Building surveying carries significant responsibility and pressure. R U OK? Day is a timely reminder to check in with our colleagues, not just today, but every day.
R U OK? Day is an important reminder to check in with the people around us. But perhaps the more important message is the one R U OK? encourages us to carry throughout the year: Ask R U OK? Any Day.
Because people don’t only struggle on one day of the year.
In building surveying and building regulation, we work in a profession that carries considerable responsibility. There are complex decisions to make, statutory obligations to meet, changing regulatory requirements to keep up with, competing expectations to manage and, often, difficult conversations to have.
Sometimes we become so accustomed to carrying that responsibility that we don’t notice when the load is becoming too heavy, either for ourselves or for someone working alongside us.
What do we know about wellbeing in our profession?
There does not appear to be reliable Australian research measuring levels of psychological distress among building surveyors specifically. That is an important distinction. We should not simply take mental health statistics from the wider construction workforce and assume they apply directly to building surveyors.
There is, however, some valuable research that helps us understand both the broader picture and the pressures within our own profession.
A national Australian study published in 2026 surveyed 710 construction-industry workers. Surveyors were specifically included within the study’s technical and analytical professional group, alongside engineers and advisers. Across all participants, 26.5% recorded high or very high levels of psychological distress. The researchers also identified workplace factors such as high job demands, role conflict or ambiguity and lack of job control as important psychosocial risks.
Research specifically examining building surveyors has also identified an ongoing skills shortage that can result in work overload for remaining practitioners, together with commercial pressures and a disproportionately high level of liability carried by building surveyors.
And we do not need to look beyond our own profession to see evidence of some of these pressures.
What VMBSG’s own survey tells us
The 2026 Building Surveying/Inspectors Salary Survey, undertaken by Planned Resources in collaboration with VMBSG and the Building Surveying Inspectors Group, provides a valuable snapshot of working conditions and workforce pressures across both local government and the private sector.
On average, employees reported working an additional two hours of overtime each week in the public sector and 2.7 hours in the private sector. In the private sector, 64% of reported overtime was unpaid.
For local government practitioners, work does not necessarily finish at the end of the working day either. The survey found that 72% of Building Surveyors and Inspectors in the public sector were rostered for call-outs.
Workload was also identified among the reasons employees had left public-sector organisations, alongside career progression, personal reasons, remuneration, culture and recognition.
Recruitment remains another pressure. Although vacancy levels had reduced from previous years, public-sector organisations were still averaging approximately one vacancy per council, and the remaining positions were proving particularly difficult to fill, taking an average of around 41 weeks.
There are significant longer-term workforce challenges as well. The survey reported that 54% of local governments have senior building staff, either the MBS or Deputy MBS, at retirement age, while only 20% of councils reported having a succession plan in place.
Perhaps some of the most telling findings came from the anonymous comments provided by practitioners themselves.
Respondents spoke about being overworked, departments being chronically under-resourced, difficulty attracting and retaining qualified staff and shortages of suitably qualified inspectors and surveyors.
Others raised concerns about lack of recognition for the role of the MBS, increasing regulatory oversight and the substantial liability carried by building surveyors while trying to ensure compliance.
None of these findings tells us how many building surveyors are experiencing poor mental health.
But they do tell us something important about the environment in which many people in our profession are working.
And that makes checking in with each other all the more important.
Psychological health is a workplace safety issue
There is another reason this conversation matters.
In Victoria, the Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 came into effect on 1 December 2025. They create specific obligations for employers to identify psychosocial hazards, control the associated risks and review those controls.
WorkSafe Victoria identifies psychosocial hazards including factors such as high job demands, low job control and poor support. These are workplace risks capable of contributing to psychological or physical harm, just as other occupational hazards can.
Creating a psychologically healthy workplace therefore goes beyond having an EAP number available.
It is also about workload, support, communication, realistic expectations, workplace relationships and creating an environment where someone feels safe enough to say:
“Actually, I’m not OK.”
If you ask, be prepared for the answer to be “no”
Asking someone if they are OK is a good start. But if we are going to ask the question, we need to be prepared to listen to the answer.
R U OK? encourages us to think about this before starting the conversation. Are we willing to genuinely listen? Do we have enough time? And are we prepared for the person to tell us that, no, they are not OK?
Importantly, you do not need to be able to fix the problem.
R U OK? recommends four simple steps:
- Ask R U OK? Be relaxed and genuine. If you have noticed something different, tell them what you have noticed and ask how they are going.
- Listen. Give them time to talk, take what they say seriously and listen without judgement.
- Encourage action. Ask what might help and encourage them to seek additional support where appropriate.
- Check in. Come back to the conversation. A message, phone call or quiet chat a few days later lets them know you haven’t forgotten about them.
It doesn’t have to be a big conversation
Checking in doesn’t need to begin with a formal discussion about mental health.
It might be noticing that someone who is normally chatty has gone quiet.
It might be a colleague who seems exhausted, frustrated or unusually overwhelmed.
It might be the person dealing with a particularly difficult matter, carrying an unfilled position in their team, responding to another after-hours call-out or simply having a tough time outside work.
Sometimes it can be as simple as:
“You’ve had a lot on lately. How are you going?”
Then give them the opportunity to answer.
R U OK? reminds us that a lot can happen in a year, a month or even a week, which is why its message is to Ask R U OK? Any Day.
So check in with the colleague you haven’t heard from for a while. Ask the second question when “I’m fine” doesn’t sound quite right. Follow up with someone after a difficult week. And remember that the person who always appears to have everything under control might need someone to ask too.
R U OK? Any day. Every day.
If you are worried that someone may be suicidal, R U OK? recommends contacting Lifeline for crisis support. Lifeline is available on 13 11 14. If life is in immediate danger, call 000.
Sources and further information
The information in this article draws on the VMBSG/Planned Resources/BSIG 2026 Building Surveying/Inspectors Salary Survey, Australian research published in Current Psychology in February 2026, Griffith University research into the building surveying profession, R U OK? resources and WorkSafe Victoria’s guidance on psychological health and psychosocial hazards.
R U OK? – How to Ask
Mental health in the construction industry – Current Psychology
Griffith University – Industry Fact Sheet: Building Surveyors
WorkSafe Victoria – Psychological health regulations