It can be quite difficult to understand the cost of a report if you do not know how many rooms or areas are to be included so the following is a guide to getting the pricing right first time.
The floorpan shown is a large house located in the Dorset region.
Some inventory providers quote on the number of bedrooms in the property so for the above example this would be 4 bedrooms with a potential price range of between £60 to £150 depending on the exact area / region the property is located.
A further consideration would be if you are VAT registered; this will need to be shown as an additional cost.
It is my advice that all areas / rooms should be individually counted and reported on so that you can provide an accurate figure for the report based on your current rate card / price list. If you do not have this already I would urge you to provide clients with a rate card that has a guide number of rooms each report includes so that the client can easily understand the cost when being quoted.
Why?
To avoid quoting for a report only to find when at the property that it is much larger than informed at booking which can then impact on the clerks time at the property, the knock on effect to other reports booked after the property and so that the clerk / company is correctly numerated for the work completed as the larger more complex the property is the more time spent compiling the report hence the cost should reflect that time and expertise.
So; count each room / area as shown in the above floorpan. What number do you have? 10, 12, 14?
Lets break it down to the floors:
Ground Floor
- Porch
- Hall
- Lounge
- Dining Room
- Sun Room
- Breakfast Area / Kitchen
- Utility Area
- Toilet
First Floor
- Stairs
- Landing
- Bedroom 1
- Bedroom 2
- Walk in Wardrobe
- Bathroom
Top Floor
- Stairs
- Landing
- Loft Room 1
- Loft Room 2
So now that I have broken down the areas the original potential figure of between 10 – 14 is now 18 and so would increase the cost of the report over the guide number (14) by between £5 and £10 per ‘room / area’.
You may query why they are broken down this way as often I see stairs / landings included under one set of descriptions and condition comments.
They are broken down so that the information is clearly understood and issues / condition comments can be attributed to the correct areas whereas if you try and ‘lump’ everything into one area it can be much more difficult to evidence those conditions and or issues clearly for either the landlord, tenant, letting agent but more importantly the adjudicator who should always be your main focus.
So when quoting for a property; don’t just about about the number of bedrooms ask also about the different areas of the property and of course gardens or external buildings such as sheds, summer houses, stable blocks and quote accordingly as each area will require the same level of detail, pictorial or video evidence and will take time to compile and correctly evidence.
Your time, expertise and professionalism is hard earned and so you should rightly expect a fair price for the report so always ensure that you ask:
- how many rooms
- how many areas and
- how many external areas are to be included
Always advise that the report cost may go up if the landlord, letting agent or tenant has not provided you with the correct information.