Whether seeking to secure the services of a notional rent appeals surveyor or an expert to help advise on a possible sale and leaseback deal, making the right choice is essential. There may be a great many GP surveyors in business up and down the United Kingdom, but this most certainly doesn’t mean they are all able to provide the same high-quality standard of service to you. Many surveyors will have their own very specific specialist areas of expertise and practical experience to bring to the table.
To work with a prominent and highly capable GP surveyor is to gain access to the kind of advice and information that can really make an enormous and positive difference to any GP practice business. Unfortunately, it is also possible to engage the services of GP surveyors who simply do not have the same level of expertise and could provide advice which effectively steers the business in entirely the wrong direction, much to its detriment. Which is precisely why it is important to be aware of several essential questions that should be asked prior to choosing who to work with.
Many of the crucial questions to ask will vary in accordance with the specifics of the client’s requirements, though the following examples are of universal importance and relevance:
1 – How Long Have You Been in Business?
First of all, it is a good idea to establish exactly how long the GP surveyor in question has been in business. While it is not the always the case that a long time in business necessarily guarantees or can be a completely accurate measure of competence, experience does breed valuable knowledge and insights. Quite simply the longer any given GP surveyors have been in business, the more cases, they have handled and the more practical experience they have gained along the way. While it’s not to say the newcomers to the industry cannot do a fantastic job, experience can be extremely valuable.
2 – What is Your Primary Specialism?
It is important to ask this particular question; while some GP surveyors may specialise in sale and leaseback agreements, others may be better suited to the renegotiations of lease rents terms or rent reimbursements. More often than not, the very best GP surveyors in the market will have a good deal of experience in a variety of relevant areas and will therefore be able to offer highly valuable advice and guidance. Nevertheless, if the GP surveyor in question only appears to ‘dabble’ in the area in which you need assistance, you may want to consider looking elsewhere.
3 – Have You Dealt With Cases Like Mine Before?
You may also want to think about establishing whether the GP surveyor in question hasexperience of successfully completing work relating to GP Surgeries similar to yours in the past. It’s always comforting to know that this is not by any means the first time they have come across requirements similar to your GP practice and that when put to the test before, they have delivered the required level of service to another GP practice.
4 – Do You Have Case Studies Available for Viewing?
Following on from the above point, it is always useful to ask any prospective GP surveyor to provide you with case studies, as a means by which to evaluate what they have done, what they can do and the way they do it. For confidentiality reasons, there will of course be plenty of information that cannot be shared with prospective clients under any circumstances. Nevertheless, they should at least be able to provide you with examples of the kind of work they carry out on a regular basis, along with actual examples of jobs the they have worked on and completed.
5 – Can You Explain Your Fee Structure?
The very last thing you want is to find yourself working with a dishonest GP surveyor with a habit of making their charges up as they go along. The simple fact of the matter is that irrespective of the services you need or how involved the GP surveyor will be in the process, they should be able to tell you exactly how much their services will cost and provide you with an accurate and fixed fee structure if this is your requirement. They may also be able to offer some flexibility in the fee structure they are prepared to work to.
6 – Do You Have References?
Last but not least, it is always advisable to tap into the honest and impartial advice of those that have used the services of any given GP surveyor in the past. It’s one thing for the service provider in question to claim to be able to perform and deliver the required results when put to the test – it’s something else entirely for their past and present clients to sing their praises on their behalf. If no feedback or testimonials are readily available, simply request the evidence you require directly from the service provider.