The Secret Surveyor
You live in it. You work in it. You spend your money on it. But how much do you really know about the industry that built Britain?
Construction is the third largest sector of the UK economy — employing three million people, generating nearly £200 billion a year, and shaping every road, home, school, hospital, and office in the country. Yet 30% of all construction work is rework: fixing what was done wrong the first time. At a cost seven times the industry’s entire annual profit.
The Secret Surveyor is the book the construction industry probably doesn’t want you to read.
Written by a senior surveyor with over twenty-five years of hands-on experience — who started out as a labourer and worked his way up — this is a frank, funny, and unflinching guide to how the industry really works. From the cowboy builder who disappears mid-job to the billion-pound contractor that collapsed overnight, from Grenfell Tower to the great leaseholder rip-off, this book leaves no stone unturned.
Whether you’re a homeowner planning an extension, a first-time buyer navigating the new-build market, a student considering a career in construction, or simply someone who wants to understand why that new motorway has been half-finished for three years, The Secret Surveyor gives you the inside story.
You’ll discover:
- How to choose a contractor — and the costly mistakes that catch people out
- Why projects run over time and over budget, and how to protect yourself
- Who the real players are — from the architect to the quantity surveyor — and what they actually do
- The scandals, disasters, and institutional failures that have shaped the modern industry
- What green technology, offsite construction, and BIM really mean for the future
Sharp, opinionated, and genuinely illuminating — this is the construction industry as only an insider could tell it.
Don’t stay in the house without reading it first.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
1. THE UK CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
2. THE DIFFERENT SECTORS
3. INFRASTRUCTURE
4. MEET THE CLIENTS
5. MEET THE CONTRACTORS
6. DIFFERENT CONSTRUCTION ROLES: PART ONE
7. DIFFERENT CONSTRUCTION ROLES: PART TWO
8. DIFFERENT TYPES OF PROJECT
9. TIMELINE OF A PROJECT
10. HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?
11. ADVICE FOR THE HOMEOWNER
12. COMMON CONSTRUCTION MISTAKES
13. RECENT CONSTRUCTION DISASTERS
14. RECENT INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS
15. THE FUTURE OF THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
Published May 6th 2024 | 9781914066337 | 226pp | print and eBook formats available.
When you purchase through select links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission, such as through being an Amazon Associate, at no additional cost to you.
Our other book for surveyors…