Inform Surveying Ltd

18/08/2026

Interim or terminal, the schedule that catches people out
An interim schedule can be served during the lease term. An anticipated terminal schedule is typically served in the final year of the term as the lease expiry approaches. A final schedule is served after the lease has ended.

Leases run for years, and the obligations sitting quietly in the lease covenants gets forgotten. Larger organisations account for dilapidations as a cost through the term. Everyone else finds out at the worst moment. Smaller businesses without a dedicated finance function are usually the ones caught out.

Know which schedule you’re looking at, and why, before you respond to it.

Real questions deserve real answers. Drop Jonathan Gobie a message and let's talk about what's next for your property.

www.informsurveying.co.uk

14/08/2026

Dilapidations isn’t confrontation. It’s clarity.

Most disputes don’t start with a difficult landlord or an unreasonable tenant. They start earlier than that, at the point a lease was signed without proper advice.

Tenants often assume “leaving it as I found it” is the standard. It isn’t. Repairing obligations are set out in the lease itself, and if nobody explained them at the outset, the first real conversation happens years later, at the worst possible time.

At INform, we treat dilapidations as a matter of obligation, not blame. Proper advice, given early, removes the guesswork on both sides. Confidence before commitment. That’s the standard.

Real questions deserve real answers. Drop Jonathan Gobie a message and let's talk about what's next for your property.

www.informsurveying.co.uk

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04/08/2026

What Does a Fund Monitor Actually Do?
A Step-by-Step Guide

Fund monitoring is often described in general terms; independent oversight, lender protection, risk management. But what does it look like in practice? Here's our step-by-step methodology.

Stage 1: Pre-Start Baseline Review
Before construction begins, we review all key project documentation: development agreement, building contract, professional team appointments, planning permissions, building regulations, warranties, insurance policies, and cost plans. This establishes our baseline and identifies any pre-commencement risks.

Stage 2: Initial Drawdown Certification
We verify that all pre-conditions for the first drawdown are satisfied; site preparation complete, contractor mobilised, statutory approvals in place, insurance active. Only then do we certify the initial release.

Stage 3: Monthly Site Inspections
Each month, our chartered surveyor visits site, inspects construction progress, assesses workmanship quality, reviews health and safety compliance, and photographs key elements. This forms the basis of our independent assessment.

Stage 4: Independent Valuation
Against the contractor's drawdown application, we provide our own independent assessment of work completed and materials on site. Discrepancies are investigated and reported, protecting lenders from overpayment.

Stage 5: Comprehensive Monthly Reporting
Our report covers: progress assessment, cost plan review, programme status, risk register update, compliance status, and our certification recommendation. Clear, concise, and actionable.

Stage 6: Practical Completion and Closeout
At completion, we verify the defects liability position, review final account settlement, confirm statutory sign-offs, and provide our assessment of the scheme's overall delivery against the original brief.

At every stage, our obligation is entirely to the lender. That independence is what makes fund monitoring genuinely valuable.

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Request our Fund Monitoring service overview → informsurveying.co.uk

04/08/2026

The Critical Role of Independent Fund Monitoring in Construction Finance

In today's complex construction landscape, protecting financial interests requires more than basic oversight; it demands expert, independent fund monitoring.

What sets effective fund monitoring apart?

Independence. The fund monitor's obligation runs entirely to the lender. This means our assessment of site progress, contractor valuations, and project risks is completely impartial.

Expertise. Certifying drawdown applications requires the technical knowledge to assess construction quality, identify structural risks, understand programme logic, and evaluate cost plan integrity.

Communication. The most technically rigorous report is worthless if it doesn't reach the right people in time to act. Our reporting is designed to be clear, timely, and actionable.

Our recent Sheffield residential development demonstrates this in practice: a fast-moving 38-apartment scheme, a lender whose exposure needed careful management throughout. Through proactive, independent monitoring, we ensured the lender's exposure never exceeded agreed thresholds. Full loan repayment within six months of completion. Zero disputes throughout.

