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Mature study and retraining

Talk to other Mumsnetters who are considering a career change or are mature students.

Retrain as a Building Surveyor, Quantity Surveyor, or something else? Advice please!

26 replies

floppybit · 12/04/2025 10:32

I’m 49 years old and I work in sales into the construction industry. I’m completely burned out/bored with it and can’t stand doing it until I retire. I have a degree and would love to do a masters at my local university, but I’m a single parent with a mortgage and I don’t know if this would be a mad thing to do financially. I’m even considering borrowing money from my house to pay for it when my current mortgage expires in a few months. I’m very conscious that time is not on my side - am I too old to be considering this? I was leaning towards building surveying as I’m sick of being stuck behind a desk, but there seems to be a lot more QS jobs advertised online. What if I qualify but can’t get a job? If I do get a job will I have to spend years earning crap money? Is there a similar job I haven’t considered? Does anyone work in this industry that can advise please??

OP posts:
kkneat · 07/05/2025 06:40

My sister re-trained as a building surveyor when she was 42, she loves it and is very well paid. She did a part time diploma through SAVA while she was working as a housing advisor in local authority. She is now doing her RICS part-time, online while she continues to work. She too is a single parents,

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