Insurance reinstatement

Risk of flooding

January 30, 2014 By Richard Mountain

As the rain lashed down, it seemed rather appropriate that RMA Surveyors Ltd attended a continual professional development seminar yesterday on flood management organised by 3CPD (www.3cpd.co.uk).

Hosted by Claire Thirlwell, a chartered landscape architect, the principles and practicalities of flood management were discussed, based on her experience designing schemes to reduce floods occurring.

With another day of rain today and more parts of the country becoming flooded, it seems more important than ever that we take flooding into consideration when buying a property.

People should ensure the correct searches are carried out and get a building survey undertaken by a professional to ensure the potential new acquisition is not at risk and if it is, that it is highlighted as such.

It’s better to be prepared, so if you know your property is in an area that could flood, install appropriate protection measures well in advance to reduce the risk of flood water getting inside.

If you’re unfortunate to have suffered from flood damage to your property, we can assist you too.

Under the terms of your insurance policy you are often able to employ your own independent building surveyor to oversee the insurance reinstatement of your property, rather than relying on the overstretched surveyors appointed by loss adjusters.

Remember it is your property and you are free to appoint your own independent surveyor to specify, tender and oversee works on your behalf. An insurance policy often covers the fees of an independent surveyor, like RMA Surveyors Ltd. Providing you are adequately covered it should not cost you a penny to get impartial, qualified and quality advice and management for the duration of the insurance reinstatement works from us.

If your property has suffered from any flood damage, or you’re looking to purchase a house in a flood risk area, contact us for some professional advice.

Filed Under: building survey, Building Surveying, Defects, diagnosing damp, Insurance reinstatement, Newbury, Residential, RICS Tagged With: building defects, building survey, building surveyor, chartered building surveyor, defect, flood damage, flooding, floods

Japanese Knotweed

July 3, 2012 By Richard Mountain

Japanese knotweed is an amazing plant. The young stems are edible and taste like bamboo shoots. It can grow over 20 feet in height. Its root systems can penetrate as deep as 3 metres below ground surface level. In some cases it has been reported to grow as deep as 5 metres. It usually grows in thick clumps (or stands). It can grow in a variety of soil PH’s. It will grow from a small cutting and will rapidly reroot itself. Where roots are disrupted new shoots will begin from breaks in the root, travelling vertically and horizontally through the ground. Its subterranean root system can survive double figure sub-zero temperatures. The mid-19th Century saw its introduction to the United Kingdom as it became popular with landscapers as it could grow quickly, form dense screens and hold together land banks with its root system. It was widely used in Wales to hold together subsiding railway embankments. Japanese knotweed has no predators in the UK and as such is not easily controlled. The saving grace is that the plant in this country is female only and is not espablished by seeds. However, the roots and stems can establish in new soil easily if not carefully disposed of.

The plant is a hardy one and it is illegal to spread the plant under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Soil deemed to be contaminated with Japanese knotweed is sighted as controlled waste under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. In recent years lenders have begun declining loans on properties due to the presence of Japanese knotweed on sites. Most buildings insurance policies do not cover damage and problems caused by Japanese knotweed.

Japanese knotweed can damage ruin gardens, drains, paths paving, walls and out buildings. In rare and exceptional cases it has been reported to affect foundations and floors.
It can be treated in a number of ways. Herbicides can be applied, but this is usually necessary over a number of years. This is most economic, but not always effective. Excavation of contaminated soil is also employed, but soil must be disposed of as hazardous waste and the depth of the root system can mean excavation and disposal amounts to serious costs. Experiments with introduced grazing insects are being trialled, but there are obvious unknowns with introducing non-native insects into the environment. Japanese knotweed being the case in point.

The presence of Japanese knotweed is likely to affect the value of a property and remediation is expensive. Caught early enough and not disrupted the plant can be eradicated before it spreads.

I took these photo’s at a property in Bath. Unfortunately the knotweed had taken root outside the rear of the property. The building occupant was pleased he was only renting the property. The landlord and neighbours are likely to have a very different view on it.

Filed Under: Building pathology, building survey, Building Surveying, Defects, Insurance reinstatement, Newbury, Party Wall Tagged With: building survey, contaminated waste, Environmental Protection Act 1990, insurance claim, invasive species, japanese knotweed, newbury surveyor, reading surveyor, Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

Insurance Reinstatement Experts

February 9, 2012 By Richard Mountain

We keep hearing from clients that they never knew they could use an independent building surveyor to oversee the insurance reinstatement of their property. Here are a few reasons why it is better to use RMA Surveyors Ltd, an independent chartered building surveyor, to oversee the reinstatement of your property.

