Posts Tagged ‘Parrett’

The attached recommendation for my services comes from a client couple who were at their wits end. Their home had flooded and was liable to do so again if “the Authorities” would not let them drain ground and surface water into a foul sewer in the public road outside their home. After a very long time of negotiation that had got them nowhere I was called in to help.

It is with great pride and satisfaction that I report my services engineered a structured solution after fighting tooth-and-nail for common sense to override Regulations. My clients were delighted.

This case revolved around the urbanisation of land that then floods due to the water table having risen due to so much house building closeby. This scenario will no doubt repeat itself all across our green and pleasant land as climate change bites. Homeowners are recommended to not be fobbed off by officialdom.

TESTIMONIAL FOR DRAINAGE & RELATED WORK BY STUART PARRETT FRICS

I recommend that you use Stuart Parrett to provide professional services for securing permission to install or improve drainage in residential properties.

 

Work carried out by Stuart in 2010 and 2011 advised us on the improvements needed to prevent our property getting flooded. This was in 2 phases. Firstly, he persuaded the local authorities who were responsible for drainage (principally Hampshire CC, but also Winchester CC and Swanmore Parish Council) to agree to connecting our pipes into their drainage systems. Initially they were highly resistant to doing this.

 

Secondly he drew up the development of drainage improvements, selected a very good contractor (Metro Rod) and oversaw their work, acting as an advocate for us.

 

Key features of Stuart’s work are:

 

• It is highly professional. Stuart has wide experience of taking action to promote high professional standards including through the courts
• Innovative – Stuart makes extensive use of IT systems to manage projects & for researching the best solutions
• Rapid learner: Stuart developed an understanding of council policies and systems very quickly
• Good at getting professionals from different organisations to align their policies and understanding where they are coming from
• Empathetic, understanding how stressful it can be for clients to have to cope with threats of flooding of their property
• Understanding of the ways that problems can interact e.g. seeing how work to improve drainage can have unexpected impacts on ground stability of nearby buildings
• Good at explaining complex aspects of civil engineering to clients and good at communicating
• Responsive and timely. Stuart is very good at ensuring projects keep on schedule
• Hard working: Stuart is willing to put in extra hours to deliver work on time.
• Good value for money.

 

April 2011

I was asked to advise, value and survey a large, prominent Building on the River Meon in Hampshire. The history of the building was diverse and complex and included Insurance Claim underpinning, Flooding and much alteration. This was not a job for an outsider or novice:-

My client kindly commented, after exchange of contracts, as follows:-

I am happy to recommend Stuart Parrett unequivocally. His professionalism and experience, diplomacy and tenacity really shone through on our difficult and complicated purchase.  He was spot on with his valuation and uncovered lots of issues with the property that a less thorough surveyor may have missed. We have purchased with our eyes open and at the right price… thanks to Stuart.

Commenting on PROinspect Consultancy, and Stuart Parrett in particular, Dominic Beeton stated —-

On the professional side of things, I would strongly recommendStuart Parrett of ProInspect. Stuart runs a firm from Bishops Waltham. Check his web site here He is a residential surveyor who has a fervent passion for surveying and wants to share that passion with the world.  His web site is crammed full of useful articles.  If you need a surveyor who will produce a comprehensive survey report using the latest technology including thermal imaging, Stuart is your man.  He is also a really nice chap.

THIS WAS E-MAILED RECENTLY – ANOTHER SATISFIED CUSTOMER!

My latest VIDEO is a simple look at potential pitfalls when searching the web for decent professional, property survey advice. I take a quick look at “lowest bid survey fee” websites and the “panic sites” that play on your fear and sell you short. Click here to view – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMrvVyu5g5A

Contact Stuart Parrett for specific advice on survey types, when to have a survey, fee quotations. See www.proinspect.co.uk

I have consistently advised clients what type of survey is best for them and when they should commission it. By this method my clients get the best value-for-money they can afford and reduce the chances of the survey cost becoming abortive (eg – because loan finance wasn’t forthcoming or was offered but under adverse terms).

At http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZaJ7TWsIXA I have produced another VIDEO that gives fuller information and a personal touch to the whole subject of surveys. ENJOY.

For more details or for a survey quotation in the HAMPSHIRE south coast areas, call me, Stuart Parrett on 078 3636 3040 or +44 (0)1489 896 174 or use the CONTACT FORM on my homepage.

