Kempton, J; Nicol, S; Anumba, C J and Dickens, J (2000) Analysis of surveyor variability from data obtained from surveys of dwellings represented on video film. In: Akintoye, A (ed.) Proceedings of 16th Annual ARCOM Conference, 6-8 September 2000, Glasgow, UK.
Abstract
The surveying of houses is not an exact science. A survey is largely based on what are essentially subjective judgements by surveyors. These judgements are based upon the available evidence of the condition of a house, the judgement of one surveyor may well differ from another's, even if the judgement is based on the same evidence. This phenomenon is termed surveyor variability. This paper seeks to explore the issue of variability in the field of house condition surveys, from data obtained from a training exercise using video film of dwellings. The exercise was undertaken in 1996. The results of the analysis of surveyor performance show a wide range of repair costs for both of the dwellings in the video. The findings raise issues for both individual house surveys and large sample size surveys in terms of the accuracy of repair cost estimation for dwellings. The paper concludes that no one technique is likely to significantly improve the consistency of surveyors, and that a reduction in the potential for subjective decisions is the quickest, but not necessarily the best, strategy to reduce variability.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | decision-making; house survey; repair cost; variability; video; surveyor |
| Index terms: | survey, surveying, science, cost estimating, repair, variability, strategy, decision-making, exercise, evidence, sample size, accuracy |
| Subjects: | research design and methodology, statistical analysis, health monitoring assessment and metrics, financial and cost management, professional development, specialized education, management, data collection methods, decision analysis, health behaviours and lifestyles, evaluation and assessment methods, maintenance engineering |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Research Practice, Risk Management, Health and Safety, Cost Management, Education, Information Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here