Salary · Recalculated hourly
What construction actually pays in 2026
This is not a survey and not last year’s data. Across 1739 live UK construction listings, the median advertised salary is £67,500 a year. Every figure below recalculates as the board changes — the newest listing in it was posted 16 Oct 2026.
By job title
Median advertised pay, highest first. The count is how many priced adverts each figure rests on — read the small ones with that in mind.
| Role | Median | Middle half | Adverts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quantity Surveyor | £82,500 | £70,000 – £95,000 | 200 |
| Site Manager | £72,500 | £60,000 – £88,000 | 204 |
| Project Manager | £72,500 | £64,280 – £85,557 | 132 |
| Development Manager | £70,000 | £62,100 – £80,000 | 188 |
| Estimator | £70,000 | £60,000 – £85,000 | 143 |
| Building Surveyor | £70,000 | £60,000 – £75,000 | 152 |
| Civil Engineer | £69,973 | £58,000 – £81,500 | 167 |
| Building Services Engineer | £65,000 | £55,000 – £82,500 | 177 |
| Scaffolder | £55,000 | £45,500 – £62,400 | 36 |
| Groundworker | £47,288 | £39,000 – £60,000 | 98 |
| Bricklayer | £44,850 | £35,000 – £59,800 | 55 |
| Carpenter | £42,413 | £38,000 – £49,725 | 145 |
| Plasterer | £38,325 | £35,000 – £52,000 | 43 |
By city
Cities with at least five priced construction adverts. Below that one unusual advert moves the average by thousands, so they are left out rather than published thin.
What this does and does not tell you
- These are offers, not earnings. What an employer advertises runs ahead of what people in post are paid — pay rises lag the market, and adverts are written to attract.
- Nothing below £28,000 is here. The board does not carry it, so these figures describe the professional end of construction rather than the whole industry.
- Contract rates are annualised at 260 working days, which makes a day rate comparable to a salary but does not account for the gaps between contracts.
- Small samples move. Any row resting on a handful of adverts will shift week to week, which is why the count is printed next to every figure rather than hidden in a footnote.