PROinspect leader Stuart Parrett is defining a series of business systems, seminars and self-help aids that would be a godsend for aspiring residential market Chartered Surveyors and Home Inspectors wanting to create their own business.

Do you aspire to your own home based or small business venture? What is stopping you? Need help?

01 – What if ………….

I believe all of this is attainable.

I believe this is the way any sensible professional should work.

I believe professionals have been downgraded and down-valued by corporate big businesses.

I believe another way exists.

I believe, with our help, YOU could turn your whole life around so you earn more and live more.

02 – How BIG is the potential residential marketplace?

03 – Where might YOU fit in?

05 – What help can we provide for YOU to make that break?

06 – What is around the next corner?

Simple question – how many different roof types are there?

Pitched roofs

Flat roofs.

Garden roofs.

Green roofs.

.

I refer to the outer roof covering only.

We all know about natural slates, concrete tiles, flat felt clad roofing (mineral felt), lead roofing and even glass roofing. But can you prepare a definitive list? Are you up for a challenge? How many could you list.

I would suggest you define your listing into PITCHED, FLAT and OTHER for the sake of simplicity. No more than five word definitions per single roof enter please.

.

Good luck.

Stuart Parrett CEO PROinspect Consultancy England, UK.

Before you call Countrywide Surveyors, Ekins Surveyors, Allied Surveyors or Local Surveyors Direct you might want to think about several matters first:

1. Can you actually talk to a Surveyor, the one that will do your survey? You need to gauge if they are sensible and businesslike and you will probably have certain concerns you need to communicate to the Surveyor.
2. Have they asked the all-important-essential-questions BEFORE they assessed what you actually need?
3. Is the Surveyor not only qualified and insured but also fully knowledgeable in the geographic district of the house you are buying?
4. This is the clincher – does the Surveyor complete at least twice as many surveys as simple loan valuations alone? This will tell you if he/she is a jack-of-all-trades or a specialist Surveyor, as opposed to a Valuer who happens to do a few surveys.
5. If they simply asked you for the value of the home, or how many bedrooms there are, then you know they are going to standardise whatever they do for you and not personalising their service to your needs.

If all the above are satisfactory to you, and the fee quote is reasonable then you are in business: if not, call PROinspect immediately

Stuart Parrett FRICS, MAE, dipHI

Dampness in buildings

The problem Surveyors have is this – to determine the exact cause of damp often the precise history of the problem must be known and an occupier usually didn’t know of the problem when they first moved in and so paints the problem as being new.

The problem home owners and tenants have is that they couldn’t care less about the Surveyors problems and force a one-stop full solution as soon as possible. See my ADVICE ON DAMP post on this subject (elsewhere of this site) and the various types of repair solution available.

Put these two problems together and what you get is commercial pressure on Surveyors and Dampness Contractors to shoe-horn one standard solution into nearly all reported dampness problems – “it will cost you £XXX to chemically inject the walls and, by the way, your wall plaster is contaminated and essential  replastering will cost you £XXXX: Now, what’s the problem?”

The good Contractors and Surveyors saw the light many years ago and get tough with pushy clients but the down side is that investigative costs escalate, albeit those costs may considerably reduce your repair cost spend.

One person on this planet has led a revolution in the diagnosis of Dampness and anybody seriously interested in the subject should always hear him out. Therefore, here is a LINK to his web-site = http://www.buildingpathology.net/homeTruths.asp

His name is Mike Parrett and his Building Pathology and Home Truths advice is very well respected. What he is saying is “look beyond the obvious for the correct diagnosis and design of a solution to dampness”.

I must straight away report that Mike may have the same surname as me, and he might be related, but as far as I am aware we have never met and if we are related it is very distant (but our desire to improve House Survey Reportng standards is identical – perhaps in runs in Parrett blood?).

Back to the subject of dampness…….

Once rising damp has been correctly diagnosed (and I refer you do the Condensation TAB for extended comment and resource data for that form of dampness) what happens next?

Your dampness problem must first be defined: often the causes of damp are several and the sorting out process is difficult because one source of damp is lying over another. In a chimney flue or fireplace condensate from fuel combustion, ordinary condensation, falling penetrating dampness might mingle with rising dampness. In this example, what is more important, quickly rectifying “the damp” so as to prevent ground floor rot developing at even higher repair cost budgets or getting the correct apportionment of the problems within the diagnosis?

