Interviewed by Jimmy Webb
Dan and I were friends in college way back in 1998. After, we lost touch for 14 years until he and another college friend bumped into each other in Southend Hospital when their daughters were being born.
Weirdly, I bumped into the same other friend in Sainsburys carpark shortly after, which led to us and one other joining forces again. We now inundate each other with funny, annoying, and childish videos in our group chat.
Daniel started his surveying career in 2007, having previously worked as a ceramic Tiler.
He has extensive experience in buildings insurance, social housing, supported living, and leasehold property management sectors.
Dan particularly enjoys project management, inspection, and legal matters.
He has a degree in Building Surveying, done at the University of Reading in 2013, and is currently midway through a Masters Degree in Construction Project Management with Nottingham Trent University.
Dan holds a certificate in Project Management with RICS, completed in 2022.
JW – Hello Dan. It’s great to chat with you today. Let’s start with you explaining what your job entails on a day-to-day basis.
DW – As a building surveyor working in Central London, my day-to-day activities are often extremely varied. I spend a lot of time in the office typing and researching and spend a lot of time out on site.
My main roles or activities could be described as visiting sites to assess defects, or providing reports to clients, as well as and advising them. That often progresses to returning to site to report full specifications of works. Bearing in mind, a major part of my work is on residential blocks of flats, so I’m often dealing with managing agents and leaseholders.
I’ll produce specifications at home. We tender them and review the tenders from there if instructed. We manage the overall contract. So, we appoint contractors and what is known as ‘administer’ the contract.
Therefore, my job involves a lot of legal knowledge, a lot of technical knowledge, people skills, and communication skills.
Aside from that, we often perform measured height surveys, where we officially measure the height of a building for clients who need it for health and safety reasons, and insurance reasons.
We perform full condition surveys of blocks to provide a ten-year maintenance forecast or cost expenditure forecast. Or I could go and look at a block and realise it’s going to need a new roof within eight years. Or measure up the internal communal areas and provide an estimate of how much it’ll cost to redecorate that every four or five years.
Yeah, the job’s very very varied, but that’s a sort of snapshot of what my days are like.
JW – That certainly does sound like a really involved role. How long did your journey to becoming a surveyor take? And what challenges did you face on the way?
DW – It’s a tricky question to answer, because the journey from where I started to now has been very difficult. I don’t think it’s the typical journey. I think I’ve been quite unlucky in a lot of respects.
I was a tradesperson. A dedicated, motivated, and diligent tradesperson. This was pre-2008. I had my own business with a wife and a new mortgage on a flat. I was taking on big projects and struggling with the business side of it. I was quite young, in my early twenties, not really understanding things like method statements and payment terms, etc.
I saw a temporary job advertised for an insurance assessor for three months, so thought I’d give that a go. To be honest, I sort of blagged my way in.
The foot in a door was dependent on the market. For a lot of people, if times are hard, like during a recession, then highly qualified people get the roles, but if there are jobs and people to fill them, then me just as a ceramic tiler, who pretended to know how to lay brick as well, somehow got a job as a surveyor, inspecting insurance claims.
It was a bit of a con because they said they only wanted me for two weeks. The ad had said three months just to get me in the door.
But the experience opened my eyes. I was amazed at how interesting the job was. How good at it and suited to it I was. But also things like having annual leave and sick pay and people going home at five o’clock and all these sorts of things. I couldn’t get my head around it.
But yeah, I’ve worked various roles within the surveying industry. I built up a lot of experience, as in, starting in insurance, and I’ve worked in social housing, and now in private practice. But to get to the position I’m in now was really difficult.
I found that nobody wanted to help me on a one-to-one level. I struggled big time with office politics and dealing with people that were in high positions but weren’t necessarily honest or helpful. They were just trying to protect their own position and not dedicated to getting the job done properly, with passion.
However, I’m extremely happy where I am now and feel like I’m in a good place. But one of the things I did to get here was pay for myself to do a degree in building surveying in my spare time. Like evenings and weekends, missing entire summers studying to educate myself.
More recently, in the last few years, I did a year of study in my spare time on an RICS course in Project Management, as my role was becoming more project management based. I also decided to do a Masters degree in Construction Project Management, which is ten times more expensive than what I remember.
It’s about £11k. But my degree at the time was pre-conservative government, and I paid about £3k for it.
I tried to retain every piece of information that I learnt. I worked my absolute socks off to try to be the best I can be, because ultimately it pays the bills. But I have got plans to one day earn much more and have my own company.
JW – Great answer. What a shame that no-one was willing to help you. I wonder if that gave you extra drive to better yourself, but do it independently. You must feel proud now, knowing you’ve done it yourself, although it’s been expensive. How much of an impact has all the studying had on your personal life? You’re married, with kids now. It must have been hard.
