Bespoke Systems for Building & Property Surveyors

Surveying work creates a constant flow of site notes, photos, drawings and reports. If these are scattered across email, shared drives and individual laptops, it becomes hard to stay organised – especially as your workload grows.

I build custom .NET and SQL Server systems (often with an Android app for surveyors on site) that keep all your jobs, visits, evidence and reports in one place – with client access where needed and optional AI to help with drafting and summarising.

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Common Problems Surveyors Face

Most surveying practices I speak to share a similar set of issues:

• Job details living in email threads rather than a central system
• Site photos stored on phones with no consistent naming or structure
• Drawings and PDFs scattered across multiple folders and cloud drives
• Site notes in notebooks or separate Word files
• Reports taking too long to draft and format
• No simple way to give clients a portal to view reports and evidence
• Difficult to search historic jobs for similar issues or precedents

None of these problems are unusual – but they do slow down reporting and make it harder to deliver a consistently professional service.

What a Bespoke Surveying System Can Do

A custom web app, with or without an Android app for site work, can organise surveying operations end to end:

1. Job & Site Management

• Central database of jobs, sites and clients
• Key details in one place – scope, access notes, deadlines, constraints
• Calendar or list view of upcoming site visits and report due dates
• Link multiple visits and revisits to the same job or site

2. Structured Site Data Capture

• Standardised templates for different survey types (building, condition, snagging, etc.)
• Room-by-room or element-by-element recording structures
• Mandatory fields for critical safety or defect information
• Photos automatically linked to the correct job, area or element

3. Drawings, Photos & Documents in One Place

• Upload and version-control drawings and CAD/PDF exports
• Tag photos by location, defect type or room
• Attach reference documents against the job or asset
• Full history of what was recorded, when and by whom

4. Report Production Support

• Use structured data as the backbone of your reports
• Generate draft sections from recorded observations
• Link report entries directly to supporting photos and drawings
• Keep report templates consistent across your team

5. Client Portals & Deliverables

• Secure client login to view completed reports and supporting evidence
• Downloadable PDFs and structured summaries
• Optional limited-time links for external stakeholders
• Simple overview of all jobs for a given client or portfolio

6. Android Apps for Surveyors on Site

For many surveyors, an Android app alongside the web system can dramatically streamline site work:

• See today’s sites, addresses and access instructions
• Capture notes against rooms, elevations or elements as you walk
• Take photos that automatically sync to the correct job and location
• Work fully offline in basements, rural areas or no-signal buildings
• Sync back when you return to the office or a good connection

This cuts down the time spent transferring notes and photos after a visit, and reduces the risk of missing or misfiled evidence.

Where AI Fits In for Surveyors

AI can be extremely useful for surveyors when combined with a solid data structure:

• Drafting narrative report sections from structured site data
• Summarising long, detailed reports into executive summaries
• Highlighting recurring issues across a client’s portfolio
• Helping you quickly find similar past cases for consistency
• Answering questions like “Where have we seen this defect before?”

The aim is not to replace professional judgement, but to reduce repetitive typing and help you make better use of the information you already hold.

Why Bespoke Instead of Generic Surveying or CRM Software?

Generic systems often fall short because:

• They treat surveys like generic “tickets” or “jobs”
• They don’t understand rooms, elevations, elements or defect types
• They provide no offline support for site work
• They don’t link photos, drawings and notes in a structured way
• They can’t adapt easily to your report formats and standards

A bespoke system is designed specifically around how you survey, record and report – and evolves as your practice grows.

How I Work With Surveying Practices

1. Discovery: Understand your survey types, report formats and current tools.
2. Design: Map site workflows, data structures and reporting needs.
3. Build: .NET Core web app + SQL Server, with an Android app if required.
4. Integrate: Connect with your document storage, email and accounting if needed.
5. Iterate: Refine the system and introduce AI where it clearly saves time.

Thinking About Improving Your Surveying Systems?

Whether you’re currently using spreadsheets and shared drives or an ageing off-the-shelf system, we can usually identify a clear path to something faster, cleaner and easier to work with.

I’m happy to have an informal conversation about your current setup, your bottlenecks and what a realistic bespoke solution might look like.

Email: ab@newma.co.uk
Phone: +44 7967 219288