UK Quantity Surveyor Salary 2026/27: ONS Pay, MRICS and Take-Home
UK quantity surveyor pay 2026/27 - ONS ASHE 2025 full-time median £52,537, middle half £41,465 to £67,203, the RICS APC and take-home.
Overview of UK quantity surveyor pay
A quantity surveyor (QS) prices, plans and controls the cost of construction work, either for a contractor or for the client through a consultancy. Quantity surveying has no national pay scale, so this page anchors on the Office for National Statistics Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), which classifies quantity surveyors as SOC 2020 unit group 2453. In ASHE 2025 provisional their full-time median was £52,537, with the middle half earning between £41,465 and £67,203.
The unit group mixes graduates and directors, contractor and consultancy surveyors, chartered and not, in every region and sector. ONS does not publish it by any of those, so this page does not quote graduate, senior or director bands, London premia, sector or practice-tier differences or a chartership premium: we could not find a retrievable published source for any of them. Self-employed surveyors are outside ASHE, which surveys employee jobs only.
What ONS says quantity surveyors earn
Full-time gross annual pay, April 2025, with take-home in England for 2026/27 (no pension contribution, no student loan). ONS did not publish a reliable 90th percentile for the group.
| ASHE point | Gross | Income Tax | NI | Take-home | Monthly | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | £31,960 | £3,878 | £1,551 | £26,531 | £2,211 | 17.0% |
| 25th percentile | £41,465 | £5,779 | £2,312 | £33,374 | £2,781 | 19.5% |
| Median | £52,537 | £8,447 | £3,061 | £41,029 | £3,419 | 21.9% |
| 75th percentile | £67,203 | £14,313 | £3,355 | £49,535 | £4,128 | 26.3% |
The ASHE median of £52,537 is £2,267 above the £50,270 higher-rate threshold, so with no pension contribution that slice is taxed at 40% outside Scotland. A pension contribution of £2,267 by salary sacrifice brings pay back to the threshold and costs £1,315 of take-home. Source: ONS ASHE 2025 provisional, Table 14.7a Annual pay - Gross, Full-Time, SOC 2020 2453.
RICS chartership: the APC
Chartered status (MRICS) comes through the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' Assessment of Professional Competence. The RICS APC Candidate Guide (August 2026) sets the entry routes: a candidate with an RICS-accredited degree needs at least 24 months of structured training and at least 96 hours of continuing professional development, with shorter training periods for candidates with five or more years of relevant experience. The final assessment includes a case study of at most 3,000 words and an interview lasting approximately one hour, and candidates have 6 years from enrolment to achieve MRICS.
What chartership adds to pay is not measured by ONS, and this page could not find a published survey that isolates it, so no premium is quoted.
Contractor route: IR35 and the off-payroll rules
Surveyors who contract through their own limited company can fall under the off-payroll working rules, which changed from 6 April 2021. For public-sector clients and medium or large private-sector clients, the client is responsible for deciding the worker's employment status for tax and should produce a status determination statement giving the reasons for its decision. If the rules apply, the deemed employer deducts Income Tax and employee National Insurance and pays them to HMRC. For small private-sector clients the worker's own intermediary decides.
Illustration only: at a hypothetical £500 a day for 220 days, headline pay is £110,000. If all of it were paid as PAYE salary, take-home would be £72,357 (£33,432 Income Tax, £4,211 NI). Through an umbrella company the real figure is lower, because employer's National Insurance, the umbrella's margin and, where it applies, the Apprenticeship Levy come out of the assignment rate before PAYE. Use the contractor calculator for that arithmetic and the IR35 deemed payment calculator for the deemed payment.
