I'm available to professional practices as a building surveying subconsultant. It suits commissions involving listed or historic buildings, or where you need independent RICS-qualified oversight of condition assessment, specification or contractor performance.
I'm also available to other surveying practices: for additional capacity on a busy programme, or for collaboration where a commission calls for specialist knowledge of traditional construction that sits outside a firm's usual range.
I'm based in North Norfolk, working with practices across East Anglia and, where the work suits it, further afield.
What I bring to a commission
I specialise in the pathology of traditional construction: timber framing; solid masonry; flint, carrstone, chalk lump and clunch; clay lump and cob; clay pantiles, peg tiles and water-reed thatch; lime mortars, renders and plasters. These materials follow their own rules and fail in their own ways, and a report that assesses them against modern construction standards often reaches the wrong answer, confidently.
In practice I inspect the building and assess its fabric, diagnose what is happening and why, specify repairs appropriate to the material, and oversee the specialist contractors who carry them out.
Working alongside a structural engineer, I take fabric, moisture and the non-structural causes, while the engineer takes load paths and calculations. On a movement case that usually reaches the answer faster than either discipline would alone.
How I fit into your commission
I report white-label or named, at your preference. Either way I carry professional responsibility for my part of it, and white-label reporting does not change that.
I shape the output to your deliverable. A section written to sit inside your report, a standalone appendix, a technical note for a client meeting, or a full standalone report with my name on it.
The practice is separately regulated and separately insured. Cooper & Codex Ltd is regulated by RICS (firm no. 925582) and carries its own professional indemnity cover, so appointing me does not extend your own.
I fit round your programme. Tell me the deadline in the first conversation and I will tell you honestly whether I can meet it.
What I don't do
I don't carry out valuations. The practice is not registered under the RICS Valuer Registration Scheme and does not hold the cover that work requires. I don't do structural calculations, or drainage and services testing, which belong with the relevant specialist. Where a commission needs any of these I will say so in the first conversation, and point you to someone who does them properly where I can.
Fees
I price per commission or on a day rate, whichever suits its shape, and agree it in writing before I start. Send me the commission and I will come back with a figure.