Are there any female surveyors out there?

The answer is yes, there are talented women in the surveying industry but in our practical experience as a client you must search hard to find them.

At first glance our project could be seen as a standard extension and renovation of a 1950s ex-council house which we bought at the end of 2021. However, this is different to a standard renovation project as our aim is to complete this sustainable building project with an all-female workforce from design to construction. 

We knew from the start this could be a difficult objective however we like a challenge and given the attention and support through LinkedIn and media interest requesting articles, podcasts and blogs combined with our passion, drive and ambition we felt it could be achievable.

Currently women only make up around 10% of the workforce in the construction industry and face numerous barriers including discrimination, gender pay gap, being passed over for promotion and greater injury risk from poor fitting equipment. We have both worked in the industry and have experienced these barriers first-hand and not much has changed over the years.  

This is why we decided that perhaps, even with our small project, we could shine a light on gender equality, diversity, and champion the talents of women in the construction industry. Hopefully, helping to dispel misconceptions about gender-specific roles, encourage girls and women into the industry, empower women and promote the need and benefits of a more gender-equal workforce.

We had found some fantastic local female architects, but for them to progress our design ideas we needed to commission a building survey. With one eye on our sustainability credentials, we started by contacting local surveying firms within Suffolk. This resulted in around eight companies responding that they had no female surveyors, one male surveyor responding that they could ‘identify as female for the day’.

We did identify one small-medium sized firm locally with a female surveyor which was promising. But when we dug a little deeper and asked a few questions about their gender equality policy and the support they provided to women within their firm, their responses didn’t give us the impression that diversity and gender equality was a priority for them. What we want to do on our project is work with individuals and companies who share our values and vision.

Therefore, we cast our net wider through social media and this led us to a firm founded and led by a woman with an aim of encouraging more women into engineering. The firm is 50% women/men employees and focused on progression opportunities.

The firm have now completed our building survey and provided the drawings we need to take our project to the next stage. They provided a professional and efficient surveying service with added value, showing that companies can and should be more than just their core services.

This project for us isn’t just about ‘women’ but wider diversity too, celebrating LGBTQIA+ trades, apprentices, to experienced professionals. Diverse cultures, races and ethnicities, as well as disabilities too. We believe in an inclusive, fair, just and equitable society. This includes working with allies and collaborating with companies and organisations that are committed to diversity and inclusion.

What our experience in selecting a surveying company has shown is that there does still seem to be fewer women than men in the industry, certainly within our area, and also a lack of diversity. We can’t comment on the wider industry. There was also little information provided by most companies on their values in areas such as gender equality and diversity.

Whilst we know we are different as we have actively been seeking out this information, perhaps as clients, even on small house builds, we have a responsibility to take these wider factors into account when selecting firms, rather than basing decisions purely on cost and availability. By doing this perhaps companies might respond by positively addressing and improving diversity and/or showing their allyship in the communities they serve.