The confessions of a property surveyor: Peter Mowchanuk is a Lead Surveyor at SPM Assets, and has over 7 years’ experience in surveying thousands of commercial and residential buildings. Here are his tips on how to make surveys quick and easy. The goal is to work as time efficiently as possible, yet produce a survey that is meaningful, accurate, and with data that can be relied on.

Programs is here! Programs by SPM Assets will enable you to start planning at a 'project-level' rather than a 'component-level'. It allows you to quickly build your list of projects within a budgeted works-program using an interactive Planning Board. We are looking for trial users for at least 6 months to work with us by providing feedback.

We recently held a Community Housing Workshop in Sydney that drew discussions on the challenges faced by the sector, and how SPM Assets software can help with these challenges. It also gave attendees a chance to ask specific questions on the optimal use of our software, with a particular focus on getting the most out of the analysis and reporting capabilities.

The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) held its annual World Workplace conference in Charlotte, North Carolina in early October. The conference focuses on knowledge exchange and collaboration through a programme of education sessions, facilitated panel discussions, and interactive workshops. David Long from SPM Assets attended the conference this year.

Our latest case study focuses on how hospitals and healthcare providers can better manage their large multi-million dollar portfolios of buildings and medical equipment. This client realised surveying 17 sites wasn’t feasible due to resource constraints, so a time-boxed approach to infield assessments was used, together with virtual data for rooms with a common layout.

The ServiceNow ‘Now’ Forum held in October at the Sydney International Convention Centre was a great event with over 2,000 delegates from the around the region. They were recently rated as #1 on Forbes World’s Most Innovative Companies list, with this status being achieved by providing “technology that makes the world of work, work better for people”.

Tips from our most experienced surveyor outlining his method of surveying so as not to miss anything: Start at the top of the room, and work downwards, when surveying a room, do not stand still, walk in a clockwise direction while collecting the components, and then in an anti-clockwise direction when doing the condition grading.

We continually hear stories about how hard it is to write an asset management plan. Even with the huge range of guidance material available, asset managers still struggle with: how to start writing a new asset management plan; refresh an existing plan; how to ensure an organisation gains real value from both the process and the resulting AMP.

All asset intensive organisations need a longer term strategical plan – this is one of the key outcomes from the asset management planning process, i.e. a plan which is part of your wider vision, a plan which can be shared easily, a plan which can be altered and impacts analysed, a plan which can be adopted and monitored over time.

SPM Assets has a strong commitment to collaboration and leadership by contributing to training and professional development. Chris Jenkins and David Long from SPM Assets recently delivered lectures at two Auckland universities. The lectures identified the knowledge and skills required to work within a property management environment.