Now You Don’t See It, Now You Can!

By Tony Pearson

We are often restricted on the parts of a property we can see during an inspection. This is just due to the height of the property and the fact that it’s only practical for us to carry a 3-metre ladder in our cars. These unseen areas are often the most problematic parts of a property.

For instance, this dormer window has a flat roof as well as a skylight at the top of the stairs, that we were able to see from inside, but we couldn’t see the flashings around it or the condition of the flat roof. We can try using handheld mirrors, but this is never ideal and is not possible in properties where there are no windows to open, for example. We are also often restricted on the use of drones in populated areas. This all leaves us reporting to a client that we couldn’t see something and, having instructed us to inspect the property for them, they now have to organise someone with longer ladders to visit the property. This lack of complete service has never sat well with us at Sussex Surveyors so we have recently invested several thousand pounds in new camera poles so that most of our surveyors can now inspect these sorts of areas from the ground.

The following photographs were taken from the same spot as the one above:

As you can see, we can now comment on the condition of the roof as well as the flashings around the skylight and chimney stack. The zoom on the camera also means we can check these areas in greater detail with this photograph also taken from the same spot:

These cameras are now available to most of our surveyors whether they are completing a HomeBuyer Report, Building Survey or any other type of instruction, and will mean a more complete service to our clients – something, we at Sussex Surveyors take great pride in. These photos will also probably be included in your report.

For a complete survey service please contact your local Sussex Surveyors office.