AI is the most critical emerging skill for surveyors over the next 5 to 10 years

Surveyors UK

Technology & AI

27/01/2026

This month, Modus, the RICS magazine, published an article exploring how artificial intelligence is already being used across surveying. It brings together views from residential, commercial, building surveying, and valuation, not to debate whether AI belongs in the profession, but to reflect how surveyors are beginning to use it in practice.

With AI moving quickly from something experimental to something everyday, the article offers a useful snapshot of where the profession currently stands.

What the Modus article tells us

Across all disciplines, the message is consistent. AI is already embedded in surveying work, largely behind the scenes, and primarily as a support tool rather than a replacement for professional expertise.

In commercial property and valuation, AI is being used to analyse large datasets, speed up modelling, and reduce time spent on repetitive tasks. In residential and building surveying, it supports document review, report drafting, image classification, and early-stage analysis.

The emphasis throughout is on AI as an assistant.

AI should be viewed as an assistant that supports surveyors in making informed, compliant decisions rather than as a replacement for professional expertise

Maria Wiedner MRICS, Founder and CEO, Cambridge Finance

Efficiency is the clearest benefit highlighted. Several contributors describe a step-change in how quickly information can be reviewed and synthesised.

What once took hours of manual review can now be triaged in minutes.

Ian McGuinness FRICS, Partner and Head of Analytics, Knight Frank

This time-saving is framed as a way to rebalance work, freeing surveyors to focus on judgement, insight, and client service rather than admin.

Reducing time spent on repetitive tasks allows surveyors to focus on professional judgement and client service.

Paul Aylott MRICS, Head of Valuations and Lease Advisory, Glenny LLP

At the same time, the article is very clear about responsibility. Across all disciplines, accountability stays firmly with the surveyor.

The ultimate responsibility for accuracy, compliance and professional judgement remains with the surveyor.

Paul Aylott MRICS, Head of Valuations and Lease Advisory, Glenny LLP

Concerns around data quality, transparency, and explainability are raised repeatedly, particularly where AI systems are treated as black boxes.

For a profession built on trust, that’s a red flag and we need to stay vigilant about transparency.

Ian McGuinness FRICS, Partner and Head of Analytics, Knight Frank

Skills, confidence, and reality

One of the strongest signals in the article is around skills. RICS’ own research is referenced directly.

In RICS’ Surveying Skills Report 2025, members identified AI as the most critical emerging skill for the next five to 10 years.

That matters. It confirms what many surveyors already feel. AI is no longer something you can simply ignore, but it also doesn’t require becoming a technical expert.

For many professionals, the gap isn’t interest or willingness. It’s confidence.

Knowing what tools do, how they work, what they’re good at, and where they’re not. Without that understanding, AI either feels risky or gets quietly avoided.

The article also draws clear boundaries. High-stakes professional opinion cannot be fully automated.

Full automation of high-stakes professional opinion is likely to breach standards without humans in the loop.

Ian McGuinness FRICS, Partner and Head of Analytics, Knight Frank

And from a building surveying perspective, the limits are spelled out plainly.

There is no flexibility built into professional standards currently in RICS for a short-term acceptance to accommodate AI.

Adrian Tagg MRICS, Associate Professor, University of Reading and Managing Director, Tech DD Ltd

Taken together, the message is balanced. AI is useful. It is already in use. But it works best when surveyors understand it well enough to use it deliberately, not blindly.

Perhaps the most telling line in the entire piece captures this perfectly.

The prize isn’t automation for its own sake. It’s amplified expertise.

Ian McGuinness FRICS, Partner and Head of Analytics, Knight Frank

This isn’t just for people who want to use AI

This conversation isn’t only for surveyors who are keen or willing to adopt AI tools in their own work.

Some surveyors may decide they don’t want to use AI directly, and that choice is valid. But even then, AI is not something happening in isolation. Colleagues will be using it. Other firms will be using it. Clients will encounter it through search, software, lenders, insurers, and advisers.

Whether you actively use AI or not, you will be asked about it.

Understanding what AI does, how it works at a basic level, and where its limits are is becoming part of everyday professional conversations, not a technical specialism.

We’ve seen this kind of shift before.

Some retailers chose not to sell online when e-commerce first emerged. That was their decision. But they still had to answer customer questions about online availability, pricing, delivery, and competition. Not selling online didn’t remove the need to understand it.

AI is reaching that same point across many professions. Not just in surveying, but in education, health, finance, and the built environment more broadly.

Where the conversation moves next

What the Modus article does well is set out principles. Where many surveyors are now looking for support is in practice.

How do you actually start using AI in a way that helps? What does “good use” look like day to day? How do you build confidence without overcomplicating things?

That gap between awareness and practical understanding is where a lot of uncertainty sits.

Do you feel prepared for Al in surveying?

A quick way to sense-check where you are

AI is showing up in surveying at different speeds, in different ways, and with very different levels of confidence.

Some surveyors are already experimenting. Others are watching cautiously. Many are somewhere in between.

If you’re not quite sure where you sit, I’ve put together a short AI Adoption Readiness for Surveyors assessment. It’s designed to help you reflect on how ready your business is for AI, where the main barriers might be, and what your next sensible steps could be.

It’s not a test, and there’s no right or wrong outcome. It’s simply a way to benchmark where you are right now.

👉 Take the AI Adoption Readiness for Surveyors assessent here – free and no catch

A practical next step, even if you’re undecided

On 28 January, I’m hosting AI Explained: A Practical Session for Surveyors and Professionals, a practical two-hour session designed for surveyors who want to understand AI properly, whether they plan to use it extensively, cautiously, or not at all.

This session is about what AI tools are, how they work, what they’re being used for around you, and how to talk about them with confidence when the topic comes up.

It’s not a lecture on policy or regulation. And it’s not about replacing professional judgement.

We’ll cover:

What AI tools like ChatGPT actually are, and what they are not
Practical examples surveyors can relate to
How to ask better questions and get better outputs
Where AI is useful, and where it isn’t
How to start using it properly without overthinking it
The session runs for two hours and costs £59 + VAT and includes practical examples, prompts, slides, and resources.

Lots of surveyors have already signed up for this, and many cannot attend live, but as long as you register, you’ll receive the full recording and all materials afterwards.