Lisa Mattin

"I am a chartered surveyor who runs a construction company, primarily working on public buildings such as school, libraries, fire stations and hospitals. I love the variety of my job, the different people I work with, the many skills I have learnt throughout my career in the industry and all the exciting opportunities that are available because of these skills, both at work and in my personal life. "

"I don’t really have a typical day as my work is so varied. I may be in the office preparing bids to win a project, I may be working with figures and preparing final accounts, I may be carrying out site visits and dealing with technical issues with our contracts manager and people from our supply chain, or I may be attending meetings with clients. No two days are the same - this makes it interesting but it can be quite exhausting and you have to be very good at multi-tasking and managing lots of information. In peak periods like the summer holidays, we have many projects on the go at one time, all needing to be completed in a very short time frame. Works are carefully planned but there are often lots of things which happen on site which means the method of construction has to change or additional work is requested by the client which we have to still try and get done in the same time period as the schools need to open in the new term. All these changes have to be co-ordinated with all the different trades, quantities of materials ordered to be delivered on time and costs managed and agreed with the client.Starting salaries vary but surveyors, particularly chartered quantity surveyors and building surveyors are very much in demand so earning potential is extremely good. With a professional qualification there is often the chance to become a director and or shareholder, which further increases earning potential."

"I really enjoyed maths at school and I have always loved knowing how things work. I studied A levels in maths, physics and biology but when I left college I wasn’t sure what I wanted to but I knew I didn’t want to be in an office all day and I wanted a career which was challenging and where I was always learning. Whilst I was choosing what career path to follow I worked in a bar and used to chat to a lot of the customers about what they did for a living. One was a Chartered Surveyor and he arranged for me to visit their offices. I was instantly hooked and soon managed to get a job in a surveying practice where they agreed to sponsor me to attend day release to study for a degree. I had the best of both worlds by being able to study, get paid and learn on the job. Unfortunately after about 15 months there was a big recession and I, along with a lot of other people in the company, was made redundant. I worked for a short while in the petro-chemical industry, working on a £50 million accommodation module, but I really missed construction. I managed to find a position with a local group of construction companies and worked my way up from trainee surveyor at 20 to Director of the company at the age of 28, and managed to get my degree and become Chartered by the age of 25. I later became a shareholder and still love doing the job I do. "

"I become all glamourous in my spare time and compete in ballroom and Latin dance completions including at Blackpool. One of my other favourite hobbies is bouldering and climbing and I also have two lovely dogs who I enjoy walking and training, so I enjoy as much variety in my spare time as I do in my working life. "

"I don’t really have a typical day as my work is so varied. I may be in the office preparing bids to win a project, I may be working with figures and preparing final accounts, I may be carrying out site visits and dealing with technical issues with our contracts manager and people from our supply chain, or I may be attending meetings with clients. No two days are the same. However, working in construction does not mean that you have to work on site in high viz and a hard hat. Many people in the industry are office based and spend most of their time controlling costs and data remotely using advanced IT software. Construction is very team oriented and the most successful projects are where people with very different skills work together in harmony to solve problems."

"I have 3 A levels - maths, physics and biology and a BSc in Quantity Surveying. I also took my professional qualifications with the RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) and can use the letter MRICS after my name."