The construction industry is booming, and with it, more and more students are considering careers in land, property and construction.
Last year the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland surveyed its members across all disciplines to shed light on the rewards and benefits available to those considering a career in surveying. The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland is the independent professional body for chartered surveyors working and practising in Ireland.
The SCSI Salary and Benefits Report is a comprehensive remuneration survey for professionals working within property and construction.
The national average annual salary was a very respectable €70,717. However, there were some key differences worth examining. Let’s have a look at some of these.
Construction surveyors vs property surveyors
During the first five years of their career, construction surveyors averaged a salary of €46,821 per year. Over the same period, property surveyors earned an average of €34,703 annually.
Location
Surveyors working in Dublin were better compensated than those in other parts of Ireland. Here are the average annual salaries per region:
- Dublin: €75,758
- Munster: €62,006
- Rest of Leinster: €61,740
- Connaught: €52,826
- Ulster: €52,826
Gender
There is a gender pay gap in the profession. Men in the profession earn on average 13 percent more than women. However, if we look at experience as well as gender, things are a little more complicated.
The largest difference in salary is in the 16-20 years’ experience bracket. Here men out-earned women by 40 percent. It is hard to draw definitive conclusions from this as the number of female surveyors in this category was proportionally lower than in other categories.
During the first five years, women earned 7.6 percent more than their male counterparts did. The same as true in the 11-15 years’ experience bracket as women earned an average of 1.9 percent more. Again, these figures may reflect the fact that at all levels of experience, there were significantly more men than women.
Benefits
The most common benefits chartered surveyors received were mobile phones and laptops, as well as professional association membership.
Over a third (36 percent) of chartered surveyors received 20-22 paid holidays per year. This was the most common holiday entitlement. Next, a quarter received 23-25 and a further 15 percent received 25-29 paid holidays respectively. Finally, a lucky 11 percent have more than 30 paid holidays per annum.
Maternity and paternity leave
Due to the disproportional number of men versus women, SCSI analysed responses of maternity and paternity benefits separately. They found that 44 percent of female surveyors get some level of paid maternity leave from their employers. Only 18 percent of male surveyors received paid paternity leave.
Happy employees
Overall, surveyors seem happy in their jobs. Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) expected to receive a pay increase in 2017. Furthermore, an impressive 80 percent of surveyors were not intending to change employer in the next 12 months.
