Housebuilder

House builders manage the huge team effort that is any house build – right up until the keys are handed over.

With spiralling demand for new homes right now, this is a growing business. You can join the trade from any walk of life, as long as you’re a strong manager with a sound knowledge of construction and a flair for entrepreneurship. It’s a demanding job with lots of responsibility, so you’ll need to be ambitious.

You can go into site or contract management, with or without a degree, and large home-building companies will often train you up.

Did you know?
The construction industry used to be seen as a man’s world, but that has changed. There are now over 200,000 women employed in construction.

Facts and Figures

  • Starting salary:

    £18,000 - £20,000

  • Senior level salary:

    Up to £50,000 for managers

  • Education:

    Many of the large home-building companies offer graduate recruitment programmes or management trainee schemes. These are open to candidates from any discipline who can demonstrate their managerial potential. Entrants gain in-depth experience in all areas of business and of the house building process. Two possible routes to a house-building career are via an integrated engineering degree to a job in site management; or via a degree in building management to an appointment in contract management.

  • Skills:

    You'll need flair, imagination and ambition. Aspiring house builders need to be self-starters who can also work as part of a team.

  • Likely employer type:

    Large house building firms

  • Opportunities:

    The Construction Industry Training Board estimates a further 5,000 managers - at levels from site manager to executive - will be needed between now and 2011 to cope with spiralling demand for new houses.

  • Number of professionals:

    Approximately 55,000

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