If you’ve been following British entertainment or celebrity news, you might have seen the name Richard Fairs emerging in late 2024 and throughout 2025. The reason? He’s the man behind one of Britain’s most beloved comedians — Miranda Hart.
But beyond his connection to stardom, Richard Fairs is a name that stands tall in a completely different world — the professional sphere of building surveying and property consultancy. For more than three decades, he has carved a reputation as a skilled, chartered building surveyor, running his own consultancy firm and advising clients on property, conservation, and structural matters.
This in-depth article explores his background, career, personal life, and the newfound attention surrounding him — while also unpacking the often misunderstood world of building surveyors and how professionals like Fairs shape the built environment of the UK.
Early Life and Education
While much of Richard Fairs’ early life remains private (he’s not a public celebrity), public records and professional directories suggest he was born in the early 1960s, most likely in the UK. His academic path led him toward construction and property — industries that, during the 1980s, were modernizing rapidly with new materials, sustainability discussions, and emerging professional standards.
Fairs pursued studies in Building Surveying, a field that blends architecture, engineering, and legal expertise. The role of a surveyor isn’t just to assess walls or roofs — it’s to protect people’s investments and ensure safety, sustainability, and compliance in every building transaction.
By his mid-twenties, he had qualified as a Chartered Building Surveyor, becoming a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) — a globally recognized organization setting the gold standard for ethics and technical excellence in property and construction.
Professional Career: The Building Consultancy Limited
Founding and Vision
In the late 1990s, Richard Fairs founded The Building Consultancy Limited, a Bristol-based independent firm offering specialist surveying and property advice. His firm was incorporated officially in 1998, signaling the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey.
From day one, the firm’s ethos emphasized independence, professionalism, and client care — values that are often lost in large commercial practices. Rather than chasing volume, The Building Consultancy focused on quality, precision, and personal service, working with both private homeowners and commercial property investors.
Areas of Expertise
The firm provides a wide range of surveying services, including:
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Building condition surveys – Detailed reports on the physical state of a property before purchase or renovation.
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Defect diagnosis and repair strategy – Identifying issues like damp, structural movement, or water ingress and recommending cost-effective solutions.
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Party wall matters – Advising property owners on their rights and obligations under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996.
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Refurbishment and conservation projects – Overseeing repairs and upgrades to historic or listed buildings, ensuring legal compliance.
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Contract administration and project management – Representing clients’ interests during renovation or new construction projects.
Under Richard Fairs’ direction, the firm gained a reputation for technical depth and discretion, often working with clients who prefer privacy — including high-net-worth individuals and heritage property owners.
The Role of a Chartered Building Surveyor (Explained Simply)
Many readers outside the property industry might wonder: What exactly does a building surveyor do?
A chartered building surveyor is a problem-solver and protector in the property world. Their job is to evaluate the safety, quality, and compliance of buildings. They ensure that structures are sound, materials are appropriate, and the property meets legal and environmental standards.
Here’s a breakdown of what they actually do:
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Assess Building Health: They perform technical inspections to find structural or material issues — from subsidence to rising damp.
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Advise Clients: They explain what repairs are necessary, estimate costs, and prioritize actions.
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Ensure Compliance: They check that works meet planning laws, environmental regulations, and RICS professional standards.
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Support Transactions: When someone buys or sells a building, surveyors act as the technical authority that protects both sides.
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Oversee Works: Many surveyors manage repair or refurbishment projects, ensuring work is completed safely and correctly.
For context, it takes years of study, training, and professional experience to qualify as a chartered building surveyor under RICS rules — a qualification respected internationally.
Reputation and Professional Standing
Richard Fairs has built a trusted and respected presence in his field over decades. His peers often describe professionals like him as the “doctor of buildings” — people who diagnose and cure structural issues before they become major liabilities.
The Building Consultancy Limited, under his leadership, is recognized for:
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Integrity and confidentiality — essential when dealing with high-profile clients or sensitive commercial projects.
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Technical rigor — producing thorough reports that stand up in court or insurance disputes if necessary.
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Client loyalty — many of the firm’s clients have worked with Fairs for years, which is a strong testament in an industry built on trust.
Even before his name became more publicly known through his marriage to Miranda Hart, Fairs had quietly established a long and stable career, something few small-business owners achieve over multiple decades.
Personal Life: Relationship with Miranda Hart
A Private Love Story
Miranda Hart, beloved for her self-deprecating humor and hit sitcom Miranda, has always kept her personal life away from the public eye. For years, she joked about being single or unlucky in love, which made her 2024 revelation that she was married a delightful surprise to fans.
While Hart did not initially name her husband, credible media outlets soon confirmed that she had married Richard Fairs, a Bristol-based building surveyor. The couple reportedly met a few years earlier — during the pandemic — when Fairs was called to address a damp and mould problem in her home. What began as a professional encounter reportedly blossomed into friendship and later, love.
