About our independent damp surveyors, Stuart
At HA Damp & Timber Surveyors, we’re not great on ‘selling’ ourselves, our specialism is damp surveying, not sales!
Though we recognise, that regardless of whether you're buying a property, finding you’ve got damp, timber rot or mould in your home or one you or your company rent out is stressful enough and telephoning a specialist damp surveyor just isn’t an everyday occurrence. Therefore, when one of our clients suggested we put down a few words ‘about us’, so that you could be assured that we can give you the same great service, professional help and attention we gave them in solving their defect, it seemed a good idea.
So here goes!!!......
Meet our Surveyor - Stuart:
Mr Stuart Nixon MSc BSc (Hons) MCIEH CSRT
Hi there, I’m Stuart, OK so first things first! I hate putting those letters after my name, but given that I’ve run up a comparable debt getting them, as Greece has in the Eurozone; and as my office insisted they’re there on display!
Though, I do understand it, in this day and age, you want to know the damp surveyor you engage is suitably qualified, after all given the way property prices continue to escalate (it still amazes me!), the property you engage me to survey is most likely your or your companies biggest financial asset and you want complete reassurance its looked at by a competent, qualified, professional damp surveyor, such as myself.
Therefore, I guess we’ve got to spend a little time on the letters! What do they mean? Considering the subject ‘damp’, then going in the order of importance, the letters CSRT obviously should come first! These stand for Certified Surveyor in Remedial Treatments (CSRT). The CSRT qualification is issued by the Property Care Association (PCA); in it’s lifetime (it was formerly the British Wood Preserving and Damp-proofing Association) they’ve issued 1000 CSRT qualifications to damp surveyors spread throughout the British Isles. Given that the bodies just celebrated 85 years that makes us CSRT qualified surveyors, none too common.
The next thing you’ll want to know is: Am I an independent?, Well, in a word, ‘Yes’. In short, I am, 100% independent and very proud of it. Did you know, there’s only about 45 of us throughout the country that actually are!, The majority of CSRT surveyors work for remedial companies! Whereas, us independents are just that 100% ‘independent’; we’re not ‘employee's' 'salespersons or 'freelance’ we’re independent! This means I’m not coming to the property with a vested interest to find work that doesn’t exist, or sell a product that isn’t needed, I’m coming on behalf of you to investigate, poke around and report back. But more on this later, back to the qualifications!
Clients often ask me whether its the Property Care Association (PCA) that issues the CSRT qualification? I answer, Yes. Clients, then often ask me if the PCA are the body that all mortgage lenders accept when it comes to damp and timber surveys, right? Again I answer, Yes.
So rest assured it’s worth reading on.
The MSc. what’s that in then? It’s a Masters in Environmental Health as accredited by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH), aside from the huge student loan, it means I’ve studied housing defects at post-graduate level. It also means I’m good at putting together a comprehensive, detailed, well laid out, easy to follow report.
What’s the MCIEH bit!? Well, I’ve sat professional exams, professional interviews and produced a huge portfolio of work related evidence in order to become registered with the Environmental Health Officers Registration Board and gain Membership of the CIEH; that’s the MCIEH bit! It also means I'm an Environmental Health Officer by profession. How bearing does that have on you. Well, it means that if necessary I’m able to comment on health impacts and severity of harm from the damp, timber and mould defects found during my damp and timber survey. This is the reason that besides prospective purchasers, home-owners and tenants I also am engaged by solicitors, councils, landlords, tenants and housing associations
So, that’s the relevant qualifications pretty much done, how about the really important bit........ How much experience do I have inspecting properties?
Well, the short answer is I’ve surveyed thousands of all ages, styles and layout. I spent almost ten years working in Local Authority Environmental Health departments across Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent inspecting privately rented property for disrepair. Following this, I went into the private sector; as such I've inspected over a thousand properties of all periods, shapes and sizes. For clients such as worried house purchasers and/or vendors concerned over the often erroneous findings of ‘free surveys’, solicitors and barristers, landlords and tenants and for home-owners, whose tradespersons have failed to rectify the defect.
In fact our variety of clients, is why we tailor our survey and reports to suit your needs. We don’t buy into the standardised template approach!
If you've got any questions please give me a call on 01245 206 250 or email me at info@healthyabode.co.uk
