Stay or go?

You'll earn every penny you get in that big 4 job. If your main motivation is money, it won't end well.

My advice would be to look for fulfillment outside of your job - meetup groups, volunteering, travel, or sports teams.

Good on you OP, you're doing well for yourself and sound like you've a very level head.

Mid 80s base for what you describe as a senior management role? I'd be looking for triple that. Double for mid management in a big 4 company.

It didn't come across as a brag in my reading of it, you had to mention the salary and age for context. It is a very good wage for a 29 year old in any industry.

Have you thought about looking into a different area of QS'ing? M&E, Civils? Have you thought about taking a step up in the QS career ladder, commercial manager, director etc? Maybe even think about setting up your own consultancy, you're young and have a lot of runway ahead of you in life so you can afford to take a chance, if it doesn't work out you can always slot back into a QS role with a consultancy or a contractor with ease as you already have a lot of experience.

My understanding of the big 4 firms based purely on third hand information is that they get their money's worth out of you. Unless there was a hugely significant difference in salary like from mid 70's to 100k, then it's probably not worth the risk, you don't even know if you'll like it any more than your current position.

Also, managing people is a different ball game. I have found the management of people to be far harder than understanding technical information, humans by nature are unpredictable, emotional etc. You could get lucky and get two great grads or you could get unlucky and get two grads who will increase your workload 10 fold, in a sector you yourself will be scrambling to get your head around.

There is huge demand for experienced QS's at the moment so maybe you could make a move to a different company and stipulate that you'd like to work in office for at least part of the week. You have many options available to you within construction which will build on the strengths you already have.

I tried to pm you but your profile is private. I work in the trades and have general building experience. If you really hate the industry, as in you wake up every morning full of dread and depression and have done for a long time then I'd say get away from it. If however, you've just got into a rut then I'd say do a bit more research before jumping ship, the culture in the big 4 might not be as overtly aggressive as it is in construction but it's just as Machiavellian, if not more so. The type of culture in big corporate offices is one in which they will smile to your face whilst plotting your destruction, see you making mistakes and smirk at the thought of the consequences rather than trying to help you out or point you in the right direction, and that's just your department colleagues, superiors will claim your work as theirs and your ideas as theirs.

Every industry has it's pro's and con's, there's no such thing as 'finding your passion', make as much bank as you can and diversify with investments that will allow you to have financial freedom or security as soon as possible. It sounds like you are already half way up the ladder, you could be on 6 figures + within the next 5 years if you remain in construction, still young and with the ability to accumulate assets that will give you long term financial security.

Worth noting alot of (perhaps all) of the direct pay rise will be soaked up by cost of commute.

28 is the time of your life to make the big moves.

Complications yes. But also youth give you time to recover from mistake and take risks that you won't want to later. Without without kids.

Though Kids can make it hard to be that mobile that adaptable.

Best of luck OP. Just a few thoughts and snippets that may be of interest (albeit a bit late!). Don’t work in Big 4 but know a tonne who do. Below is recentish salary scale on audit side (generally poorly paid so you can probably add a bit, but gives you a sense of relativities).

Associate Director (1) - 82k + 15k bonus

AD (2) - 84k + 20k bonus

Director (1) - 93k + 20/25k bonus

Director (2) - 100k + 30k bonus

(Title names can be slightly different from company to company)

pensions are typically age related. Non existent before 30. Excellent after.

After the above you’re into salaried partner and equity partners which is when real money comes into it.

From everything I know, in the big 4, you fit into one of two boats.

A) acquiring a skill set which makes you incredibly attractive to senior industry roles at which point you exit.

B) pushing hell for leather for partnership.

Relative to the work, the pay is pretty poor throughout until partnership, so it makes no sense to hang around the middle management tiers long term. From your previous posts I don’t get the vibe you’re a sacrifice it all for partnership kinda guy. So get in there, work hard, build up a skill set and then move back into a senior industry role in a few years on better money with better work life balance! Good luck!

Also, a previous post mentioned shares as part of big 4 Comp. All big 4 are private partnerships so I have never heard of anyone being awarded ‘shares’…as there are none to award. Would take this with pinch of salt. Big 4 are remarkably uniform and strict with their packages. You don’t get people negotiating out of the ordinary comp until very senior positions.

you should be getting paid more. (assuming the first 3.5 of those 7 years werent as a grad)

or at least make it know that you are more than happy to move...

but i agree being passive gets your nowhere.