Report
writing - learning from the UK
experience
It is important that home inspectors can be relied
upon to provide an acceptable standard of inspection and report. However,
consumers have traditionally found a large variation in the quality and
accuracy of reports giving justifiable concern.
In the United Kingdom for example, a recent
book by the recognised industry expert Stephen Callaghan states, “What they say
about surveyors is probably true…
get ten
of them in a room to look at the same defect and they will come up with ten
different answers”.
The UK Government has now introduced a
standardised system of inspection and report in the form of “Home Condition
Reports”.
The UK Government has adopted a uniform
approach, as a Home Condition Report technical pilot
indicated high levels of variability between assessments made by
different home inspectors. As well as the differences in the diagnosis of
problems there were also considerable differences in the amount of description
offered and the language used.
Key recommendations of the technical pilot indicated
that once in the field, home inspectors should survey properties in a standard
way and complete fieldwork notes to a standard format, which links directly to
the Home
Condition Report that they will complete
later. Also when transferring the information to the Home Condition
Report, home inspectors should draw on a
list of standard phrases to describe any problems that they see.
Adopting the technical pilot recommendations is a key
factor in reducing the incidence of errors and omissions in reports. This in
turn minimises the risk of consumer misunderstandings and negligence claims
against inspectors. From a consumer’s perspective, the Home Condition Report is
an objective, clear and easy reading style of report.
In Australia
we can learn from the UK
experience. A FREE sample of the next generation of Australian building and/or
timber pest reports (released this week) can now be obtained by emailing Steve
Allen
sallen@rsa.net.au. Please request a
copy of: (a) the building report; or (b) the timber pest report; or (c) both
reports.
Importantly, all Australian reports based on the UK model take
into consideration the latest relevant Australian Standards for inspection
including AS 4349.0-2007, AS 4349.1-2007 & AS 4349.3-1998.
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