Any Surveyors or Home Inspectors here?

[ByronBlack]

I'm thinking of re-training into a new career. I'm currently looking at a doing a diploma in property surveying with a view of then taking the BsC degree in either building or property surveying,

The other option is to retrain as a Home Inspector to carry out the home energy reports and voluntary home reports.

I just wondered whether there are any guy's/gals on this forum that are currently working or are thinkign of working in either of those two roles, as i'm looking for some personal testimonials/insight and information!

 

[devonwoody]

Our youngest daughter was taking the course and exams for the Sales pack to be introduced by estate agents, The up front cost was £2000 and a couple of weeks ago you may recall the government have now dropped parts of this scheme and many people in the industry have incurred quite substantial losses re preparation.
So watch out, energy could be next.

 

[wizer]

Hi Byron. I have looked into this and it is something i'd really like to do. However we would not be able to cope with the career move at this time in our lives. I have no experience in this area at all. Re-training would mean a massive drop in wages for at least 2yrs, maybe even as much as 4yrs. Also as DW has pointed out, the gov can't seem to make their mind up.

Do you currently work in this sector? Have experience of?

I wish you good luck in your new career, it seems like an extremely interesting job.

 

[RogerS]

Hi BB

It's something that took my interest as well but not sure how old you are as it may have a bearing. I thought about becoming a chartered surveyor but then realised that it was a six year course! I've not looked at shorter options such as the diploma you are suggesting but one question I would be asking is just how marketable is a diploma or even a basic BSc in surveying....what are the job opportunities...either salaried or self-employed....and if the latter, who would engage your services as opposed to, say, a chartered surveyor?

Home Inspectors or anything linked with a Government 'initiative' is a BIG no-no IMHO since when did any government scheme of whichever party survive the next change of govt or even the incumbents swivelling in the breeze to suit whichever spin happens to be de rigeur at the time? Quite frankly I find the govt's behaviour, in encouraging people to fork out thousands of pounds to train as a Home Inspector only to pull the rug firmly out from under their feet, utterly reprehensible. But, given their u-turn on encouraging self-employed people to set themselves up as limited companies perhaps I shouldn't be surprised.

There will always be a demand for qualified and experienced surveyors since there is a very strong financial incentive for all parties concerned.

Good luck whichever route you take.

 

[ByronBlack]

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies, the home inspector thing did concern me on the points raised about the government, but there are a number of body's, associations now that are currenty and in the future that will aply pressure to the govnment, for example, a couple of things they are working on is having HI's do valuation and also EPR's for commercial property's. And they have confirmed that there is a need for these for rental property. So i think HI's are going to be relatively safe for the time being. However, the thing that concerns me is how easy it is for existing professionals to 'top-up' their training in a matter of months to become HI's so that might limit the number of jobs that are available.

Despite all that, it sounds like a great job and oppurtunity, its just whether the risk is it worth it and the money - somewhere between 6 and 9k!

On the surveyor front, my intention would be to do the diploma to gain entry into the industry, work as an assistant or junior to the main surveyors and continue my training to chartered status

Either way its got to be better than what I'm doing currently (work in an optical lab for a pittance)

Anyone else currently work as a surveyor or currently studying?

 

[RogerS]

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies, the home inspector thing did concern me on the points raised about the government, but there are a number of body's, associations now that are currenty and in the future that will aply pressure to the govnment, for example, a couple of things they are working on is having HI's do valuation and also EPR's for commercial property's.

No...could not disagree with you more! These are trade bodies with vested interests in maintaining the smoke screen, spin and hype surrounding this debacle. I would not trust anything that they say any more than I would my chances of winning the Olympics. Of course they are going to say all sorts of favourable things because if the scheme completely dies (as I think it will) then they will cease to exist as well since they are then without any purpose.

 

[ByronBlack]

Roger, you make some good points, and I guess the whole HI thing is one of those things that will either turn into an established and accepted sector, or as you predict go "tetas" up.

Bearing in mind the cost of the course, it does make me wonder why it is so expensive compared to others, for example, the average cost seems to be about 6k where the property surveying diploma is only 1k and both take about the same time.

I think the HI is probably a risk too far for me. I've been talking to a few guy's at work about it most of today, and a lot of people have the same view - could be a superb way of earning a lot of cash quickly, but as far as it being a lasting profession is a differnet matter altogether.

So, in light of that, I would still like to hear from anyone with knowledge of the surveying industry!

 

[devonwoody]

Byron, if global warming is going to be as bad as some predictions, will there be any properties to survey on a great part of this island in the not too distant future? :?

I must have one of those down moods at the moment