Your principle’s instructions to you must be clear and concise. If that is not the case, you should not accept the job until they are and you know what is expected of you. Get a clear understanding of what the client is expecting to see from you in your final written report.
Set up good communication from the start, friendly yet professional and efficient at all times. You should ensure the client’s expectations are managed from the outset and, crucially, you should be certain the job sits within your competency range and skill set. If that is not the case, the best advice is do not accept the instruction as working outside your area of competency is likely to lead to problems and complications.
Gathering your evidence on survey
Written notes are still considered by many to be the best system and at this time IIMS does not recommend, or endorse, report writing software. Having a scheme to organise your notes is important. Notes on a few scraps of paper are a recipe for disaster. Remember your notes could be admissible in a dispute in the future and may be used in court as evidence, so be sure to store them away safely. And if you are surveying in the rain, a good tip is to use a ziploc bag.
The use of photos in your report which is, remember, a written document, causes much debate amongst the surveying fraternity. Many surveyors use just one image to depict the vessel on the first page of the report and no others.
Taking photos is an excellent way to collect information, but less is more in your finished report. Remember that a photo can tell a thousand words and on occasions you may wish that was not the case with hindsight. Keep the hundreds of photos you have taken for reference and your personal use only in case you are later challenged. When used, photos should be reviewed carefully to make sure there are no issues showing that you have not identified in the report. You are recommended to use a proper camera and not a phone camera. Never edit your photos in any way as they may be required in a court of law as evidence and in that case must be in their original form. That means no cropping, no renaming of the files, and no change of orientation. Just keep them as you took them. And a final comment on photos. In recent months, IIMS has seen a number of reports that are more akin to a photo gallery rather than a written report.
A good, well written report should: - Reflect your findings in accordance with your client’s instructions
- Be well laid out, concise and easy to read
- Be written always in the PAST tense
- Not make assumptions on what may have caused the problem you have found
- State the FACTS only – and only the facts
- Include all relevant information - Have word clarity meaning numerous photographs or diagrams are not required
- Not require further questions from the client
In your report you should not: - Offer opinions unless specifically asked for
- Give rumours or hearsay - Include off the cuff remarks - Promote spurious information and waffle
- Deliver irrelevant and superfluous information
Recommended report lengths
It is recommended that a normal full condition or pre-purchase survey should run to 20 pages typically and a basic structural report might make 12 pages as a general rule. If your report is longer than this, it is likely you have overstated the problems, or have been waffling. Simple short sentences are all you need so they cannot be misconstrued.
Make sure you always date and sign at the end of the report. Your client is paying for a written report and it is a legal document. A pdf report cannot be used in court without proof of the original. And remember in the UK your client has up to 7 years to bring a claim against you.
Some points to remember - Be careful in your choice of words and do not use words such as generally, apparently or appeared.
- Be precise. It is not approximately
...it either is, or it is not.
- Always write your report in the past tense.
- If you refer to Standards then you should include these in the appendices.
- Your report should be brief with no waffle.
- Write in good English. - Beware if you use a previous report as a template as copy and pasting has caught many a good surveyor out in recent months!
- Always get your reports proofread.
Your report should include an executive summary and/ or conclusion. An executive summary is a short section
42 | The Report • March 2018 • Issue 83
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