Outsourcing Property Condition Reports – the new way to run a successful building consultancy

Have you considered outsourcing your property condition reports and other building consultancy paperwork? PCR outsourcing is the way of the future, and offers you a ton of savings in time, energy, money and more. Today, Property Typing– as one of the UK’s leading outsourced report agencies- is here to walk you through the ins-and-outs of outsourcing your building consultancy needs, and how it will benefit you the most.

What is PCR outsourcing, anyway?

Outsourcing your property condition reports or other building consultancy reports simply means letting an outside agency handle taking your raw material [surveys, reports, notes from the person who was at the building site and so on] and forming them into correctly worded and formatted reports which can be filed with regulatory agents or handed to the end client.

Reporting is often a thorn in the side of all non-administrative industries. It’s one of your least productive areas of focus, requiring skilled professionals to take time away from earning through billable hours to instead sit and formulate reports. While each professional is, of course, highly skilled and knowledgeable, it can also be a challenge for them to tone down the ‘insider jargon’ they are used to using within the profession and phrase items ‘in plain English’ so that the end user- who is not experienced in the industry- can properly access the information. Occasionally, you may also be needed to navigate ever-shifting legal and regulatory needs to ensure each report is compliant with the law of the relevant overseeing body. These are often updated without warning, and remaining compliant can be a hassle.

In older working models, it’s likely you would keep a legally-versed typist or two on your team in order to solely handle this aspect. PCR outsourcing instead allows you to access the brains, education and knowledge of typists without having to have them on the payroll all the time. This has considerable benefits for you, with no downsides.

How does outsourcing property condition reports help me?

Keeping a skilled typist on staff to focus on reports alone rarely makes sense financially, without outsourcing, however, it has probably been your only solution. Unless you work for a huge corporation, it’s highly likely that the person handling your reports is either the surveyors- taking precious time away from earning activities- or a typist who is not always kept busy by the work. It’s also highly likely that the frequency with which you need their typing services fluctuates greatly, with busy periods overwhelming them and quiet times seeing much twiddling of thumbs.

With PCR outsourcing, all this falls away immediately.

  1. Increased accuracy

By using PCR outsourcing, you are employing people whose specific role- day-in, day-out- is handling building consultancy issues and property condition reports. It’s their job to stay up-to-date on every little reporting regulation change. They’ve also seen it all… from your lead surveyor’s iffy handwriting to correctly and politely phrasing a defects report. They’ve mastered it all, and shifting regulations don’t phase them in the slightest. You’ll see a decrease in errors, reduced need to waste time rewriting things, and a positive response from the end consumers of the reports you are generating.

2. Boosted security

Many people’s knee-jerk reaction to outsourcing anything is that it may be a security risk. This is typically the exact opposite of the truth. Sensitive information is no longer left lying in the open on the desk of a busy surveyor for weeks on end, it is instead processed immediately and discreetly. PCR outsourcing firms have a vested interest in keeping information and data secure, no matter how sensitive, and having it off your premises while being processed adds another secure layer to the process.

3. Save money

What could be better than getting better work for less money? Because you don’t need to have someone on staff at all times, needing a salary and corporate benefits, you will see an immediate reduction in costs by outsourcing your property condition reports.

You may not initially believe this saving- after all, you are paying someone else for the work, right? Remember that the cost of a permanent employee represents a pretty high overhead for the company. This goes further than just a salary, however. Consider all the costs involved- from rent on your premises increasing through needing more staff members right through to savings on the insurance you carry, you save cash every step of the way. By outsourcing simple reports, you can streamline your cash flow and make sure you keep the budget trim without sacrificing an iota of quality.

But couldn’t you let the surveyor themselves handle it, or add to someone else’s job in the firm, more cheaply? Consider that forcing staff members to take time away from income-generating work to handle this task can have disastrous knock-on effects that impact your bottom line. This can be made even worse if they are not fully versed in compiling reports according to the relevant legislative framework, meaning rejected proposals and the need for more and more rewrites. Get it right the first time, every time, with PCR outsourcing.

4. Greater productivity

At the end of the day, it’s about boosted productivity for less outlay. As building consultancy matters, report compilation etc are the literal bread-and-butter of your outsourced firm, they have the skills and incentive to work fast, accurate and well. Doing it in-house comes with complications and consumed time, the sometimes prohibitive need to carry the costs of an extra employee or the risk of overloading professionals whose skills are better focused on other activities.

Allow a skilled and streamlined typing service like Property Typing to help you make the most of your staff. We can handle all your outsourced property condition reports and other typing needs so you don’t have to, so get in touch with us today.


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