Building control surveyor

Building control surveyors inspect building work to check it meets the Building Regulations: structure, fire safety, drainage, insulation, ventilation and access. In England, anyone doing this work now has to be registered with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) as a registered building inspector, at a class that matches the complexity of the buildings they handle. The profession is short of qualified people, so councils recruit trainees and often pay market supplements to qualified staff.

What the work involves

Building control has two main parts. Plan checking means assessing drawings and specifications submitted with an application and asking for changes before work starts. Site inspection means visiting at set stages, such as foundations, drainage, structural elements and completion, and checking what has been built. When the work complies you issue a completion certificate. When it does not, you require it to be put right and, if that fails, the council can take enforcement action.

Council teams also handle dangerous structures, often on an out-of-hours rota: a wall that has partly collapsed after a crash or a building damaged in a storm. Demolition notices and safety at sports grounds can fall to the same team.

Days mix office work with site visits, often several a day, so a driving licence is almost always required. You need to be comfortable on building sites, in roof spaces and on scaffolding, and able to tell a builder firmly that something must be redone.

Councils and private approvers

In England and Wales, a person carrying out building work can choose between the council’s building control service and a private building control body, now called a registered building control approver. Both employ surveyors. For higher-risk buildings in England (broadly, taller residential blocks and similar), the BSR itself is the building control authority, and it uses multidisciplinary teams that include council-employed surveyors.

Registration with the Building Safety Regulator

The Building Safety Act 2022 created a regulated profession. In England, building inspectors must register with the BSR and can only carry out the activities their registration class allows. There are several classes, from a trainee class (working under supervision) through to classes covering complex and higher-risk buildings. To move up, you pass a competence assessment through a recognised scheme, keep your competence up to date and follow a code of conduct.

Wales has separate registration arrangements for building inspectors, run by the Welsh Government. Scotland runs a different system: councils are appointed as building standards verifiers, and staff there follow Scottish qualification routes. Northern Ireland has its own building regulations administered by councils.

The detail of classes and competence schemes has changed several times since registration began, so check the current BSR guidance if you are considering the job.

Training routes

• A building control surveying degree or a related built environment degree (building surveying, construction management, civil engineering), followed by a council trainee post.
• A degree apprenticeship in building control surveying, where a council or approver pays the fees and you work while you study. See public sector apprenticeships.
• A move from a construction trade or site management, starting as a trainee and working through a competence scheme. Practical site knowledge is respected in this job.

Professional bodies include the Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Chartered membership is separate from BSR registration, though the competence routes overlap.

Pay

Council building control surveyors are paid on local grades built on the NJC pay spine. For 2026/27 the spine runs from £25,614 (SCP 3) to £56,293 (SCP 43), after a 3.3 per cent award from 1 April 2026. Each council maps its grades to points differently. As a hypothetical example, a trainee grade on SCP 12 to SCP 17 would pay £29,542 to £32,046, and a qualified surveyor grade on SCP 29 to SCP 33 would pay £41,177 to £45,529. Look up exact values on the NJC pay spine.

Because of the shortage, many councils add a market supplement or a retention payment, or pay professional fees and registration costs. Private approvers often pay more, but council posts come with the Local Government Pension Scheme and Green Book sick pay and leave. Fees for professional bodies on HMRC’s approved list are tax-deductible; see tax relief on professional fees.

Liability and pressure

Registration brings personal accountability. A registered inspector who acts outside their class, or falls short of the code of conduct, can face sanctions from the regulator, and serious breaches can be criminal offences. Councils carry the legal risk for their decisions, but your own registration is on the line too. For many surveyors this is the hardest adjustment: decisions about fire safety and structure that were once routine now get more scrutiny, and you need to record your reasoning carefully.

Builders and developers add pressure of their own, wanting inspections quickly and completion certificates on time. Being clear and consistent, and knowing when to refer a decision up to a more senior class, protects you.

Getting started

Trainee posts are advertised on council websites and through the Local Authority Building Control network. Councils often run “grow your own” schemes that take people with construction experience or relevant A levels and fund a degree. Another way in is from planning support or technical admin roles into a trainee surveyor post. Before applying, read the BSR’s description of the trainee class, so you can explain at interview how you would work towards your first competence assessment.