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A building surveyor is a professional who is responsible for a wide variety of elements regarding a property. They are vital during all stages of a building’s lifetime – from design and building to ongoing maintenance. It is difficult to list everything a building surveyor does, as their responsibilities will vary wildly depending on the requirements of the job.
A surveyor may be required to provide advice or reports on almost every part of a building, including safety, quality, and valuation. They may examine and advise on structural issues in cases of already completed buildings, or they may look at the environmental impacts of buildings yet to be started. So what is a chartered building surveyor, and why do buildings need surveying?
Put simply, a chartered surveyor is a building surveyor who is either a member or a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, or ‘RICS’. They are entitled to use MRICS or FRICS after their names, for member and fellow respectively.
Anybody can work as a surveyor, regardless of experience or training, but to be a chartered building surveyor you must meet the specific qualifications and experience criteria set out by RICS, which includes passing assessment and examinations. By ensuring that all chartered surveyors are assessed in the same way, building owners and residents can be guaranteed the same high standard of safety across the UK.
A building surveyor will have a broad and extensive range of possible responsibilities based on the type of building, the needs of the building, and the needs of the owners. They may work in anything from commercial buildings and public buildings to residential buildings, or even historic buildings such as churches and cathedrals.
One of the main roles of a building surveyor is to act as a safety analyst, conducting both structural and internal inspections to ensure all systems live up to safety requirements. This may require checking the physical condition of building foundations, structures and surrounding land, or reporting on environmental concerns such as air quality and carbon emissions. As well as looking at the physical bricks-and-mortar of the buildings, a surveyor may also report on plumbing and electronic systems, ventilation, and even overall ergonomics of a building.
Another one of the most common services carried out by building surveyors is asset valuation. Together with their ‘Red Book’, or RICS Valuation Global Standards, surveyors assess the value of the property, including land and assets, and provide a market valuation. This may be done if a building owner is seeking a mortgage or insurance for example, or to provide a guide price for the buying and selling of the property.
By using the strict guidelines and professional standards set out in the Red Book, and by considering a vast range of factors, RICS aims to ensure that all valuations carried out by certified building surveyors are as accurate as humanly possible.
These are just two of the main services offered by building surveyors. A building surveyor may help to oversee an entirely new development project or be brought in to advise on a single crack in a wall. Covering such a massive range of vital building services means that hiring qualified, experienced and reliable surveyors is an absolute must for anyone involved in any part of the property.
Dabinett is a Manchester-based surveying company operating throughout the UK and covering all property sectors.
For information about building surveys, or for some friendly, professional advice, contact Dabinett via the form on our website or call 0161 292 7085.
