Article Index
Surveying
valuation surveyor
what you need to qualify
All Pages

What does a surveyor do and how do you qualify? Most of us are vaguely familiar with the idea of a surveyor checking out any house or property before it is bought, to see that it won't fall down. Yet surveying as a profession has a large variety of specialist areas, all of which offer well paid and well respected careers. Before you decide that surveying is or isn't for you, check out what is available.

 

Land surveyor

In general terms a land surveyor will describe and value the characteristics of a particular site, often in preparation for a client purchasing or developing that site. This can include assessing a site for a multitude of different uses, from agriculture, forestry, recreation, as well as development for housing, industry, transport and any other use that the land can be put to. Even a so-called brown-field site (something that often has an existing or redundant building on it) will need accurate surveying.

 

A land or site surveyor will have to have expertise in understanding drainage, past uses, current permitted uses under planning laws, and a whole range of factors; as well as a good understanding of market values. Besides this, he or she will have to be able to understand what a client might want to do with the land in the future and whether this is practical. An example might be a storage depot that can cope with two or three lorries a day, but could not cope with more if the local roads aren’t suitable.

 

Building or Structural Surveying

It is this type of surveyor most people recognize in relation to buying or selling their home. Again, accurate description and valuation of a property is critical in allowing a surveyor’s client to decide whether the purchase price or rent is fair or reasonable. No-one wants to buy a house, office or any building to find it then needs a new roof, foundations or drains. As before, the client may want to know what possible uses the building could be put to in the future, and whether the local council would allow any change. This in turn also needs to be assessed as to what value the building might have in the future as well as in its existing use.