A tenant receives a schedule of dilapidations from a landlord with a figure attached, three months before the lease ends. Another business is about to sign a lease and has been told to get a schedule of condition first. A third is buying a building and needs a survey before exchange.
All three are commercial survey enquiries, all three are urgent, and all three mean something different.
The teardown: why residential handling fails
Residential enquiries are a choice between survey levels for a house purchase. Commercial enquiries are driven by leases, deadlines and a counterparty with opposing interests. Treating them the same produces a quote for the wrong service.
Establish the lease position first
Is the client a landlord or a tenant. Is the lease starting, running or ending. Is there a document already, such as a schedule served by the other side. Is there a deadline, such as a break clause or lease expiry. These four questions determine the entire instruction.
Explain the services distinctly
A schedule of condition protects a tenant at the start. A dilapidations schedule is served during or at the end of a term. A building survey assesses condition for a purchaser. A measured survey establishes floor areas. Publishing what each is for, in plain language, prevents an enquiry for the wrong thing.
Deadlines are contractual
Break clauses and lease expiries carry dates that cannot move, and a late instruction can cost a tenant enormously. Capturing the deadline at first contact lets a practice say honestly whether it can act in time.
Tenant: Our landlord has sent us a dilapidations schedule and we leave in three months. Assistant: That is a common position and the timescale matters. The commercial page explains how the practice acts for tenants on dilapidations, including reviewing a served schedule and negotiating. Could you share the property address, your lease end date and whether you have the schedule and the lease to hand? A surveyor can then advise on next steps.
Never interpret the lease
What a repairing covenant requires, whether a schedule is reasonable and what liability exists are professional judgements requiring the lease and the property. A website explains services and captures documents, nothing more.
Acting for landlords and tenants
A practice may act for either, and conflicts matter. Capturing which side the client is on, and the address, allows a conflict check before any advice is given.
Documents speed everything up
The lease, any schedule already served, floor plans and previous reports determine what a surveyor can say and how quickly. Explaining which documents you need at first contact, and allowing a client to send them straight away, often saves a week of back and forth before anyone has looked at the property.
Access arrangements are rarely simple
Commercial property means tenants, managing agents, security procedures and sometimes restricted hours. Establishing who controls access, and whether keys or an escort are needed, prevents a surveyor arriving at a building nobody can let them into.
Commercial buyers expect proposals
Business clients expect a fee proposal with scope, timescale and assumptions rather than a price. Explaining how you quote sets the right expectation, in the way described in timing and report questions surveyors answer weekly.
Residential work alongside
House buyers need the different guidance covered in survey type questions buyers ask before instructing. Commercial buyers of other property services behave similarly, as in commercial solar enquiries from business owners and AI receptionist for opticians.
How SpideyChat handles it
SpideyChat for architects and surveyors separates commercial enquiries, captures the lease position and deadline and never interprets a lease. You can see handover on the demo, and plans are on the pricing page.