About me

James DavidsonSince qualifying in 1986, I have worked in private practice surveying firms in both North West and West London, dealing primarily with the residential market and with a particular focus on Building Surveys and Party Wall work. 

I have also worked for a market research agency as Operations Director and during that time even got involved in the core business of market research. As a result, I have developed expertise in talking to people from all walks of life! I set up in sole practice in 2006.

I typically cover the north London area around my N2 base but regularly go much further afield especially if I can use public transport when in London. See below for the postcodes where I do most of my work.

My business is regulated by the RICS.

My approach

Like other professions, surveyors can sometimes forget that they might not always be dealing with people in their field and as such, either they or the work they produce, can sometimes come across as rather remote or inaccessible to the lay person. I try hard to guard against this, and I always aim to be as approachable and accessible as I can in the manner and style of my verbal and written communication. If I’m not achieving this I always welcome client feedback. (Send me an email or write a testimonial)

It’s my profession, but many clients, be they residential or commercial, enter the built environment by default either as result of acquiring property, moving, extending or altering property, or perhaps on account of maintenance, both planned and unplanned. In some situations a client’s need for advice might have been imposed by the actions of others which can create its own set of problems. 

To achieve my goal of providing accessible surveying solutions I:

  • question the brief if necessary and ask additional questions. Clients can sometimes ask for one thing when they might actually need something else
  • establish the bigger picture - placing matters in context is often vital to understanding the instruction and delivering against it
  • tell you straight away if the work is not within my sphere of expertise. I can usually point you towards the right person (see my Business Networking)
  • am prepared (in appropriate cases) to invest non-chargable time to meet with you or visit a site to understand the situation before taking on, or possibly turning down, an instruction
  • try, as far as possible, to provide a clear idea of what the work will cost - I always aim to charge a fee that the job justifies, rather than what I might be able to get for it
  • ensure that the information I pass on is expressed in way that makes sense to you so that you can access it and, if appropriate, act upon it
  • use email and IT technology as much as possible to keep things moving and improve my accessibility and keep costs down
  • meet, if necessary, with clients or potential clients, at times they can manage. This is my day job, but I appreciate that work and maybe family commitments, can make meetings for residential clients difficult during the normal working day

Being a sole practitioner helps keep my overheads low, keeps me competitive and allows me to be flexible.

From my base in N2 I typically do work in the adjacent postcodes such as N6, N10, N11, N12, N15, N19, N22, NW3, NW6, NW7,NW8, NW11 but I also go further afield into central, south, east and west London. Driving is not always a viable option but as my surveying equipment is portable, I can often get where I need to go if there are good public transport links to the specific location. If I need to charge something for travel then I’ll let you know. It’s more to cover my costs than my time.

top of page