Research
The State of Demolition survey
An annual survey of the profession, answered by the people doing the work. Pay, workload, skills, safety and regulation — reported by demolition engineers rather than estimated about them.
Published by the Institute · reviewed
There is no reliable public picture of demolition engineering as a profession. Pay is guessed at, the skills gap is asserted rather than measured, and when government or the press want a number they take it from adjacent sectors that do not resemble this one.
The Institute is in the only position to fix that. It can ask the question of the people who know the answer, and it has no commercial interest in what comes back.
The first survey has not yet run. This page sets out what it covers and how to take part. No findings are published here because there are none yet — the first report follows the first survey.
What it covers
Pay and reward
Day rates and salaries by grade, region and years in the discipline. The benchmark that does not currently exist for demolition engineering.
Workload and pipeline
Where the work is coming from, how far ahead it is booked, and what is being turned down.
Skills and recruitment
The roles firms cannot fill, how long vacancies stay open, and where new entrants are actually coming from.
Safety and risk
The hazards practitioners rate as most under-managed, and where they think the industry is getting worse rather than better.
Regulation and competence
How the shift toward evidenced competence is landing on the ground, and what clients are now asking for at tender.
Sustainability
Recycling, re-use and the carbon case for demolition as part of a building's life cycle rather than the end of it.
How it works
Take part, and the full report is yours.
- The full report, with every cut of the data
- Pay and day-rate benchmarks by grade, region and experience
- Your own answers benchmarked against the profession
- The dataset released before public publication
- The public summary, free to all
- Headline findings and the methodology
It is deliberately that way round. The report is the reward for the data that makes it possible, and a benchmark is only as good as the number of people who answered.
Method and independence
Responses are confidential. Individual answers are never published or shared, and results are reported only in aggregate with small cells suppressed so that no respondent or firm can be identified. The methodology and sample composition are published alongside every report, so anyone citing a figure can see what it rests on.
The survey is run by the Institute and is not sponsored by any supplier, contractor or commercial interest.
For journalists and researchers
The public summary and methodology are free to quote with attribution to the Institute of Demolition Engineers. For the underlying tables or a comment on the findings,contact the Institute.