Shared Values and Low-Profile Lifestyle
Despite her fame, Miranda Hart is known for her modesty, grounded lifestyle, and preference for privacy — traits that align closely with Fairs’ understated nature. Unlike celebrity pairings built on publicity, their relationship appears rooted in mutual respect, humor, and shared calm.
The couple is said to enjoy countryside living and low-key routines, avoiding the limelight. They reportedly tied the knot in a simple ceremony, attended by close family and friends, without paparazzi fanfare.
The Public Reaction and Media Coverage
When news of the marriage surfaced, fans of Miranda Hart were ecstatic. Many took to social media to express joy that their favorite comedian had found happiness after years of personal challenges, including a period of ill health.
However, true to her character, Miranda managed to keep her husband’s identity under wraps for quite some time. By the time Richard Fairs’ name became known, the couple had already been married for months — possibly even a year — showcasing how determined they were to protect their personal life.
Interestingly, Fairs has not given interviews or public statements about the marriage. His absence from social media and entertainment circles suggests he values privacy over publicity, reinforcing a classic British reserve that many find refreshing in today’s hyper-exposed world.
Professional Ethics and the Power of Privacy
In an age where professionals often turn personal exposure into marketing leverage, Richard Fairs stands out as the opposite — a reminder that excellence doesn’t need a megaphone.
His restraint mirrors the ethical standards upheld by RICS, which require chartered professionals to act with:
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Integrity – doing what is right, even when unseen.
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Competence – maintaining up-to-date knowledge and skills.
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Service – putting clients’ interests above self-promotion.
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Respect – for people, property, and the environment.
This discretion not only preserves client confidence but also upholds the dignity of a profession that operates largely behind the scenes.
Why Building Surveyors Like Fairs Matter
In the UK property ecosystem, building surveyors are unsung heroes. They are the reason buyers avoid disastrous purchases, the people who spot rot before it spreads, and the experts who translate technical jargon into actionable advice.
With housing quality and maintenance increasingly under scrutiny — especially after safety incidents and public health reports about mould in homes — the expertise of professionals like Fairs is more critical than ever.
Key societal contributions include:
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Preventing housing disasters: Through early detection of structural or moisture issues.
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Improving public health: By addressing mould and damp — now recognized as serious health hazards.
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Conserving heritage: Through careful restoration of listed buildings and historic properties.
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Supporting sustainability: Advising on retrofitting, insulation, and energy-efficient upgrades.
In that light, Fairs’ professional life aligns perfectly with modern values: sustainability, wellbeing, and responsible property management.
Estimated Net Worth (Contextual Overview)
It’s tempting to speculate about net worth whenever someone connected to a celebrity gains attention. However, Richard Fairs is not a public figure, and there are no official figures or verified financial disclosures available.
That said, to provide context — a chartered building surveyor with more than 30 years of experience and ownership of a long-standing consultancy could realistically earn an income in the £70,000 to £150,000+ per year range, depending on client base and project scale.
This places Fairs among the UK’s established middle-to-upper-tier professionals, comfortably but not extravagantly wealthy — a fitting balance for someone who values independence and expertise over fame.
The Broader Impact: What We Can Learn from His Story
The growing curiosity around Richard Fairs reveals something telling about today’s culture: a hunger for grounded success stories.
In a world full of influencers and instant fame, Fairs represents a different kind of success — one built on craft, credibility, and consistency. He exemplifies that being excellent in your field, even quietly, can lead to a rich and meaningful life.
His story also reflects the beauty of cross-world connections — how someone from a technical profession and someone from the arts can meet, connect, and find common ground in authenticity and humor.
It’s a modern British love story: a builder of homes meets a builder of laughter.
The Future of The Building Consultancy
Looking ahead, The Building Consultancy — under Fairs’ stewardship — is well-positioned for continued relevance. The UK’s building sector faces several ongoing trends that play directly into his expertise:
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Energy efficiency and retrofitting: Homeowners are investing in insulation, renewables, and low-carbon upgrades.
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Property resilience: Climate-related damp, flooding, and overheating demand professional assessment and mitigation.
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Historic conservation: Interest in sustainable heritage restoration is growing, especially in cities like Bristol and Bath.
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Digital surveying: New tools such as drone inspections and 3D scanning are transforming how surveys are conducted.
If the firm continues its client-centered philosophy, it will remain a trusted presence for decades to come.
Final Thoughts
When we think of famous couples, we often picture glitz and glamour. But the pairing of Richard Fairs and Miranda Hart offers something far more grounded: a partnership rooted in mutual respect, humility, and real-world purpose.
Professionally, Fairs stands as a symbol of what every skilled tradesperson or consultant should aspire to be — ethical, dependable, and quietly excellent. Personally, his story reminds us that love can emerge in the most ordinary of circumstances — even through a conversation about mould, mortar, and maintenance.
In a noisy world, Richard Fairs’ quiet competence speaks volumes.