Larger insurance brokers offer their own in-house surveyors to oversee fire, flood, water and impact damage claims to property. These companies will appoint the services of their surveyors, to act on your behalf, after they have undertaken their initial assessment of the damage to your property. Often these brokers do not fully explain that you are not obliged to use their in-house surveyor’s services. You are free to appoint your own independent surveyor to specify, tender and oversee works on your behalf under your policy cover. Because your insurance policy covers the fees of an independent surveyor, like RMA Surveyors Ltd , it will not cost you a penny to get impartial, qualified and quality advice and management for the duration of the insurance reinstatement works.

Using an independent chartered building surveyor like RMA Surveyors Ltd is a better option for many reasons. Firstly, using RMA Surveyors Ltd guarantees you are using a qualified professional who is regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). As RICS surveyors we are governed by a code of conduct and must act reasonably and impartially at all times.

Secondly, as chartered building surveyors we are professionally obliged to undertake projects diligently and must have the resources and capacity to fulfil a project. Large insurance broker surveyors often have many projects on the go at any one time over a large geographical area. They do not have the time to provide a tailored, bespoke service to each project. Consequently they cannot provide the same attention to detail, often missing important elements critical to the smooth completion of the project. A high turnover of staff and reallocation of resources in these companies can mean you deal with a number of different surveyors. Often works can be specified by the broker’s in-house surveyors by using template documents that do not fit the criteria of an individual project. RMA Surveyors Ltd provide a personal service with a meticulous approach, tailored to each individual property.

Thirdly, RMA Surveyors Ltd provide a fully accountable service which is efficient, detailed and comprehensive at all stages of the project. We also understand the stress and upheaval caused by such events as flood, fire, impact and water damage and endeavour to provide swift reinstatement of your property. As a result of their limited resources, broker’s in-house surveyors are often difficult to contact, do not properly oversee the quality of materials and workmanship on site, are slow to react to problems that arise and provide incomplete documentation.

Lastly, RMA Surveyors Ltd ensure that all works are undertaken by quality independent building contractors, using industry standard building contracts which protect you and clearly define your rights. Therefore, in the unlikely event that something does go wrong you are protected. Often broker’s in-house surveying departments use contracts that heavily favour themselves and their own approved contractors; effectively absolving them of responsibility should a problem arise.

If you have an insurance claim that is causing undue stress or you need some free advice please contact us. We would welcome the opportunity to help you.

Filed Under: Building Surveying, Insurance reinstatement Tagged With: Building Owner, building surveyor, building surveys, dampness in buildings, fire damage, fire reinstatement, flood, flood reinstatement, flood repairs, hungerford, impact damage, insurance policy, Insurance reinstatement, insurance reinstatement project management, insurance reinstatement surveyor, jct mw 2011, malicious damage, newbury, policy holder, project manager, surveying services, surveys, tender analysis, tender documentation

A Cold Snap Could Snap Pipes

January 30, 2012 By Richard Mountain

With weather warnings announced for snow in parts of south Wales, the southwest of England and with a small fluttering of snow on cars this morning here in Berkshire, it’s forecast that we’re in for another cold snap this week.

A survey last year showed that over three million of us suffered damage to our homes in the winter freeze of 2010/2011. The extreme winter weather that occurred between October 2010 and February 2011 damaged 6% of all homes in the UK.

Often the biggest damage caused is the result of escape of water caused by frozen and burst pipes. Extreme cold can cause internal and external water pipes and drainage systems to freeze up, when this happens the water in the pipes expands and can cause the pipes and fittings to split or burst open. When the frozen water melts, damage becomes obvious as water leaks out of the system.

Leaking water can cause severe damage to properties. There is potential for ceilings to hold water, causing bowing and the possibility that the ceiling could collapse. Plaster may become soft and fall apart once it gets soaked with water. Floors, stairs and timber joinery often swell, disintegrate and can rot if left. Tiles, paint and wallpaper can crack, lift, and peel off when water gets behind.

If you find yourself the victim of such water or flood damage, it’s likely you’ll need to make an insurance claim.

Once you put in your claim, an inspection will be required to assess the damage to your property. A detailed inspection is not something that a loss adjuster is always fully qualified to do and while your insurance company may offer you their in-house surveying service, it’s worthwhile knowing that you are not beholden to use their services. You are entitled to appoint your own independent building surveyor to assess, specify, tender and oversee reinstatement works. In our experience you will receive a far higher level of service when you use an independent construction professional to act as your project manager.

The independent and impartial expertise of RMA Surveyors Ltd, chartered building surveyors, can determine the real extent of the damage to your property and ensure that your home is reinstated to a professional standard. If you are comprehensively insured there should be no direct cost to you.

