Construction projects have been criticised for under-achievement and this is likely to be a result of poor performance by construction professionals. Therefore, evaluation of construction participants’ performance on projects is important. Previous research in this area focuses on the evaluation of the working performance of the participants. However, there is lack of research discussing the ethics of construction professionals. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap.

It examines the relationship between surveyors’ professional ethics and construction project performance. The surveyor is one of the key participants in the industry as their participation covers the whole project cycle. Although they have Royal Charter status, the general public’s perception of the surveying profession is low, with a lot of cases on professional misconduct being reported.

The paper begins with a literature review on construction project performance and it identifies client satisfaction as the major indicator of construction project success. Following this, the literature on surveyors is reviewed. The next section discusses professional ethics and surveyors. Ethics is important for professionals as it is one of the two elements of professionalism, that engender the general public’s trust in professionals and it has the function of safeguarding the clients’ interest.

The paper suggests that if surveyors act in an ethical manner it will improve their performance and also increase client satisfaction. This will have the result of improving construction project performance. The final section discusses the background to a proposed research project. The suggestion is to conduct an empirical study investigating the relationship between professional ethics for surveyors and construction project performance. It is intended to develop a framework identifying how ethical management influences the construction project performance.