As a Consultant do I go for immediate client benefit to the problem or slow down and spend more clients money on chemical analysis of the contaminated plaster, employ contractors to further open up the structure so I can take more dampness readings and observations etc…..

Chicken and Egg is an expression that comes to mind here. To be professional or effective? Given time and money I would like to be both but in many cases I have to attempt to explain “all this” to the non-understanding-client and ask for guidance on which direction to take.

So we have got past the diagnosis stage and are about to repair the damp. What can you expect? Let’s take a common example – partial dampness to a ground floor fireplace and both side walls:-

(I recently dealt with this case – a case where a Specialist got his diagnosis wrong and two years later the home owner has the same dampness back again but in the meantime the Specialist has gone bust and the guarantees they issued are worthless).

The symptoms – wall-base plaster slightly blistered; décor darken and slightly flaked; high dampness moisture meter readings at low height on the wall but none in the timber flooring and skirtingboards (highest readings in the fireplace itself – which has not been used for many years but remains ventilated).

The problems – (1) a Specialist came in and said “failure of the damp proof course (dpc)” and ground water is rising up the wall and (2) bringing with it salts that contaminate the wall plaster. (3) These salts stay in the plaster and extract further moisture from the air we breathe”.

The initial suggested solution – (1) hack off the wall plaster to the affected walls up to 1.2m height (after this gravity prevents water climbing higher) (2) drill wall-base holes to take injected silicone that will solidify and stop water rising in the wall (3) replaster the wall to an exact specification.

Two years later (now) the situation is – exactly the same profile of dampness as stated above.

What has gone wrong?

Put simply, the Specialist got it wrong to start with and home owner made another fatal error.

On cost grounds the home owner decided to have the replastering works completed by a local Builder and not the Specialists, the former were much cheaper. The builder was not experienced and the specification was wrong thus invalidating the guarantee (despite, in this case, the guarantee being redundant because the contractor went bust and the client did not take out a FURTHER COST Insurance Backed Option Guarantee).

The error the Specialist made was simply assuming the dampness was mainly or solely from a failed dpc.

Put the two errors together and the result was inevitable: at some time the pressure of ground water salts and exhaust combustion residue will ultimately soak through the plaster. Unfortunately the style of that penetration looks exactly like rising damp and so a real danger exists that another Specialist Contractor could come in and do the exact same works this repeating the cycle.

In this particular case PROinspect used thermal imaging techniques which together with our experience meant that the client got a solution quickly (£600 plus our own fees and the cost of subsequent restoration of decorations).

For completeness – we removed the wall plaster, allowed the exposed masonry to dry out, removed as much residue as possible, checked for and completed minor re-injection of silicone, provided a salt inhibitor slurry to the walls and then replastered correctly.

Whilst on-site we also surveyed for (1) chimney stack problems that could be causing falling penetrating damp, (2) plumbing leaks, (3) lifted lower floorboards to see of the problem damp had caused flooring decay, (4) checked for adequate sub-floor-ventilation air circulation.

So, when the Mortgage Valuation report says your new home has damp and a Specialist Report is needed, do think hard before you reach for the phone.

For those who still need for data, here are a selection of web-sites that may be of use to you:-

A Company who have high diagnostic skills and who we use often is http://www.insitegroup.co.uk/

Like Mike Parrett, Tim Hutton is also a master – http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/risingdamp/risingdamp.htm

For basic data but also some cool download materials check out this site http://www.safeguardeurope.com/applications/rising_damp.php

One good solution to Condensation and general dampness is to provide a Positive Pressure Ventilation system or install Humidivent intelligent extractor/blowers: see such sites as these for more details – look at these solutions as an improvement to control the problems rather curing the problems:- http://www.petercox.com/services/condensation.html and this one for a PDF version of technical data for an AIRFLOW system (sorry about the long address) – http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=humidivents&btnG=Search&meta=&aq=f&oq=

And finally, Period Buildings are a completely new and different challenge and usually must not be treated in the same manner as more modern buildings. The following site breaks you into a differing mindset – http://www.spab.org.uk/advice/technical-qas/technical-qa-20-rising-damp/