Member Article

Chris Jude, director of Building Surveyors Limited takes bdaily behind the business

Building Surveyors Limited is a firm of property and construction consultants. Established in 2003 by local chartered building surveyors the company has developed a comprehensive range of commercial and residential services. The company’s in depth knowledge and experience provides clients with clear and concise reporting and high levels of service.

What key challenges has your company recently faced?

Like many companies throughout the region, we have been trying to overcome the lack of opportunities within the current poor economic climate. In order to do so, we are always looking to adapt in order to create a reasonable flow of business.

What is your biggest achievement over the past 12 months?

From a financial perspective, I would have to say that successfully operating a small business in challenging times has been an achievement in itself.

We were also honoured to be working as project manager on the refurbishment and remedial works of the Listed Buttress building on Newcastle’s Quayside, which was presented with a RICS Renaissance award under the conservation category. Although a challenging and complex project, it was rewarding to give a new lease of life to one of the most important and rare buildings in Newcastle, saving The Close from further deterioration. We attended the RICS Awards Grand Final, which took place at the Savoy Hotel in London on Friday 21st October, where sadly we did not go on to win the overall award but were delighted to be shortlisted in the conservation category.

What is your biggest focus for the coming year?

We are hoping for an expansion in the coming year, where we aim to grow as a business. Additionally, we will be working to continue building upon the established reputation that Building Surveyors Ltd has earned over the years.

We have set our own modest targets for the coming year and intend to achieve these by forging new relationships and building upon our existing good ones. Our own statistics currently show that we as a company have a split between commercial and residential work load which leans toward commercial. It is our intention to balance these out over the coming months.

If you had to choose one top piece of advice for someone just starting out in business, or currently operating within your industry sector, what would it be?

To ensure they have experienced all aspects of work within their profession through working with others before starting for themselves. You should also start small with minimal overheads and don’t take on too much at once so that you can give all jobs the full attention that they each require.

Running a small business is a real juggling act. To be able to manage all necessary tasks supplementary to your core profession is very difficult. Knowing when to ask others for help is very important.

Can you share with us your view of the current landscape of business, in this region or generally and where your organisation sits within it?

I personally feel the North East is still in a poor way with particular reference to my own sectors of property and construction which unlike other parts of the economy, have been unable to escape the shackles of the recession.

As Chartered Building Surveyors we are labelled the ‘jack of all trades’ within the property industry. In this regard, we are slightly lucky that we can adapt to a certain extent and work with refurbishment schemes when the new builds are less frequent.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chris Jude .