Choose a role, the size of the business or scheme, the region and the sector, and the checker gives you the 2026 base salary band for that seat, the package that sits around it and what it takes to move a proven director into it. Every figure is from my 2026 construction director salary guide, the bands from the retained searches I ran this year. There is no form and no email to give: the answer is on the page as soon as you choose.
Director Package Checker
The 2026 band for a director seat, in four choices.
Free, no email needed
Check a director package
Pick the seat. The band, the package around it and what it takes to move a proven director into it come straight from my 2026 salary guide, and nothing else.
Every figure is from the 2026 salary guide.
Base salary, 2026
Commercial Director, regional
£130,000 to £175,000
- Total package
- Not published for this seat; the package below sits on top of the base
- Car or car allowance
- £7,000 to £12,000
- Employer pension contribution
- 8 to 12 per cent
- Performance bonus
- 15 to 30 per cent of base; formula-driven at the better businesses, discretionary at the rest
- Private medical and life assurance
- Standard
- Notice period
- Three to six months, usually served as garden leave on a move to a competitor
What the guide says about it
- A Group Commercial Director sat around £185,000 base, and a Senior Commercial Manager on a major London scheme, the seat most Commercial Directors step up from, at £100,000 to £120,000.
What it takes to move a proven director
- At or above the median of the band for the role and scale, plus a package that matches what the person already has.
- Below the median, the shortlist fills with people stepping up rather than stepping across, and a leader in post at a competitor will not move for a sideways number.
- A counter-offer from the current employer is now the norm at this level, and the offer has to survive it.
- A Commercial Director leaving a competitor will often be placed on garden leave for the full notice period.
- A formula bonus tied to margin or project outcome is worth more than a larger discretionary one, and a director moving from one to the other should price the difference.
How it works
The checker does not calculate anything. It finds the band the guide publishes for the seat you choose and shows it with the package elements the guide sets out: car or allowance, employer pension, bonus, private medical and life assurance, and a long-term incentive plan where the role carries one. A total package appears only where the guide prints one.
Region and sector never move a figure, because the guide publishes no regional or sector numbers. The checker quotes what the guide says about them instead: that London carries a premium on base, that healthcare and water pay a premium to pull leaders out of general contracting, and that data centres, nuclear and cleared defence work pay above every band.
What it does not cover
Fourteen of the twenty-eight role and scale pairs carry a published band. The rest, such as a Managing Director on a single scheme, an Operations Director at programme level or a Design or Planning Director outside a national programme, say so plainly and point to the nearest seat the guide does price.
A sector that pays above the band is treated the same way. Data centres, nuclear and cleared defence work pay above every band in the guide for the experience they need, and I do not publish a number for how far, so the checker shows the band as the floor and leaves the rest to a conversation. A band is a starting point and a brief is not.
Setting a package, or weighing one
If you are setting a package, the guide's advice is to position at or above the median of the band for the business and the sector, to state the bonus basis in the offer rather than just the percentage, and to decide in advance how far the offer flexes when the counter-offer comes. If you are weighing an offer, compare total package rather than base, and price the bonus basis and any incentive plan you would be walking away from.
01How accurate is the director package checker?
Exactly as accurate as the 2026 salary guide, because every figure it shows is one the guide publishes, from the retained searches I ran in 2026, cross-checked against the published surveys from Hays, Atkins Search and Phoenix Gray. Nothing is averaged or estimated between bands. A specific role is still benchmarked against the live market before every search.
02Why does the checker not give a figure for every combination?
Because the guide does not, and I would rather say so than guess. Where a seat or a scale is not priced in the guide, or a sector pays above the band by an amount the guide does not publish, the checker says so and points you to the nearest band it does carry.
03Does the checker store what I choose?
No. There is nothing to type and no email to give. The site counts which choices are made, without a cookie and without anything that identifies you, so I can see which seats people check most.
04What does a construction director package include on top of base?
At director level in 2026: a car allowance of £7,000 to £12,000, an employer pension contribution of 8 to 12 per cent, private medical cover and life assurance, and a performance bonus of 15 to 30 per cent of base. Group and programme-level roles add a long-term incentive plan vesting over three years or more. A regional Managing Director's bonus runs higher, at 20 to 40 per cent of base.
05Is the checker for employers or for directors?
Both. A Managing Director or board setting a package can see where the band sits and what it takes to move someone already proven in the seat. A director weighing an offer can see whether it is a rise, remembering that a move which adds ten per cent to base and swaps a formula bonus for a discretionary one is not.
06How often are the figures updated?
When the guide is, each January and mid-year. The checker reads the same figures, so the two never disagree.
Benchmark the role, not the title
The checker gives you the band. Where a particular seat sits inside it, given the business, the sector and the person you are trying to move, is a conversation, and I will tell you plainly where it sits against the live market. No hard sell, no obligation.
The bands in full, with what moves the number, are in the 2026 salary guide, and the roles themselves under roles.
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