What people are paid to work on construction claims, by grade and by region. The figures below are compiled by SCCSI from construction market pay data and from its own experience of the claims and disputes market.
Read the units before comparing anything. Most construction claims pay data is annual salary for permanent staff, not a day rate. Day rates are quoted mainly for contract quantity surveying and commercial work rather than for claims specialists. Gulf figures are monthly, in dirhams. United States figures are in dollars. Each chart states its unit, and comparing across them without adjusting will give a wrong answer.
Pay for the claims and disputes discipline itself, split by quantum and delay and by grade. These are permanent packages, being basic salary plus car or travel allowance where offered, excluding bonuses and other benefits.
Typical annual package by grade
Pounds sterling
QuantumDelay
| Grade | Quantum low | Quantum high | Quantum typical | Delay low | Delay high | Delay typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consultant | £45,000 | £66,000 | £55,000 | £52,000 | £75,000 | £60,000 |
| Senior Consultant | £58,000 | £87,000 | £77,000 | £65,000 | £95,000 | £75,000 |
| Associate Director | £90,000 | £120,000 | £95,500 | £90,000 | £125,000 | £110,000 |
| Director | £100,000 | £150,000 | £135,000 | £105,000 | £150,000 | £140,000 |
At the lower grades the delay figure sits above the quantum figure, and the gap is widest at consultant level, where the typical delay figure of £60,000 is £5,000 above quantum. The two converge at director level, at £140,000 and £135,000.
The figures on this page describe the ordinary market. They do not describe what a small number of highly qualified claims specialists and delay analysts are paid for specialised services, where the work is contentious, the sums in issue are large and the individual is trusted to carry a case. Packages of up to £400,000 a year have been reported at that level.
Work of that kind is not reached by time served. It goes to people who can carry an analysis under challenge, write in a way a tribunal will follow, and stand behind the result. The route to it runs through demonstrable technical command of entitlement, causation, programme and quantum, and through being seen to hold it.
Employers and instructing parties screen on evidence of competence, because the cost of appointing the wrong person to a contentious claim is measured in the claim, not in the fee. A recognised certification gives that evidence in a form a recruiter, a client or a tribunal can check quickly. It shortens the shortlist, opens roles that would otherwise close at the application stage, and it supports a higher offer at the point where the offer is set.
SCCSI's certification programmes are built for exactly that purpose, covering construction claims, delay analysis, contract administration and dispute avoidance. Each is assessed, and each is recorded, so a candidate can put it in front of an employer as proof rather than assertion.
Day rates are quoted for contract quantity surveying and commercial management. The senior rows are the closest comparator for a contract claims or commercial engagement.
Contract day rate range by region and grade
Pounds per day
| Region and grade | Day rate | Annual salary |
|---|---|---|
| London, senior QS or commercial manager | £500 to £650 | £90,000 to £120,000 |
| London, mid level QS, 3 to 7 years | £380 to £500 | £68,000 to £90,000 |
| South East, senior QS | £420 to £530 | £76,000 to £96,000 |
| Midlands, senior QS | £370 to £470 | £67,000 to £85,000 |
| North West, senior QS | £350 to £450 | £63,000 to £81,000 |
| National, junior QS, 0 to 3 years | £200 to £300 | £38,000 to £55,000 |
The regional spread on a senior contract rate runs from £350 at the bottom of the North West range to £650 at the top of the London range. A senior contractor billing at the top of the London range for a full year of working days would be ahead of the typical permanent director package above, before allowing for holiday, pension, sickness and the weeks between engagements, which the contractor carries and the employee does not.
Permanent salaries for the wider quantity surveying discipline, which is where most claims specialists start. Total pay means basic salary plus any guaranteed car or travel allowance, and excludes performance bonuses, pension and healthcare.
Total annual pay range by grade
Pounds sterling
United Kingdom excluding LondonLondon and South East
Gulf figures are quoted monthly and are ordinarily free of income tax, which is why converting them to an annual number and setting them beside a United Kingdom salary overstates the difference in gross terms and understates it in net terms.
Monthly salary range by role
Dirhams per month
A senior claims manager at the top of the range is on AED 54,000 a month, which is AED 648,000 a year before allowances and without income tax deducted. That sits above the typical United Kingdom director package in both the quantum and delay figures above, which is the arithmetic behind the movement of experienced claims staff to the Gulf.
Construction claims consultant, annual pay distribution
United States dollars
The average of $102,175 a year is equal to $49.12 an hour. The full spread runs from $31,000 to $165,500.
The following are left out because no figure is held that is worth relying on. They are blank rather than filled with a plausible number.
Pay data describes the part of the market that comes to market. Staff who never move are not in it, and neither are roles filled without an advertisement. A range is not a distribution: the low and the high are the edges of the ordinary spread, and the typical figure is closer to what an offer actually looks like.
Currency, tax and allowance treatment differ in every figure above. Before setting a United Kingdom package beside a Gulf package, deal with income tax, housing and schooling allowances, flights, end of service gratuity and the cost of the return home. Before setting a contract day rate beside a permanent salary, deal with holiday, pension, sickness, notice and the weeks between engagements.