When a quantity surveyor accepts the money, then loses the plot

A QS posted something recently that stopped me in my tracks.

Seven years into his career.

Two mid sized regional contractors.

A long project wrapped up in January, then months of odd jobs, stalled work, and that uncomfortable feeling of drifting in circles — progressing, but not really progressing.

So he did what most ambitious QSs eventually do:

He quietly opened the door to see what else was out there.

By August he’d been interviewing, but with strict criteria.

He wouldn’t move unless the project was right. He wouldn’t move unless he could finally get Tier 1 experience. He wouldn’t move just for money.

Fast-forward: two national Tier 1 offers on the table.

He accepts one. Job done.

Momentum regained.

Then comes the moment he didn’t plan for.

His current employer. the same one unable to give him enough work earlier in the year: suddenly finds a full 25% pay rise down the back of the sofa.

This wasn’t a token gesture.

This was “please don’t leave us” money.

The kind of raise people rarely get without walking into their manager’s office with another offer in their hand.

And he was honest about it: He didn’t expect that number.

He didn’t even want to negotiate for more money.

Because for him, this whole journey wasn’t about pay.

It was about opportunity, growth, responsibility, and stepping up.

But when a 25% increase hits you… it hits you. It makes you pause. It makes you question. It makes you wonder whether the smart choice is to take the money and stay loyal or walk away and take the experience.

And that’s where most QSs get caught.

Not between good and bad decisions.

But between two good ones that pull you in opposite directions.

The comments on the post were fascinating.

Some said he should grab the money with both hands : because it proves his company values him.

Others said Tier 1 isn’t what people imagine, that he’d likely become a package manager on a massive job with little influence. Some said staying might trap him: great money now, but a ceiling so low he’d hit his head within two years.

Others said culture, responsibility and pace matter more than size of contractor.

But underneath all the opinions was something else:

He wasn’t wrestling with a career move. He was wrestling with choice itself.

And choice, in a world flooded with information, constant comparison, and endless opportunity can be paralysing.

It’s the Netflix effect bleeding into our careers.

Too many options. Too much noise. Too many voices saying, “make the perfect decision or you’ll regret it forever.”

But careers don’t work like that.

The QS wasn’t confused because he lacked ambition.

He was confused because both paths could work and both paths carried risk.

Stay for the money? He risks being overpaid and under-promoted.

Leave for Tier 1? He risks becoming a small cog in a giant machine.

And the truth nobody tells you is this:

The wrong move rarely destroys your career. It’s indecision that wrecks people.

Because standing still in construction, in any role, is far more dangerous than moving in the wrong direction for a period of time.

The part I kept circling back to was this:

He wasn’t rejecting money. He was rejecting stagnation.

He wasn’t chasing Tier 1 for the badge. He was chasing growth.

People sometimes forget that in mid-tier and regional contractors, when you get your own job to run, even a modest one, you learn more in six months than some QSs learn in three years on mega-projects.

You speak to trades every day.

You feel the commercial pressure directly.

Every decision affects profit. Every mistake is yours to fix.

Your communication sharpens because it must — otherwise relationships with subcontractors collapse quickly.

And that is the part of construction that AI can’t touch.

AI can help you write emails, tidy a CVR explanation, summarise a contract clause, or give you a steering direction when you’re overloaded (we’ve all been using it more and more)

…but AI cannot pull a subcontractor into a room and de-escalate a heated disagreement. It can’t look your client in the eye and explain why a variation needs approval. It can’t walk a muddy site and understand the personalities driving the job forward. It can’t build trust, rapport, humour, resilience, or presence ; the personal currency of construction.

Those are human skills. And they’re becoming more valuable, not less.

If anything, the more AI grows, the more your communication, decision-making, and relationship-building become the qualities that separate you from everyone else.

Money doesn’t do that. A bigger project doesn’t automatically do that. A logo on a CV doesn’t do that either.

Responsibility does. Pressure does. Influence does. Exposure does.

The environments that force you to grow: not just earn.

So what do you do when you're in the same position as that QS?

When the money is screaming but your ambition is whispering?

You do the one thing most people avoid:

You ask which decision will make you more valuable in three years, not more comfortable today.

Because comfortable QSs don’t move up. Valuable QSs do.

And value doesn’t come from the size of your salary.

It comes from the size of your impact.

If staying means being overpaid but underused, your value decreases.

If leaving means slower money but faster growth, your value increases.

If staying means bigger money and bigger responsibility, that can work, but only if the ceiling is high enough.

If leaving means better exposure but you become just another package manager on a mammoth job, that might stall you too.

This is why no one online could give him a clear answer.

Because the real answer is brutally simple:

Choose the option where you will learn more, communicate more, influence more, and grow more.

That’s the only metric that matters.

Not the salary. Not the brand. Not the prestige. Not the applause you get for joining a Tier 1. Not the ego hit of a 25% raise.

Your career will be defined by the rooms you grow in — not the rooms you earn in.

And every QS reading this already knows, deep down, which option does that for them.

The rest is just noise.

Written by

Mick Donaghy

Managing Director of GEDON™ Executive

Experts in Global Quantity Surveying Recruitment

www.gedonexecutive.com