DW – The first degree. The BSE. That was before I had children, so I was doing it at evenings and weekends. But yeah, it did affect my social life. I found myself being in a pub on Sundays with my mates and saying, ‘Right. I’m only having one beer, then I’m going home because I’ve gotta do an assignment.
But I don’t really remember it being awful or anything like that. I just think that before children, you have loads of time.
But with the Masters, now that we have two children, I decided to get up really early in the morning to do it. I started at 7 and finished by 9. It didn’t always work out. I did sometimes find myself doing it all day Saturday and Sunday if I had an assignment due. But it did work out quite nicely.
I can’t do that anymore if I’m honest, because my current job is too intense, so I haven’t got the mental energy. But if people want to do it, it is possible. There are enough hours in the day.
JW – It sounds like a lot of dedication and discipline. Particularly with the Masters once you had kids. But it’s evidently possible, so is inspiration for anyone out there reading this that is in the same boat. However, you did pay for your courses yourself. Not everyone can do that. Are there many opportunities for people with limited recourses to gain the same qualifications and experience?
DW – Yeah, some employers help. My old employer did it, but not for the course I wanted to do. Usually, you get tied into working for a firm for a certain amount of years, otherwise you have to pay them back. It depends on the employer.
JW – So it’s a case of researching the company to see what they offer. I suppose it’s also a case of meeting their requirements.
On the subject of employers, let’s go back to your work. What would you say is the most challenging part of your job?
DW – There’s no single overriding challenge. There are about five or six categories of challenges that you have to keep on top of all the time. Or different skillets that you need. Like the discipline and knowledge to perform consistently throughout the day.
An important one is really effective communications. That could mean plans communications with clients, residents, contractors. And internally, making sure the communications are recorded and making sure you’re communicating the right stuff at the right time.
That leads to having the right communication skills. So it could be people skills. Soft skills with residents or contractors. This can involve adopting the relevant persona for the person you’re speaking to.
The technical knowledge is very difficult to keep on top of. You need to understand so much contractually. You’ll only get all these things through experience. Like what to do if things go wrong, all the health and safety legal knowledge. Yeah, there’s an endless amount of knowledge that’s needed to stay sharp.
Then there’s organisation. Proper filing, for example. Time management is also key, because it would be very rare to have a quiet day at work, so you need to manage your days effectively.
There’s also managing your own stress. The intensity of the work could easily tip the balance the wrong way with regards to stress and happiness.
JW – You touched on a key topic there. Stress really is something that needs to be spoken about. Mental health awareness is a big thing now across many industries. What do you do to keep your stress levels down and reduce burnout.?
DW – There is definitely more of an acceptance to talking about this topic these days. People are becoming more educated on it. More empathetic.
But everyone deals with it differently. Personally, I think there are many factors. It’s down to the individual. Their personality and character. It’s down to your role. Whether or not you enjoy it. And it’s also down to your bosses and their expectations, partnered with their level of support.
Over the years, I’ve suffered with a lot with stress, due to the amount of work I had to do in short spaces of time, while trying to churn out quality.
If you’re happy in the role and you want to do it, that’s a big help. If you’re not happy, while getting constant work piled on you, it adds to the misery.
Being in a nice working environment helps.
This is all part of my experience, anyway. There are lots of ways to help with your stress levels.
JW – These are all valid points. But what about on a personal level? How does Dan Waite keep his stress levels down and reduce burnout? How does he maintain his mental health?
DW – Okay, to tie in back in with my previous answer, currently, I probably work harder than I can remember ever working as a surveyor. But I really enjoy it at the moment. I’m getting everything I need from the role. Fulfilment, respect from my colleagues, support. I’m getting my inner needs met with regards to furthering my career. So, I’m not really suffering with stress that much.
But what do I do to unwind? Unfortunately, I drink on Fridays a bit too much, which has all got to stop. I need to find a different vessel for release.
We had a particularly challenging month last month, where a colleague left unexpectedly, so I had to pick up a lot of his issues and problems when they were already at crisis point. So I made a decision to take a day off work on the first day of the new month to go fishing on my own as a little treat.
At weekends I’ve been going to local rivers with my daughter. We’ve done some fishing and canoeing.
So, spending time with family has been important, and trying to make the most out of life.
But, as I said, with regards to managing work stress, I haven’t really had much to deal with.
JW – Great stuff. I’m glad you manage to find the right balance.
Now let’s talk about the industry. Industries are always evolving. Have you seen many changes in regulations since you’ve been doing the job? Is it something you have to keep on top of in terms of refresher courses? Or is it something you have to take as it comes?
DW – I’m not sure. Can you be more specific?