Construction projects involve inherent risks. Expert, independent fund monitoring ensures those risks are managed with precision, foresight, and complete transparency.

20/07/2026

Time is Money: Why Programme Management Protects Your Investment

Delays in construction don't just postpone completion, they compound costs, disrupt income streams, and damage client relationships.

For property investors and developers, a delayed project means delayed returns. For commercial landlords, it means extended business disruption. For every stakeholder, it means unnecessary stress and financial exposure.

Effective programme management prevents this through:
→ Detailed pre-construction programme development mapping every activity and dependency
→ Critical path analysis identifying which activities directly impact completion
→ Weekly progress monitoring to catch variances immediately, not months later
→ Proactive delay mitigation through revised sequencing or resource adjustment
→ Structured coordination meetings keeping all parties aligned
→ Contemporaneous documentation of delays, causes, and responsibility

In our Chorley warehouse project, a 12-week programme was established for a complex, high-value refurbishment. Through detailed planning, weekly site visits, and real-time problem solving, we delivered exactly on time, enabling the client to re-market the property and resume rental income as planned.

Time is your most valuable construction resource. Expert programme management protects it.

Delivering success today and tomorrow with precision and foresight.



Explore our Project Management services → informsurveying.co.uk

14/07/2026

Confidence before commitment. That's the standard at INform.

Every instruction we take, from dilapidations to full building surveys, is delivered with the depth and clarity that means our clients can make decisions with certainty.

No ambiguity. No gaps. No surprises. That's INform.

www.informsurveying.co.uk

06/07/2026

Two engineers. Two designs. One walked away from a risk the other one missed.

Felix Mitchell-Hampson was appointed Party Wall Surveyor on a two storey side extension. Straightforward, until the drawings didn't add up.

The design notes called for centrally loaded foundations to prevent overturning. The drawings showed an eccentric foundation doing the opposite. Felix queried it. The structural engineer refused to engage further, and it turned out the design team had already fallen out among themselves.

So Felix stopped the process. Not the project, the Award. He told the client plainly: he had no wish to hold up the build, and he could not sign off a design he wasn't satisfied was safe.
The client changed engineer. The new one did what the first should have: dug a trial pit to check the neighbouring foundations. The ground wouldn't have taken the eccentric design. It went ahead as a raft foundation instead.

Without that trial pit, the exposure wasn't just to the Building Owner's extension. It was to the neighbour's home too.
The Party Wall Act gets treated as paperwork. Handled properly, it's a checkpoint with the authority to catch what everyone else missed, before it becomes a cost, or worse.
Confidence before commitment. That's the standard at INform.

www.informsurveying.co.uk



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30/06/2026

Confidence before commitment. That's the standard at INform.

Every instruction we take, from dilapidations to full building surveys, is delivered with the depth and clarity that means our clients can make decisions with certainty.

No ambiguity. No gaps. No surprises. That's INform.

www.informsurveying.co.uk

29/06/2026

29/06/2026

Construction Risk Doesn't Wait : Neither Should Your Management of It

Every construction project carries risk. The question isn't whether risks will emerge, it's whether you have the expertise to identify and mitigate them before they become costly problems.

At INform Surveying, proactive risk management is embedded in everything we do:

Pre-Construction Risk Assessment — Reviewing all key project documentation to establish a baseline risk profile before works commence.

Ongoing Risk Monitoring — Regular assessment throughout construction as conditions and circumstances evolve.

Early Warning Systems — Identifying potential cost overruns, programme delays, or quality concerns at the earliest possible stage.

Contingency Planning — Working with clients to establish practical responses to identified risks.

Regulatory Risk — Ensuring compliance with Building Regulations, CDM requirements, and planning conditions throughout.

Financial Risk — Tracking committed costs against budget with early alerts when exposure approaches thresholds.

Proactive risk management isn't pessimism — it's professional prudence.