Newham surveyors back to pre-COVID levels of business
Thursday 23rd July, 2020
A Truro surveying company says business has bounced back to pre-COVID-19 levels after spending weeks in lockdown with all staff furloughed.
Cockrams Surveying, based in Truro
Technology Park, Newham, says high demand from people looking to move home
means the business currently has strong advance bookings.
And following the Chancellor’s
announcement this month of a temporary cut in Stamp Duty, (the tax levied on
home purchases), to reboot the housing market, demand is expected to grow
further.
The independent company provides a
range of residential property advice including pre-purchase
surveys, a range of valuation services, mundic block testing, architectural
services, topographical surveys and acting as expert witnesses.
Colin Cockram (pictured), who founded Cockrams in
2009 and relocated the business to Truro Technology Park from Lemon Street in
Truro in late 2018, said: “We’re back up to pre-COVID levels of business with
strong advanced bookings, so things really have bounced back. Most estate agents are also reporting that they are
extremely busy so the market is looking positive.”
Colin suspended business activity on the
23rd March with the implementation of lockdown, which meant all
estate agents had to close and the property market ground to a halt. With all
of his staff on furlough, Colin returned to work on May 1 with one member of
admin staff in anticipation of lockdown rules being relaxed, which they were in
the middle of May.
Colin, who is a member of the Royal
Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), said: “We could see demand building
and we got a lot done in the last two weeks of May and since then we’ve been
really busy and all of our staff are back off furlough now.
“Pre-COVID-19 we invested in land
surveying equipment and during COVID-19 in a new cloud telephone system allowing
surveyors to work from home, and we’re still trying not to have everyone in the
office at the same time. Two of our self-employed typists, one in London and the
other, formally the office manager prior to emigration, is now based in
Australia.
“When we visit customers in their
homes, we use recommended PPE for our inspections.
This is enhanced by wearing full protective suits, such as those normally used
for asbestos surveys, where there are vulnerable people in residence, whilst strictly
observing industry guidelines on social distancing at all times.”
Cockrams employs seven staff and is
looking to appoint another Chartered Building Surveyor to its growing team.
Contact the business on 01872 277230 or visit cockrams-surveyors.co.uk