Virtual Site Surveys
A Help Guide For Completing A Virtual Site Survey With Milestone Homes & Lofts
The new world we live in, it's now far easier and often a lot quicker to complete a virtual survey of your property to discuss options and as well prepare a project proposal.
Introduction to Virtual Surveys
Hello, we are Karl & Sue, and we created and run Milestone Homes and Lofts Ltd.
We are a family-run, professional building company, with traditional family values at heart. Our mission is to deliver loft conversions and home extensions. We are committed to delivering the highest quality service we can for all our customers, and we have a great and ever-growing team helping us do exactly this.
Long before the Coronavirus outbreak took place, we have used technology to better connect with our customers. This allows us to create quick and easy access to information they are seeking. Questions such as, “can I convert my loft?” “How much will it cost to extend or build my home?” or “My roof is very low, what can I do?”
In the current environment and global pandemic, this is more important than ever. Both to stay in touch, talk, and do so using modern communication methods, most of which we carry in our pockets/bags, every day. With this in mind, our ‘Virtual Surveys’ are ever more important.
Once we have carried out the Virtual Survey, and you are happy with the results, should you want further discussions, we can then look at how we can facilitate that.
I hope you understand that the measures we have put in place are necessary and enable us as a company to do our bit in containing the spread of this awful virus and help to protect you.
The following few pages explain, in great detail, how the Virtual Surveys will be carried out and what information we would require from yourselves in order to provide you with an accurate proposal. Please note, if you struggle with any of the instructions/measurements, please do not let this put you off, as we can always talk you through it on the video call.
If you want any further information, please contact us to discuss options and next steps.
Step One For Lofts - Prepare For Your Virtual Survey
We don’t expect you to become a loft expert overnight, but by supplying us with some basic information, in advance of your Virtual Survey, we can then prepare for the call.
House Size
So we can quote you as accurately as possible, we need to know some very basic details about your home. If you can gather the following information for us, and email these over prior to meeting, this would be great. If not, don’t worry.
In order for us to calculate the size of your roof, We need the measurements of the house. What we need is the total length and width of your home. There are two basic ways to get this for us.
Method 1 - External Measurement:
Simply measure the overall size of your home across the front (or back). Then measure your home depth (front to back), supply us with these two measurements.
Method 2 - Internal Measurement:
Unlike the external measurement you’ll probably need to measure the internal rooms, and add the measurements together to get your total width and depth of your home. For example, bedroom 1 & 2 + living room.
Note: We generally don’t need the measurements for any projections from the main building (See the orange arrows above). This is only required if you have an “L” shaped building and are seeking to convert the loft over this area as well.
Your Loft
Ideally, we could do with a picture of your loft internally and a height measurement. Plus one or two additional images of the outside of the house, one from the front and another from the back.
An image paints a thousand words, so if you can get us an image similar to the one below, then we can gather lots of information based on this.
The type of roof structure
Location of chimney breasts (shown on this one, left and right)
The roof tiling age, and much more besides.
We ideally need to confirm your loft is convertible in the first instance. The critical measurement is the one shown above with the blue arrow. This measurement, if you can take it, should be from a) the top of the floor joists (or boards if you have them fitted, to; b) the underside of the ridge. This typically ranges from 1.8m to over 3m in height.
Note: You may have loft boarding mounted on stilts (or equivalent). If this is the case please let us know.
Stage Two - Your Virtual Survey
No two surveys are the same, so your virtual survey will be fluid, allowing you to tell us what you want and need, and for us to convert that into a deliverable item.
Connect With Us
What you will need: To allow us to see you home and advise you correctly you’ll need to connect to us via a smart phone with a video camera over the internet.
How to Connect: You will receive a calendar invite from ourselves, with a link like this : https://zoom.us/j/163553359. Simply follow-up the onscreen information, and it should be connected to us via video.
Discuss Your Requirements
Firstly we’ll gather the base information. Ideally if you have sent the information as per the page above, this will take just a few minutes.
Review The Details
This is about digging a little deeper than what a couple of measurements can tell us about your home. This will be a series of questions to gather this detailed information. It may also mean you giving us a quick virtual walk around your home via the video call. In addition, we’ll also discuss any nuances about your home, or any issues we need to foresee to get you exactly what you want.
Price And Proposal
Once we have completed your virtual survey, we may be able to share with you the initial price for the project. If this is the case, we’ll walk you through our pricing structure and get your initial feedback. If we can’t determine a price straight away, we’ll go away, get the answers you're looking for and come back to you via email.
Finally, we’ll then pull together a detailed proposal and send this over via email for your perusal. We will then need to determine what you are seeking to achieve from your loft conversion/renovation. Based on this we can walk through options and best ways forward for you and your home.
After Your Survey
This could be just the start of a whole new home for you and your family. If we’ve ticked all the boxes, then we’ll then arrange a face to face to get your project underway.