JW – Sure. I imagine the Grenfell tragedy forced lots of changes in fire regulations. What impact has that had on your work? Is there a lot more red tape now?
DW – Definitely. Grenfell has created a large new industry, which I’m a part of, with regards to blocks of flats and fire safety.
I’ve worked on high-rise blocks where the cladding had seemed to be combustible, so it all had to be replaced.
And also, the absolute vast array of more modern buildings that have been constructed poorly. As well as properties with fire resistance or compartmentation components missing.
It’s been absolutely shocking.
There’s a new act of parliament as a result. A new legislation. I think it’s the Building Safety Act 2022
It’s had a huge impact on my career, but it’s opened up a sector with my work, basically, which I’ve moved into with a project manager.
I’m dealing with two multi-million-pound buildings at the moment, where we’ve fully investigated the buildings with invasive inspections. Like opening up parts of them and finding that all the necessary fire safety components are missing. While also finding the presence of combustible materials.
I’ve completed numerous ones with the aid of other consultancies, but these new ones are the ones I’m working on solo for the first time.
Another example is trying to establish which high-rise blocks are above or below eighteen metres. And which ones are above eleven metres.
I’ve picked up a lot of knowledge on fire doors, compartmentation, and much more.
It’s an extremely hot topic that people are paying very, very close attention to.
JW – Yeah, I imagine it’s put everything under the microscope. Can you just clarify the reason for establishing the heights of the buildings? And what is there in the way of accountability now?
DW – So, first of all, the government was paying the full funds for buildings over eighteen metres. This was the full contractual some of the works, so that the people living in flats weren’t lumbered with it. I think that was the Building Safety Fund, which was a grant.
Now, anything from eleven to eighteen metres would be the original developer’s responsibility. So they’re now accountable for anything they put up.
As far as accountability for the works that go back in, we’re using non-combustible materials that have to be certified, which is mostly things like Rockwool panels as insulation. The works have to be fully signed off by building control and a fire engineer.
Whoever has got the design responsibility has to have a staggering amount of professional indemnity insurance to cover them, in case there’s any negligence or mishaps on their part. In theory, the insurance company will also be liable for some of it.
Also, with regards to the new Building Safety Act, one person has to be named as the Responsible Person for that block now. I’ve wondered how on earth that would work and who would actually sign up to that.
So, Mr or Mrs Bloggs signs up to taking ownership if anything goes wrong. Hmm. I personally wouldn’t want my name above the door for anything under half a million pounds.
But we’ll see how it pans out.
JW – Just to go back to that last point, who would this Mr or Mrs Bloggs be? And regards to the previous question, you’ve established the ins and outs of this new act. But what regulations were there prior to what happened? Were these materials in buildings illegally and was there any accountability for that?
Sorry. Three questions in one there.
DW – I suppose it varied from building to building. I know that the flammable insulation and other materials were within regulations at the time.
I think there were many combinations of issues, such as poor workmanship, negligence, and poor material choices being approved.
With regards to the Responsible Person, which I misnamed. It’s actually the Accountable Person. I’m not an expert on that subject, so I’ll provide a link that the HSE have on the subject here.
JW – Okay, that’s fair enough. Right, we’re going to be closing off soon, so I’ll give you the last couple of questions. You mentioned that, through the early stage of your journey, you didn’t get support or mentoring. I assume you’re in a position to help people better themselves and achieve their goals. What advice would you give to a young person or anyone wanting to get into your industry?
DW – Yeah, I’ve had graduates or young people working under me. I’m always extremely enthusiastic in helping them. I try to do everything I can to give them opportunities, because I feel that I was let down.
I’ve got a new lad that’s started with me a couple of weeks ago. I probably go overboard in trying to help him, to be honest. There does need to be a balance. A chance for people to build resilience by making mistakes and learning from them.
My advice to someone would be to only get into the industry if you really want to do the job. If you enjoy the subject. You’ve got to love it, in a way. You need to be enthusiastic as a person and want to grow. Don’t go into it if you’re just going to sit there and collect a paycheck each month. There’s no point.
JW – Some real words there. Finally, tell me something about you that not many people know.
DW – This is probably a naff answer, but you can add in anyway. At this point in my career, I’m trying to remain bland. I don’t want people to know about my former life. I had quite a varied life. I’ve done quite a lot things that I’d probably class as unacceptable, so I’m just trying to keep things extremely professional and not let people know about that stuff. I want them to know me as Dan who’s just focused on his work. But everyone has a past, I suppose.
JW – I can relate to that. It’s fine. But you’re right. Everyone does have a past. Everyone one has a story. It makes us who we are.
I’d like to give you my upmost gratitude for your time, Dan. You’ve been extremely informative. It’s been a real eye opener.