The award that never quite finishes
The notices are done, the surveyors are appointed and the schedule of condition is agreed. Now the award needs drafting: the works, the drawings, the schedule, the conditions for carrying out the work, access arrangements and the costs. Your draft goes to the other surveyor, who marks it up. It comes back, you accept some changes and question others. Version four is agreed in principle.
Then signatures, then serving the award on the owners, then the fees. The building owner is often responsible for the adjoining owner's surveyor's fees, and those invoices, plus your own, need to be raised and paid. Months later, someone notices a fee from a completed matter is still outstanding.
Why awards and fees drag
- Award drafts are assembled from scratch in Word from the matter details.
- Version control between surveyors is by email attachment.
- Signing and service are recorded by hand, if at all.
- Fees are invoiced separately from the award and not tracked against it.
- Completed matters leave the active list before the fees are settled.
The cost to the practice
Surveyor time spent on document admin. Confusion about which draft is agreed. Delays to the building owner's start date. And fees that are written off, not because anyone decided to, but because nobody noticed they were outstanding when the matter closed.
| Stage | Common problem | What the workflow does |
|---|---|---|
| Drafting | Built from scratch | Assembled from the matter record and your templates |
| Negotiation | Versions by email | Shared draft with tracked comments and versions |
| Signing | Collected separately | Recorded against the agreed version |
| Service | Recorded by hand | Date and method recorded per owner |
| Fees | Tracked separately | Invoices and payments tracked per matter |
The workflow we build
- The award draft is assembled from your templates using the matter record: parties, addresses, works, drawings, schedule of condition and agreed conditions.
- The other surveyor receives a link to comment on the draft, and each version is kept, so the agreed version is never in doubt.
- Signatures are collected through your electronic signature platform or recorded when wet-signed, against the agreed version.
- Service of the award on each owner is recorded with date and method.
- Fee invoices, both your own and the adjoining owner's surveyor's, are recorded against the matter, raised in Xero or QuickBooks, and payments tracked.
- Matters stay on a fees outstanding list until every invoice is paid, with reminders at the intervals you set.
Award content is the surveyors' professional work. The workflow assembles, tracks and records, and never decides terms or fees.
Closing matters properly
Drafts are ready sooner and negotiation happens in one place. Everyone knows which version is agreed. Signing and service are on the record. Fees do not fall off the list when a matter closes, and partners can see outstanding fees across all matters.
Building owners get clearer information too: what has been agreed, what they need to do before works start, and what they owe, in one place.
Where your practice acts as agreed surveyor for both owners, the same workflow works with one surveyor instead of two, and the draft goes to the owners for information rather than to another surveyor for comment. The record of what was served and when is the same either way.
Addendum awards, when the works change after the award is served, start from the original award in the record, so the surveyor drafts only what has changed and the history of the matter stays in one place.
Does award admin drag in your practice?
- Award drafts are written from scratch in Word.
- You have been unsure which version was agreed.
- Service of awards is not recorded consistently.
- Fees from closed matters have gone unpaid.
- Building owners are unclear about what they owe.