • dredging operations
  • navigational charts
  • oil and gas exploration
  • undersea mining
  • locating and salvaging sunken ships

Qualifications & Experience

Graduates normally need to have attained a degree or professional qualification accredited by the Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) to become a land surveyor. Relevant degree disciplines include: surveying; civil engineering; geomatics; and, geographical information science.

Quantity Surveyor

Quantity surveyors manage the costs of a building project, from design stage through to the building's completion. It is a quantity surveyor's main priority to make sure that projects meet legal and quality standards, and that building projects are good value for money.

Quantity surveyors work on:
  • housing and industrial sites;
  • retail and commercial developments;
  • roads, rail and waterways.

Most of the time a quantity surveyor's role will involve carrying out feasibility studies to estimate the costs of time, labour and materials; negotiating and drawing up bids for tenders and contracts and monitoring every stage of the construction process to ensure costs are in line with forecasts. It is also the quantity surveyors responsibility to ensure that all legal requirements are met with during construction projects.

Qualifications

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To become a quantity surveyor you would usually need to have attained a degree approved by the Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in a degree discipline such as: surveying; construction; civil engineering; structural engineering, etc. You could also study a degree which is acredited by The Chartered Institute Of Building (CIOB).

For more information about graduate jobs in surveying, visit the WikiJob forums.

List of Surveying Firms

The following is a list of Surveying, property firms and similar companies.

  • Acorus
  • Aedas
  • Agregate Industries UK Ltd
  • Alder King
  • Alfred McAlpine Capital Projects Ltd
  • Allander Noble
  • Allsop
  • AMEC
  • Atis Real Weatheralls
  • Atisreal
  • Atkins
  • AWP
  • AYH Plc
  • Baily Garner
  • Balfour Beatty
  • Balfour Beatty Capital
  • Bennington Green Associates
  • Berkeley Consulting
  • Bidwells
  • Bond Bryan Building Surveying Ltd
  • Bovis Lend Lease
  • Bruce Shaw Partnership
  • Bruntwood
  • BTW Shiells
  • Bucknall Austin
  • Bucknall Austin Ltd
  • Carter Jonas LLP
  • C A Blackwell Ltd
  • Capita Symonds
  • Carillion PLC
  • CBRE
  • Chandler KBS
  • Chesterton
  • Christie & Co
  • Clough & Co
  • Cluttons
  • Colliers CRE
  • Connells Estate Agents
  • Costain Group
  • Countrywide Property Management
  • Cunningham Lindsey
  • Currie & Brown
  • Cushman & Wakefield
  • Cyril Sweett
  • Davis Langdon Graduate
  • Dean & Dyball Ltd
  • Defence Estates
  • DE & J Levy
  • Doig & Smith
  • Downing Teal
  • Dr. Lübke GmbH
  • Drivers Jonas Deloitte (Formally Drivers Jonas)
  • DTZ
  • Dunlop Haywood
  • EC Harris
  • e.surv chartered surveyors
  • Eddisons
  • Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre (ESPC)
  • Edmund Nuttall Ltd
  • Edmund Shipway
  • Edward Symmons
  • Edwin Hill
  • English Partnerships
  • Faithful and Gould
  • Fisher German
  • Fitzpatrick
  • Focus Consultants Ltd
  • FPD Savills
  • Franklin & Andrews Ltd
  • Galliford Try Plc
  • Gardiner & Theobald
  • Gerald Eve
  • Gleeson Building Ltd
  • Glenny LLP
  • Glenny LLP
  • Grosvenor
  • GVA Grimley
  • Hyundai
  • Halliburton
  • HBG UK Ltd
  • Hudson Construction and Real Estate
  • Hurford Salvi Carr Property Management
  • Ian Shaw Associates
  • Interserve Project Services Ltd
  • Jacobs
  • Jones Lang LaSalle
  • Kier Group
  • King Sturge (now merged with Jones Lang LaSalle)
  • Kirkby & Diamond Chartered Surveyors
  • Knight Frank
  • Laing O'Rourke
  • Lambert Smith Hampton
  • Land Securities
  • Lowland Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Association
  • M J Gleeson Group Plc
  • Mace Limited
  • Malcolm Hollis
  • Marriott & Co.
  • Marriott Construction
  • Martin Associates
  • May Gurney Ltd
  • Millennium Solutions
  • Morgan Est
  • Mouchel Parkman
  • Network Rail
  • Nisbeth LLP
  • NPS Norwich
  • OCS Group Ltd
  • Osborne King
  • P H Warr plc
  • Paul Henry
  • Pennington Chartered Surveyors
  • PM Group
  • Potter Raper Partnership
  • Property Pathfinder
  • Property Techonics
  • Rapleys LLP
  • RICS
  • Rider Levett Bucknal
  • Ridge and Partners LLP
  • Rising Star Recruitment Ltd.
  • Robinson Construction Ltd
  • ROK Property Solutions
  • Ryden LLP
  • Savills (L and P)
  • Shepherd Chartered Surveyors
  • Smiths Gore
  • Solomons Europe
  • Sratton Creber Commercial
  • Stace LLP
  • Storeys:SSP
  • Strategic Property Solutions Ltd
  • Strutt and Parker
  • Systech Group
  • Taylor Woodrow Construction Ltd
  • TH Associates
  • The National Trust
  • The Vinden Partnership
  • Thomas & Adamson
  • Todd & Ledson
  • Torrance Partnership
  • Tuffin Ferraby Taylor LLP
  • Turner & Townsend Group
  • United Utilities
  • UWIC
  • Vail Williams
  • Valuation Office Agency
  • VINCI PLC
  • Wardell Armstrong
  • Wates Manager
  • WESTCOUNTER ENGINEERS LTD
  • Westinghouse
  • WESTON ALLISON WRIGHT LLP
  • White Young Green Consulting Ltd
  • Willmott Dixon
  • Willmotts Chartered Surveyors
  • Workman & Partners
  • Youngs Chartered Surveyors

For more information on these surveying and property firms, visit the WikiJob forums.