Forty minutes on site, two hours at the laptop
The homebuyer's survey flagged possible drain problems. Your engineer runs the camera from the inspection chamber: a displaced joint at six metres, root ingress at eleven, a crack near the connection to the main sewer. On site, he notes them on a pad. That evening, he scrolls through the footage to find each point, grabs a still, types the observation, and builds the report page by page.
The customer, whose house purchase depends on it, emails at nine the next morning asking where the report is.
Meanwhile, the next survey is booked for eight tomorrow morning, and the report for today's has not been started.
Why the write-up is the slow part
The camera records everything, but the observations that matter are a few moments in a long video. Linking each one to its distance, photo and description is manual. Report layouts are rebuilt in a word processor each time. And some customers, insurers or water companies want a particular coding style or format.
| Report element | Usually done by |
|---|---|
| Observation and distance | Pad on site, typed later |
| Still image | Scrubbing through video |
| Pipe details | Remembered |
| Sketch of the run | Drawn by hand, photographed |
| Recommendations | Typed at the end |
Distances are the fiddly part. The observation is only useful with an accurate distance from the start point, and the counter on screen is easy to misread when you are scrolling back through footage. Getting it right on site, at the moment it is seen, is far more reliable.
What slow reports cost
Engineers spend evenings on reports. Customers in a house purchase chase you and sometimes use a quicker firm next time. Repair quotes that should follow the report are delayed. And inconsistent report layouts make your firm look less professional than your survey work deserves.
It also affects the work that follows. A clear report with good stills makes it easier for the customer or their insurer to approve repairs, and a vague one leads to questions or a second survey.
It also makes it harder to take on more survey work. Each extra survey adds an evening of writing, so growth depends on engineers giving up more of their own time.
The report drafting we build
- Site logging: on a tablet next to the camera unit, the engineer taps an observation type and the distance counter, and a still is captured at that point where the camera system allows. Otherwise a still is taken from the screen.
- Voice notes: short spoken notes are transcribed and attached to each observation.
- Run details: pipe material, diameter and run start and end are recorded per run.
- Draft report: a report is built in your template with a table of observations, stills and a run sketch drawn from the logged runs.
- Engineer review: the engineer checks, edits and writes the recommendations. Nothing is recommended automatically.
- Repair quote: recommended repairs can be turned into a quote from your price list and sent with the report.
Your report template is kept as it is, with your logo and layout. We fill it from the logged data rather than asking you to adopt a new format.
Reports sent from the van
Engineers review a draft rather than build a report. Customers get their report sooner, in a consistent layout. Repair quotes go out alongside. And your evenings stop disappearing into video footage.
It also makes it easier to share work across the team. Any engineer can pick up a draft report and understand what was found, which helps when the surveyor is off and the customer needs the report.
Is this your drainage work?
- CCTV reports are written up in the evening.
- Engineers scrub through footage to find each observation.
- Report layouts vary by who wrote them.
- Customers chase reports they need for a house purchase.
- Repair quotes are sent separately, days later.