Salary sacrifice above £100,000
Between £100,000 and £125,140 of adjusted net income the Personal Allowance is withdrawn at £1 for every £2, so the marginal rate on that slice is about 62% (40% Income Tax on £1.50 of income, plus 2% NI). ONS does not publish a 90th percentile for quantity surveyors, so the figure below is a hypothetical salary, not a typical one.
| Scenario | Gross | Pension sacrifice | Income Tax | NI | Take-home |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No sacrifice | £110,000 | £0 | £33,432 | £4,211 | £72,357 |
| Sacrifice down to £100,000 | £110,000 | £10,000 | £27,432 | £4,011 | £68,557 |
The £10,000 sacrifice costs £3,800 of take-home and puts £10,000 into the pension, restoring the full £12,570 allowance. Whether an employer offers salary sacrifice, and what it contributes, depends on the scheme; this page does not quote employer matches because it could not verify them. Cross-check with the salary sacrifice calculator.
Comparison with other professions
ASHE 2025 provisional full-time medians, with England 2026/27 take-home and no pension contribution.
| SOC 2020 unit group | Median gross | Annual take-home | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2453 Quantity surveyors | £52,537 | £41,029 | £3,419 |
| 2454 Chartered surveyors | £46,184 | £36,772 | £3,064 |
| 2451 Architects | £47,143 | £37,463 | £3,122 |
| 2121 Civil engineers | £51,366 | £40,350 | £3,362 |
| 2421 Chartered and certified accountants | £50,062 | £39,564 | £3,297 |
| 2134 Programmers and software development professionals | £56,914 | £43,568 | £3,631 |
On the median, a quantity surveyor takes home 94% of what a software developer on the median does. Medians compare whole occupations, not people at the same stage of their career.
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Frequently asked questions
How much does a UK quantity surveyor earn in 2026/27?
ONS ASHE 2025 provisional puts the full-time median for quantity surveyors (SOC 2020 2453) at £52,537 in April 2025. A tenth earned under £31,960, a quarter under £41,465 and a quarter over £67,203. ONS did not publish a reliable 90th percentile, and it does not split the group by career stage, chartered status, region or whether the surveyor works for a contractor or a consultancy.
What does a quantity surveyor on the median take home?
On the £52,537 ASHE median, with no pension contribution or student loan, take-home in England in 2026/27 is £41,029 a year (£3,419 a month), after £8,447 Income Tax and £3,061 National Insurance.
Does a quantity surveyor on the median pay 40% tax?
The ASHE median of £52,537 is £2,267 above the £50,270 higher-rate threshold, so with no pension contribution that slice is taxed at 40% outside Scotland. A pension contribution of £2,267 by salary sacrifice brings pay back to the threshold and costs £1,315 of take-home.
What is MRICS and how do you get it?
MRICS is membership of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, reached through the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC). According to the RICS APC Candidate Guide (August 2026), a candidate with an RICS-accredited degree needs at least 24 months of structured training and at least 96 hours of CPD. The final assessment includes a case study of at most 3,000 words and an interview of about one hour, and candidates have 6 years from enrolment to qualify.
Do chartered quantity surveyors earn more?
ONS does not measure it: ASHE does not split quantity surveyors by chartered status, and this page could not find a published survey that isolates the effect of MRICS on pay. It therefore quotes no chartership premium.
Can a quantity surveyor contract through a limited company after IR35 reform?
Yes. The off-payroll working rules changed from 6 April 2021. For public-sector clients and medium or large private-sector clients, the client decides the worker's employment status for tax, and if the rules apply the deemed employer deducts Income Tax and employee National Insurance. For small private-sector clients the worker's own intermediary makes the decision.
How does the 60% tax trap affect quantity surveyors over £100,000?
Between £100,000 and £125,140 of adjusted net income, the Personal Allowance is withdrawn at £1 for every £2. With 40% Income Tax and 2% NI, the marginal rate on that slice is about 62%. On a hypothetical £110,000, sacrificing £10,000 into a pension restores the full £12,570 allowance and costs £3,800 of take-home.
How does quantity surveyor pay compare with other professions?
On ASHE 2025 provisional full-time medians: quantity surveyors £52,537, chartered surveyors £46,184, architects £47,143, civil engineers £51,366, chartered and certified accountants £50,062, programmers and software development professionals £56,914. After Income Tax and NI in England, a quantity surveyor on the median takes home 94% of what a software developer on the median does.