Stonemasonry survey service, what we do…

Here at Stratum Masonry, we are constantly reviewing our processes in an effort to ensure that we are always providing the best service to our customers

It’s easy when we are doing surveys on a weekly basis, to forget that sometimes a customer may have questions that they don’t want to ask for fear of looking ignorant. As customers we all do it, whether it be a query with a builder, a hairdresser, even a cake maker! We worry that our question will sound stupid, and we really shouldn’t! We are paying for a service, and if there is something we’re not sure about, then we should ask. We’ve been talking about this quite a lot recently, here at Stratum Masonry. We are constantly reviewing our processes in an effort to ensure that we are always providing the best service to our customers, and we have recently changed the structure of our quote system.

We try to preempt any questions our customers may have, along with providing as much detail as possible in our free, no obligation quotes. ​​​​​

As you can imagine, almost all of our quotes require a survey, it’s one of our most used services! We are often asked to look at properties/structures that require attention and quite often it can be very overwhelming for some of our clients, especially when there are numerous ongoing issues.

SO HOW DOES IT WORK?

Well, to be completely honest, it is different for every customer. Every job we carry out is like a person, it’s individual and it has its own needs, just like customers themselves. At Stratum Masonry, we pride ourselves on our values of

TRUST, TRANSPARENCY and INTEGRITY,

and so our customer needs are always at the forefront when we carry out our survey service.

Our survey service can be done on varying levels which include;

• Ground Level
• MEWP Access (A mobile elevating work platform)
• Scaffold Access
• ASMA Access (mobile tower)

Each level of access is project specific and budget lead, ground level is our most common along with MEWP.

Recently, during a MEWP access survey, we noted a host of underlying issues and potential further problems. Some of the basic defects that we noted included open joints, spalling, fractured masonry and displacement of high level copes. Whilst these are basic defects, they can have extreme consequences.

Take for instance open joints, this common defect allows the chance for water to ingress within a building causing damp issues and damage to internal rooms. It’s like filling a bucket with water and having a hole in it, it betrays the purpose!

A common problem our stonemasons encounter is buildings that homeowners have neglected to have annually surveyed, meaning minor defects are not being captured and remedied as they occur. This inevitably leads to major problems and large repair costs for the owners. Take the approach that having a traditional home is like having a car, it needs to be looked after and serviced regularly (or surveyed in property cases!) If you don’t look after your car, small problems turn into major problems and large repair bills will follow.

Looking after your property is exactly the same.

It’s difficult to see (and sometimes easy to ignore) defects on our property, especially in the winter when we’re not outside as much, BUT, we need to be conscious of the effect that different climates and weather conditions can have on our property.

At Stratum we recommend large buildings are surveyed twice per year.

At Stratum we recommend large buildings are surveyed twice per year (once prior to winter and once after winter has passed). With smaller scale properties we recommend once per year. This also helps you keep track of the properties condition each year, and is also useful in the event of selling your home. It provides you with the paperwork to give potential new buyers as evidence of previous works carried out, proof there is a maintenance plan in place to future proof the integrity of the buildings structure.

We’ve included an example survey for your information, and, no doubt, there may be phrases or items listed that you don’t know what they are, so remember, with survey reports (as with all things) there’s no such thing as a stupid question, just a stupid answer!