That amounts to £156,000 a year – around six times the average wage and more than the £150,000 earned by the Prime Minister.

Plumbers and bricklayers are also benefiting, with wages rising by as much as 10 per cent in the past 12 months. Plumbers can earn as much as £2,000 a week, while brickies can bring home £1,125 – more than £50,000 a year.

The pay bonanza, revealed by recruitment firm Manpower, comes amid increasing demand for new homes across the country at a time when skilled workers are in short supply.

Managing director James Hick said many tradesmen were now ‘very, very highly paid’, with its figures showing some electricians bringing home £3,000.

‘London and the South East still command the highest rates,’ he said. ‘But it is not just London – it’s all over the country.’

Manpower also revealed that fire safety officers can earn up to £1,600 a week as councils and landlords carry out crucial repairs in the wake of the Grenfell Tower inferno.

‘Urgent testing and repair is being carried out up and down the country on much of Britain’s public housing stock,’ said Mr Hick.

‘The state of housing in the country is under the microscope like never before and the need for both building and remedial work have caused demand in the construction industry to shoot up.’

A separate report by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) today shows how bricklayers are cashing in as their pay soars.

More than half of small and medium-sized building firms say the wages they pay brickies rose by at least 5 per cent in the past year.

Nearly a third – some 31 per cent – have seen bricklayers’ wages rise by more than 10 per cent.

Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, said the industry had been left short of staff since the financial crisis, when large numbers were laid off, recruitment and training ground to halt and older workers retired.

‘The industry lost three generations of talent during the long economic downturn,’ he said.

‘Ever since the market picked up again in 2013 to 2014, we’ve seen the impact of this, as our members have reported increasing difficulties in recruiting key trades.

‘This is driving very significant wage increases in some areas, with anecdotal evidence suggesting that bricklayers in London can be earning as much as £1,000 per week.’

He added that it was boom time for Britain’s builders. ‘Construction hiring often slows in the winter months, but the UK is set to buck the trend this year,’ he said.

‘Our data suggests this could be the strongest fourth quarter for hiring since 2005.’