Name your price

If you’re a professional in your late 30s, it seems the world – or the UK, at least – is your oyster. In fact, whatever your age and title, you’re in a pretty good position, if the results from the Hays 2004–05 salary survey are anything to go by.

The recruitment firm’s latest research shows solid increases across the whole profession, from graduate surveyors to partners (see right) – on average, wages went up by 3.6%. These figures, however, appear to go only a small way to demonstrate just how much employers cherish their QS or project manager. Matthew Loughlin, a director at PCM Management, sums up the almost frenzied job market: “QSs are so hot at the moment, you can’t get them and you can’t keep them,” he says.

The knock-on effect of this is significant. In its report, Hays stated that in London and the Home Counties, ‘traditional salary structures in the Southeast are being abandoned in favour of applicants being able to negotiate the salary they require’. One employer cites a recent example where a 26-year-old qualified QS in the London region was lured by a contractor with a £45,000 package – a cool £10,000 rise in pay. “There was nothing we could do,” he says. Another worry for employers is the move to freelancing by salaried staff – an increasing trend, according to PCM’s Loughlin. “A lot of agencies are being set up,” he says. “Working at an hourly rate of £30, an intermediate QS can earn at least £60,000.”

A key finding of the survey is that the age-old salary gap between London and the rest of the UK is beginning to close. At almost every level, QSs and project managers outside the capital are seeing their paypackets increase faster than those of their London-based counterparts. In central London, salaries typically rose between 0 and 4% in the last year, but rises often reached 8, 9 or even 12% in the regions. The exception is graduate QSs, who enjoyed an 8% rise in London, from £19,500 to £21,000 and 6% rises almost everywhere else.

“There’s such demand at the moment, you don’t have to work in London to earn a lot of money,” confirms Gareth Broadrick, manager of Hays’ property and surveying division in London. “Firms in the regions will match whatever people are already getting.” Broadrick says the most in-demand group are professionals in their late 30s – a knock-on effect from the low number of graduates in the early 90s – and he’s seen many moving out of London.

Hays’ statistics show that associates, typically aged around 38 and ARICS qualified, saw their pay increase by 4% from £45,000 to £47,000 in central London, but 8% almost everywhere else – and in Wales they increased by 9% to £38,000.

There’s such demand at the moment, you don’t have to work in London to earn a lot of money

Gareth Broadrick, Hays Montrose

“Employees are earning a good salary and, unless they want to climb the corporate ladder, they don’t have to be in London to do their job,” adds Broadrick. No surprise, then, that as pay gaps shrink, some employees are upping sticks and heading up to the regions from the Big Smoke (see factfile below).

Two regions seeing a particularly high demand are the Southwest and Northwest . The former saw an average rise of 8% – the highest in any of the regions. This is partly due to a skills shortage as well as the region’s housing market.

In the Northwest, Manchester’s construction boom continues, while Liverpool gears up to assume the European Capital of Culture title in 2008. Local firms are feeling the impact of national firms muscling in, says Andrew Taylor, finance director of Tweeds in Liverpool (home to 40 of its 140 UK staff). “A number of UK and London surveyors have moved into the area because of the opportunities created by the building programme,” he observes. “It’s never been so hard to find staff.”

Managers have, of course, been complaining for years that it’s difficult to find and keep good people and this research goes a long way to prove they’re right. All of which is worrying for the sector as a whole, but if you’re a young gun looking to shimmy up the career ladder, it’s very good news indeed.