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Agencies & People

Fancy escaping to the country? Here’s how much you’ll be paid to work on a ‘great estate’

Knight Frank has completed its latest research into the UK's rural property management sector and how much its staff are paid from maids to farm managers.

Nigel Lewis

property management

Knight Frank has shone a light into one of the UK’s most unusual property management market after revealing the salaries paid to those employed ‘downstairs’ to keep the country’s great estates ticking over.

While traditional city and town block and estate management roles are much more urban, gritty and involve sorting out knackered boilers and lost keys, tweedier estates management is a much more varied affair with pay depending on a person’s skill set.

This ranges from the highest average salary at £83,224 for an estates director, dropping to £19,308 for a cleaner or maid.

In between these two extremes, Knight Frank lists a further 24 roles and their salaries including a farm manager (£43,225), butler (£33,865), cook (£29,505), game keeper (£26,670), ghillie (£24,720), head stalker (£23,300) and groom (£20,462).

Salaries are rising, and ahead of inflation, increasing on average by 7.5% since Knight Frank last surveyed the sector two years ago.

If you fancy escaping to the country then experienced property managers are in demand.  Knight Frank says 71% of estates struggle to find the ideal candidates to fill roles for such upmarket property management.

“We’ve found that methods of recruiting vary according to job level, from word of mouth to specialist consultants, but it is clear that finding the right employees can be challenging,” says Alastair Paul (left), who completed the research for the Knight Frank rural team.

“In more positive news though, we were pleased to see that 96% of estates in the survey undertook health and safety training with their staff, 57% of estates reported undertaking formal staff appraisals, and 4% of estates have a formal bonus scheme.”

January 15, 2020

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