How corrupt are you?

That’s an easy one, surely. The clue’s in the question. But what about if we change the question to: How corrupt is bribery to obtain planning permission? Now it’s a completely different ball game.

When asked this question (and others) in a CIOB survey, some people answered “very corrupt”, others thought it was only “moderately corrupt”, some said “not very corrupt” and a few believed it was “not corrupt at all”.

It would be easy to take the moral highground at this point and say corruption is corruption. But life’s not quite that simple.

One person’s corruption is another’s everyday practice. The Office of Fair Trading thinks cover pricing is corrupt. Others see it as a necessary marketing exercise. What about withholding payment or bumping up the bill? Can false claims be fraudulent if you know the QS is going to knock you down?

Many people have argued that there isn’t a problem with corruption or ethics in construction. It’s just the way this sector operates.

Let’s stop pretending. The breadth of response to this report – more than 1,400 on an online survey in a week – and the huge number of comments added is an indication that people are concerned. The survey showed that 43% of those people thought corruption was fairly common and an additional 8% believed it to be very common.

Should CIOB members be taking a stand against practices which don’t meet the highest moral standards? In an idea world, yes.

But it’s difficult to take a stand if you’re working in a firm where your personal ethics go against the company grain. And it’s difficult for an MD or chief exec to denounce “normal” practices if it means losing work.

People tend to fall into three camps on this: the righteous, the silent and the noisy dissenters. Which one are you in? We’d like to hear your views.