Senior Building Surveyor
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
Job Title: Senior Building Surveyor - Prime Central London
Location: Prime Central London / Hybrid Working
Salary: £80,000 - £95,000 base
Working Pattern: Hybrid / Work from Home Flexibility
The Opportunity
My client has built a genuinely differentiated Prime Central London platform spanning brokerage, valuation and advisory across high-value residential property.
Operating across homes valued between £1m and £60m, the business combines deep market penetration with a relationship-led, technology-enabled model. With strong access to PCL agents, wealth managers, private family offices, banks and solicitors, the platform is built around speed, commercial awareness and trusted advisory capability.
The next stage of growth requires the appointment of a senior Building Surveyor who can deliver full Level 3 survey capability while operating as a strategic partner within the business.
This is not a corporate box-ticking role. It is an opportunity to sit alongside the founder, shape standards, influence growth and build something meaningful in Prime Central London.
The Role
You will:
- Undertake Level 3 building surveys across Prime and Super Prime residential property
- Carry out condition reports, pre-purchase surveys and defect investigations
- Diagnose complex building pathology issues and provide clear, commercially sound remedial advice
- Produce high-quality, client-focused reports tailored to UHNW clients
- Advise on Building Regulations, statutory compliance and risk
- Manage instructions from inception to completion with pace and precision
- Liaise with agents, solicitors, banks, wealth managers and private clients
- Support lease enfranchisement work before properties transition into high-value sales and advisory
- Help shape internal processes, reporting standards and quality assurance
- Contribute to the long-term evolution of service lines as the platform expands
You will be client-facing from day one and expected to represent the business with confidence, discretion and authority.
Candidate Profile
Essential
- MRICS (Building Surveying pathway)
- 6-12 years PQE
- Strong Prime Central London residential focus
- Proven Level 3 survey capability
- Excellent technical knowledge of construction, defects and building pathology
- Confident advising high-end private clients
Highly Desirable
- Red Book valuation exposure
- Experience dealing with UHNW clients and complex transactions
- Existing network across agents, solicitors, private banks or family offices
- Technology-literate and comfortable with modern surveying tools
Personal Attributes
Technical competence is a given. What will differentiate you is mindset.
You will be:
- Commercially aware and solutions-led
- Comfortable operating with autonomy
- Energetic and aligned with a founder-led environment
- Relationship-driven rather than process-bound
- Motivated by building and scaling something rather than hiding inside a corporate structure
- Clear, articulate and polished in written and verbal communication
- Discreet, professional and calm under pressure
This role suits someone who wants visibility, influence and long-term alignment - not bureaucracy.
What's On Offer
- £80,000 - £95,000 base salary
- Hybrid working with genuine flexibility
- High-quality Prime Central London instructions (£1m-£60m homes)
- Direct exposure to high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients
- The opportunity to shape standards, processes and growth strategy
- Long-term progression potential within a growing Prime platform
This is a rare opportunity for a commercially astute Building Surveyor to step into a senior, high-trust role within a fast-growing Prime Central London advisory platform.
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Highlight your MRICS Building Surveying pathway qualification prominently as this is explicitly essential
🏢 Emphasise your Prime Central London residential experience as the role focuses on £1m-£60m properties
📊 Quantify your Level 3 survey experience: 'Completed 150+ Level 3 surveys across PCL properties valued £2m-£25m'
🔍 Showcase building pathology expertise with specific examples of complex defect diagnoses you've resolved
🤝 Demonstrate UHNW client experience and discretion as you'll be client-facing from day one with high-net-worth individuals
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Completed 180+ Level 3 building surveys across Prime Central London properties valued £2m-£45m, identifying critical structural defects in 23% of Victorian conversions
- •Diagnosed complex building pathology issues in Grade II listed Belgravia townhouses, providing remedial advice that saved clients average £85k in unnecessary works
- •Built network of 40+ PCL agents and private banks, generating 65% of survey instructions through relationship referrals within 18-month period
Free to copy — tailoring requires a 30-sec CV upload.
Your cover letter is ready
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Letter preview — tailored to James & Partners
Dear Hiring Manager,
James & Partners' Prime Central London platform represents exactly the strategic, founder-led environment where I want to apply my MRICS Building Surveying expertise and Level 3 survey capabilities. Your focus on £1m-£60m residential properties aligns perfectly with my 8 years of PCL experience diagnosing complex building pathology issues.
My background in delivering comprehensive condition reports and defect investigations for UHNW clients has equipped me with the commercial awareness and discretion essential for this role. I have consistently managed instructions from inception to completion while maintaining the pace and precision your platform demands.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›Describe your approach to diagnosing complex building pathology in a Victorian mansion worth £15m
- ›How would you structure a Level 3 survey report for a UHNW client purchasing a £8m Belgravia property?
- ›What are the key Building Regulations compliance issues you'd assess in a Prime Central London conversion?
- ›Explain how you would investigate and report on structural defects in a Grade II listed Mayfair townhouse
- ›How do you differentiate between cosmetic and structural issues when surveying high-value residential properties?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time you had to deliver difficult news to a high-net-worth client about a property purchase
- ›Describe a situation where you had to work autonomously on a complex survey with tight deadlines
- ›Give an example of how you've built relationships with agents or solicitors in the property sector
- ›Tell me about a time you identified a significant defect that others had missed
- ›Describe how you've contributed to improving processes or standards in a previous role
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time you had to deliver difficult news to a high-net-worth client about a property purchase
Describe how you've contributed to improving processes or standards in a previous role