The hardest surveys we do are not the dirtiest. They are the ones where the doors have to open again at nine the next morning.
Many believe that the dirtiest surveys are the industrial ones, but that's not true. For us, the most challenging environments are retail and banking, and it's not because of asbestos. The real challenge lies in the constraints.
We have a high-street retailer we have looked after for the best part of a decade. They will come to us and say they are refurbishing this store and need a full refurbishment survey throughout, but they are not shutting, because a closed store is lost revenue. So straight away we are working around the shop floor being open to the public. I cannot have a surveyor up a stepladder in a ceiling void while Mrs James is walking round underneath with a toddler and a baby in the pram. That means out of hours, which means security staying back and staff members staying behind, all of which has to be arranged.
Then there's the damage. A thorough refurbishment survey requires intrusive work since we need to open up structures for proper inspection. However, in a retail store, I can't cause too much damage, as it must remain safe and presentable by the next morning. Flooring is the biggest challenge. In retail and banking sectors, asbestos floor materials are often layered over rather than removed, because it's a cheaper option: leaving tiles or bitumen and covering them with latex. This results in multiple layers, and after several refurbishments, you're several inches deep. To assess properly, we need to reach the solid substrate, but how can we do so without creating slip hazards or complicating the report with caveats? That's the challenge.
The ideal job, and we get them now and again, is an acquisition site. One of our clients buys a place that is not trading. They are moving in, and we can go in and do a full refurbishment survey with nobody holding our hands and nothing off limits. That is the one where you can actually mitigate everything and leave no caveats, which is the whole point of a refurbishment or demolition survey. The old line is make an omelette without breaking eggs, and normally that is exactly what we are asked to do. On an acquisition site, we are finally allowed to break a few eggs.
I would say every survey is demanding in its own way. A domestic survey is a different kind of hard. You are walking into someone's home, their castle, on their terms, and our guys need two sides to them. Professional and precise in a bank or an office, but human enough to sit with a worried homeowner, deal with the dog, deal with the kids running out, and put people at ease. Manage the environment right, and any survey is doable. Manage it badly, and even a simple one turns into a nightmare.
