Case Study: Home Group Building Surveying Framework

Overview

Home Group appointed Elvet as multi-disciplinary consultants on the Building Surveying Framework covering the North East, North West and Central areas of England.

Since the framework commenced , we have completed over 800 individual property surveys including general building, damp diagnostic and historic buildings. Each report includes a schedule of works to remedy the identified defects that can be utilised to engage contractors to complete the repairs.

In addition to the general building surveying services we have been engaged to convert existing assets into modern homes to meet current demand. This has included full measured surveys, existing drawings, proposed designs, cost plans, planning applications, building control applications and tender documents to enable Home Group to appoint contractors for the required works. As part of this service we also provide contract administration duties to ensure that the works are completed in accordance with our tender documents.

Additionally we have also acted as the Principal Designer on all planned and responsive maintenance programmes to ensure that the Home Group fulfilled their duties in accordance with CDM2015 regulations.

Background

Home Group required Building Consultants to support the national delivery of the planned and responsive maintenance programme. We provided a full diagnosis of issues and recommended remedial works with estimated costs.

We completed:

• 150 General Building Surveys
• 513 Damp Surveys
• 44 DDA Surveys
• 100 Party Wall Surveys
• 5 Historic Building Surveys

We are required to complete the orders within stringent timescales under the framework delivering routine surveys within 5 working days and urgent surveys within 48 hours.

Added Value

To ensure that our key performance indicators are achieved we have developed a comprehensive job register to record information on:

• Quotations/Tenders issued through the framework
• Orders received
• Critical timescales to complete the orders
• Actual dates that milestones are achieved
• Surveyors assigned to the orders
• Performance against predetermined KPIs

The register provides an accurate up to date record of our current performance, which has allowed us to identify issues with our delivery promptly and to mitigate risks. For example, we identified as part of our weekly reviews that all inspections on routine surveys were completed within 2 working days, however the actual report was still not submitted within the 5-day target. After an internal review it became apparent that the surveyors were not provided sufficient to write the report before being assigned a new order. We developed an internal rotation system that ensure surveyors were not over assigned orders, which ensured our successful delivery.
Another opportunity to improve productivity was the development of our own bespoke survey tool that could be used with remote devises i.e. iPads to ensure all surveyors captured the same data during surveys. This improved the accuracy of our survey notes whilst reducing the amount of time to prepare the reports in the office. We have since developed this further investing in technology to bring greater efficiencies.
Elvet’s framework Delivery Plan identified areas for improvement and efficiencies to enhance our overall service delivery.

Innovation

To ensure that Home Group receive accurate reports we have invested heavily in innovative equipment to undertake visual and physical inspections of the internal and external of each property. For example:

• Thermal Imaging Camera FLIR E6 as a diagnostic tool to quickly identify missing, damaged or inadequate insulation, air leaks, moisture intrusion and sub-standard workmanship.
• Dual-mode Moisture Meters Protimeter Surveymaster2 which offer greater functionality over basic analogue meters by distinguishing between sub-surface and surface moisture of walls and floors built in a range of materials including wood to facilitate accurate diagnosis.
• Laser level Topcon RL-H4C to accurate capture information for Part M compliant access ramps. This saves time in the design process and prevents abortive work through inaccurate measures. These are operated by one surveyor to reduce cost of traditional two-person measures.
• MK3 Endoscope Kit to undertake invasive cavity inspections to support our defects diagnosis.
• Wi-Fi enabled Microsoft Surface Pro providing access our company server from any location. This interface enables the surveyor to remotely access all software programs, project files, technical libraries and emails generating improved quality, productivity and efficiency.

Additionally we have invested in software:

• NBS Building software to develop bespokespecifications in accordance with industry British and European Standard conforming to best practice.
• AutoCAD architectural desktop and sketchup software to produce detailed drawings, enabling clear communication of remedial work in tenders. Coupled with the remote computers we can now prepare electronic drawings on site during the survey.
• The Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) a real-time cost information library from RICS to supports detailed cost plans
• 5D Building Information Modelling (BIM) software linked to CATO cost management system for accurate cost information and remedial schedules of work.