If the cold weather results in you having to submit a claim, then contact us. We’ll be pleased to look at your claim and offer an initial free consultation. We have a proven track record in getting insurance claims moving and homes reinstated professionally and efficiently.

Richard Mountain MRICS

HOW TO PREVENT FREEZING PIPES
It’s never too late to go about protecting your home from the extreme cold weather. Why not implement these ideas to help prevent pipes from freezing:
– Lag exposed pipes with insulation
– Install loft and cavity wall insulation (special attention should be taken over pipes in loft spaces)
– Stop any dripping taps and valves, the water could freeze in the waste or overflow pipe and cause a blockage
– Keep your property warm, and if you are going away consider leaving the heating on low
– Try to stop any draughts
– Make sure you know where your stopcock is, should you need to turn off your water supply

Filed Under: Building Surveying, Insurance reinstatement Tagged With: building surveyor, building surveys, chartered building surveyor, chartered surveyor, dampness in buildings, flood, flood reinstatement, flood repairs, insurance policy, Insurance reinstatement, insurance reinstatement project management, insurance reinstatement surveyor, newbury, project manager, surveying services

Why pay for a construction professional?

January 12, 2012 By Richard Mountain

We have picked up several projects in the last 6 months where the clients have had builders start or about to begin works with no formal contract, specification, scope of works or even a sketch on the back of a beer mat. As building professionals we see these as shocking omissions. We implore anyone thinking of embarking upon a building project, whether it is a refurbishment, extension, alteration, repair or cyclical maintenance, to only do so if they have taken appropriate professional advice.

Invariably construction is expensive. People want to limit costs as much as possible. Often the services of construction professionals are first to be omitted, in a bid to shave some of this cost. True, in the first instance money has been saved. The fees of surveyors, architects and structural engineers have been avoided. But the saving often doesn’t remain as the project spirals out of control without formal professional management. Worst case scenario the building owner ends up paying for professional fees to put it right or act as an expert witness in court.

Often a good contract administrator or project manager’s value cannot be immediately seen. But a project that has benefitted from the process of feasibility, design, specification, tendering, contractor appointment, management and communication by a qualified professional adds value to a project. Using a professional to steer you through the process will save you money.

A good proportion of RMA Surveyors Ltd instructions are generated by clients who wished they had sought professional advice in the first instance. We have seen sewer pipes terminate below ground floors, all manner of poor masonry detailing and poor mortar specifications, non-compliant roof conversions, unsupported chimney breasts, undersized lintels, dangerous electrics and all manner of other defects. Often work has not been passed by building control and there is no formal contract in place to protect the client.

Many problems encountered are not even considered at the time of installation, but would have been picked up by an experienced professional. Even if a problem is not noted during or immediately after construction the chances are the problem will manifest itself in years to come. Most likely when the property is sold and a purchaser’s surveyor highlights defects or shortcomings. Inevitably the value of the property is reduced at the point of sale.

Coupled with the above, a project that has not been properly specified will undoubtedly result in spiralling costs during construction. We often hear of clients whose builder invoices an inflated final account where no agreement has been made for the extra costs. But with no formal contract or defined contract sum the client is often bamboozled by the contractors’ technical explanations when trying to negotiate. The result is that both parties become entrenched.

A construction professional may not always seem appropriate and can be a cost to be avoided. But RMA Surveyors Ltd experience is although the value we bring cannot always be calculated; the cost of putting it right when it goes wrong cannot either.

If you have a project you would like to talk about please contact us.

Filed Under: Building Surveying, Insurance reinstatement, Party Wall Tagged With: architect, architectural design, Building Owner, building surveyor, cement render, dampness in buildings, fire damage, fire reinstatement, flood, flood repairs, home buyers reports, hungerford, insurance reinstatement project management, insurance reinstatement surveyor, jct, jct minor works 2011, Party Wall advise, party wall awards, project manager, surveying services, surveys, tender analysis, tender documentation, UK Surveying Company

Independent Advice for Building Insurance Claims

November 15, 2011 By Richard Mountain

If you have suffered an insurable loss to your building, did you know you are entilitled to appoint your own independent building surveyor?

RMA Surveyors Ltd are experienced experts who understand how the insurance reinstatement process works at all levels. Richard Mountain MRICS gives an insiders view to the corporate loss adjusters reinstatement operates.

Previously I worked for a major UK insurance loss adjuster, within their building surveying and project management department. I oversaw reinstatement of flood damage, fire damage, impact damage and malicious damage to residential property and commercial property insurance claims.

