What are Alan’s qualifications?
Alan graduated, in architectural technology and building surveying, from Liverpool Polytechnic in 1971. He is an RICS charted surveyor, a charted architectural technologist, and a fellow of the charted institute of building. He has had well rounded training in the building industry, through exams and on the job, which is now focussing on residential extensions. His extensive knowledge base comes into play in every project that he undertakes, as he uses his knowledge each time to ensure he is doing the best thing for the client.
At what point does Alan first get involved with the client?
When the project is introduced to Alan, it has already crossed a few bridges; the initial consultation by the architect, and a workshop. So, he jumps in at a point where the clients have already decided to go to stage two- the planning stage. He arrives to do a detailed measured survey of the property, so everything below and above ground is understood, along with all the nuances. Alan creates a sketch-scheme plan, which is reasonably detailed as to tell us what the client’s ambitions are, and is used to generate an auto-CAD scheme of the existing and the proposed with the help of other Pride Road team members.
How long do the survey’s usually take?
Alan usually goes to the client’s house to conduct the survey, and this takes at least 3 and a half hours, in the case of a terrace house, up to 7 hours, depending on the scale. It is a lengthy process as cellars, loft spaces and gardens all need to be surveyed. Therefore, each property takes a whole day.
What does Alan look for when measuring a property?
When measuring a property, as well as taking physical dimensions, Alan will look for details like: tree roots- which affect the depth of the foundation; drainage roots- are they shared or private; service positions; meter positions; the nature of the walls and floor; and the head hights, so it is a full survey, both horizontally and vertically.
He looks at all these factors to ensure the auto-CAD drawing is as accurate as possible, so the builder can price it more accurately and so there are less issues on site.
How else does Alan support franchisees?
Alan is on hand to support franchises, and often comes to support franchise development days and delivers CPDs on a huge range of technical subjects that are relevant to the types of houses that we are involved with. A recent topic was the different periods of construction from 1850 to the present, which is useful as the age of the property helps us to anticipate the nature of the floors, roofs, walls and drainage. Anticipating this allows us to know what we are dealing with in terms of the extension
connections to the existing property.
Alan is an expert in many technical aspects, and so is the yin to Lisa’s yang, as he helps to precisely execute Lisa’s high-level designs, leaving no stone unturned.
