Property & Facility Inspection
Building surveys, condition reports, and stock assessments delivered faster
Most building surveyors and property inspectors still rely on pen, paper, and voice dictation—a workflow that takes 5+ working days to deliver a report. The process is familiar: scribble notes on site, take hundreds of photos on a separate camera, return to the office, dictate findings, wait for transcription, match photos to descriptions, review and edit, then finally deliver. With the UK alone having 134,000+ RICS members and European property management covering 250M+ buildings, there's enormous demand for professional survey services—but traditional methods limit how many inspections each surveyor can complete. Geocadra cuts report delivery to 24-48 hours while improving accuracy and reducing surveyor workload.
Why Property Survey Workflows Are Stuck in the Past
Traditional survey methods create bottlenecks that limit productivity and delay client deliverables.
5+ Working Days From Site Visit to Report Delivery
The traditional workflow—paper notes, voice dictation, transcription, photo matching, editing, delivery—adds multiple days between site inspection and client report. Each handoff introduces delays: waiting for transcription services, finding time to review drafts, chasing missing information. Clients expect faster turnaround, but the workflow itself creates unavoidable delays.
Matching Hundreds of Photos to Room Descriptions
A typical building survey generates 100-200+ photos. Each photo needs to be reviewed, matched to the correct room or element, numbered sequentially, and inserted into the report. This photo administration often takes as long as the site inspection itself. Camera timestamps help, but photos of similar rooms are easily confused, and errors undermine report credibility.
RICS Standards Require Specific Documentation Formats
RICS Home Survey Levels 1-3 specify particular documentation requirements, rating scales, and report structures. Surveyors must ensure their observations match RICS terminology and their reports follow prescribed formats. Paper-based systems make consistency difficult, especially across a team of surveyors with different experience levels.
Fire Risk and HHSRS Assessments Require Evidence Trails
Fire risk assessments under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order and HHSRS assessments for housing health and safety require documented evidence supporting conclusions. When assessments are challenged—as they sometimes are—surveyors need contemporaneous records demonstrating thorough inspection. Paper notes and camera photos often prove inadequate.
Managing Multiple Clients and Properties Creates Chaos
Surveyors and property managers often handle properties for dozens of different clients simultaneously. Keeping client data separate, maintaining confidentiality, and retrieving historical records for specific properties becomes increasingly difficult as workload grows. Paper filing systems and generic digital tools weren't designed for this complexity.
How Geocadra Accelerates Property Surveys
Digital workflows designed specifically for building inspection professionals.
Report Delivery in 24-48 Hours
Capture survey data directly in structured digital forms. Photos automatically attach to the correct rooms and elements. By the time you leave site, your report is largely complete—just review, refine descriptions, and deliver. What took 5+ working days now happens in 24-48 hours.
Room-by-Room Photo Organisation
Navigate through properties room by room, with photos automatically linking to the current location. Sequential numbering happens automatically. Export photo schedules organised by room or by defect type. No more matching hundreds of camera photos to written notes.
Pre-Built RICS Home Survey Templates
Templates structured for RICS Home Survey Levels 1, 2, and 3 ensure your observations follow required formats and terminology. Condition ratings use standard scales. Report exports match RICS conventions. Consistency across all surveys, regardless of which surveyor conducts them.
Evidence Trails for Compliance Assessments
Every observation includes automatic timestamp, GPS location, and surveyor identification. Photos embed metadata that can't be edited after capture. Fire risk and HHSRS assessments produce contemporaneous documentation that demonstrates thorough inspection methodology.
Multi-Client Data Organisation
Separate workspaces for different clients or property portfolios. Role-based access controls ensure confidentiality. Historical records organised by property with quick retrieval for repeat inspections or reference queries. Professional data management that scales with your practice.
Common Workflows
See how property professionals use Geocadra across common survey and inspection types.
RICS Home Survey Levels 1-3
Structured inspection covering all RICS-required elements. Condition ratings using standard scales. Room-by-room photo documentation. Export reports in RICS-compliant format ready for client delivery.
Dilapidation Surveys
Document property condition at lease start or end with comprehensive photo evidence. Record defects with precise descriptions and locations. Create comparison baselines for future reference.
Stock Condition Surveys
Systematic assessment of housing stock for asset management planning. Capture component conditions, remaining lifespans, and replacement costs. Export data for lifecycle cost modelling and budget planning.
Fire Risk Assessments
Work through structured assessment covering all fire risk factors. Document hazards with photos and locations. Risk ratings following standard methodologies. Generate assessment reports meeting regulatory requirements.
HHSRS Assessments
Assessment of 29 housing health and safety hazard categories. Document hazards with supporting evidence. Rating calculations following HHSRS methodology. Reports suitable for local authority submission.
Inventory and Check-Out Inspections
Room-by-room inventory documentation with photo evidence. Condition recording for fixtures, fittings, and finishes. Comparison against check-in records for deposit dispute support.
Measurable Results
Property professionals using Geocadra report dramatic improvements in productivity and accuracy.
Report delivery time drops from 5+ working days to 24-48 hours—a change that transforms client relationships and cash flow. Data entry errors decrease from 0.73 per 100 questions with manual transcription to 0.17 with direct digital capture. Surveyors consistently complete 30% more inspections per week because they're not losing days to administrative processing. Photo organisation alone saves hours per survey; when combined with direct digital data capture, the cumulative efficiency gains are substantial.
Compliance & Standards
Geocadra helps property professionals meet documentation requirements across key regulatory frameworks.
RICS Standards
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors sets professional standards for building surveys including Home Survey Levels 1-3. Geocadra's RICS templates ensure observations follow required terminology, condition ratings use appropriate scales, and report exports meet professional formatting expectations.
HHSRS
The Housing Health and Safety Rating System requires assessment of 29 hazard categories with documented evidence supporting conclusions. Our HHSRS templates guide surveyors through all hazard categories while photo documentation provides the evidence trail that supports assessment conclusions.
Fire Safety Order
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order requires responsible persons to conduct fire risk assessments with documented findings. Geocadra's fire risk templates cover all assessment elements with photo evidence, creating the contemporaneous documentation that demonstrates compliance.
EPC Requirements
Energy Performance Certificates require specific building information for accurate ratings. Geocadra captures EPC-relevant data during building surveys, supporting both EPC production and the broader assessment context.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I still use voice dictation for detailed observations?
Yes. Geocadra supports voice notes that attach directly to specific rooms or elements. For longer descriptions, use your device's speech-to-text for hands-free data entry. The difference is these notes attach directly to survey records rather than requiring separate transcription.
What report formats can I export?
Export as PDF reports formatted for client delivery, including all photos organised by room or element. Also export raw data as Excel or CSV for further analysis or import into other systems. Photo exports include all metadata for archival purposes.
How do I access historical surveys for a property?
All surveys are organised by property with full search capability. Pull up previous inspections to compare conditions over time, reference past observations, or provide historical context for current findings.
How does team collaboration work?
Assign properties or survey types to specific team members. Senior surveyors can review and approve submissions before client delivery. Standardised templates ensure consistent quality regardless of which surveyor conducts the inspection.
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