I project managed in excess of 25 insurance reinstatement projects at any one time (many project managers had as many as 50 ‘live’ projects), all at various stages of the reinstatement process. I covered a 2,500 mile²geographical area. The volume of work was phenomenal. The role required assessment and reporting of the initial damage compilation of specifications and tender documentation, tender issuing and tender analysis and monitoring the execution of the building contract to completion. Inevitably, delivering the volume of projects in the required time meant that the role was highly pressurised and very time consuming.

I learnt a great deal in my time dealing strictly with insurance reinstatements. Principally, like any business, the primary goal is to generate profit. Secondly, large loss adjusting companies are set up to generate as much profit from insurance claims as possible. They do so through structuring a claims process in such a way that policy holders are steered in a direction towards services or subsidiaries of that company.

Typically a loss adjuster visits a claim. He makes an assessment of the claim and whether or not it is straightforward (e.g. a collapsed ceiling) or more complicated (e.g. a flood damaged block of flats). In the latter case he will refer the work to an in-house surveying department. A surveyor will be appointed to act on behalf of a policy holder. S/he will assess, specify and tender works to a list of ‘approved’ contractors. The succesful ‘approved contractor’ will then complete the works.

In such cases a loss adjuster’s fees are typically capped at a low figure, and treated as ‘loss leaders’. This is done in the same way supermarkets expect to lose money on basics such as bread and milk, in the hope that you will be tempted by other goodies on the way round the store. Larger fees are accrued when the surveyor gets involved.

As with any surveyor dealing with this type of work, in-house firms of surveyors and project managers will receive fees typically in the region of 10% of the net contract sum. Coupled with this ‘approved contractors’ pay a percentage back to a central contractor administration unit (also owned by the loss adjusting company) for each project they successfully tender. Ultimately the loss adjusting company can generate in the region of 18% of a net contract sum from each project, making the ‘loss leader’ adjuster’s fee a worthwhile endeavour.

What does this mean to a policy holder? Well, on the face of it not a great deal. The structure behind the system is rarely explained in any great detail to the policy holder and rarely do they want, or need to know. Only when the level of service begins to be affected does it become a problem. My experience is when problems occur it is usually the policy holder who loses out.

By way of example, a recent claim I took over as an independent surveyor had a contractor making many unfair and unsatisfactory expectations of my client, the policy holder. I was provided with a two page specification, compiled by the contractor, and a four page letter of caveats and impositions expected of the policy holder by the contractor that formed the basis of the building contract. The whole project was strongly weighted in favour of the contractor. I had no choice but to compile a proper specification and tender the project to competent contractors, effectively taking the policy holder back to square one. It had taken him six months to get as far as he had. The process took a further four months for me to complete. But we managed to do so using a good contractor, under an industry recognised form of building contract for a competitive and realistic contract sum.

For contractors to become ‘approved’ by the loss adjuster’s central administration body they need to meet a lot of separate criteria. They need to have a workforce, who are adaptable and can react quickly. They need to be geared up to visit a property with a leaking pipe within an hour of a phone call. Coupled with this, most of the insurance claims work they deal with is typically low-value, small-scale and does not require a project manager or building contract in place.

Good building contractors are rarely suited to this type of business model tending to deal predominantly with larger contracts. Therefore, it is very difficult to secure ‘approved contractors’ who can meet the needs of a larger building contract. I once went to five of my project sites in a single day and not one of them had any personnel on site. This was in spite of the fact that I had specifically cited this as a clause in the specification. I found that contracts were poorly managed on site and beset with problems in terms of quality and understanding of material performance. When employed by the loss adjusters I was not allowed to use any other than the list of ‘approved contractors’. This was a major frustration for me.

At the outset, it is down to loss adjusters to explain that policy holders are able to use their own independent surveyors. I often found that policy holders did not understand, as it was not explained, the difference between the surveyor and the loss adjuster. Policy holders often seemed compelled to remain with whoever was assigned to deal with their case.
The insurance reinstatement claims I have dealt with as an independent surveyor are wholly different. All of them have been far easier to execute without the constraints of a corporate enterprise behind me. I am not overworked and would not take on a project unless I knew I had the resources to deal with it. In every project I have had the fortune to appoint good local independent building contractors, who have performed admirably to ultimately benefit the client.

I would recommend to anyone who has the misfortune to suffer an insurance claim that they appoint an independent chartered building surveyor to oversee the reinstatement works. The cost will be covered by your insurance policy. We will bring peace of mind, as you can be sure that you are using a qualified construction professional, who understands the construction industry and has you and your building’s best interests as their primary concern.

If you have problems with getting your property adequately reinstated please contact us RMA Surveyors Ltd will be pleased to look at your case and provide initial free consultation.