…6.30am, but there are no standard working hours for a surveyor. It all depends on where in the country I need to be and the planned tasks for that specific day.

Usually I am out early, and I regularly join one of our in-house regional surveyors on an inspection. Where it’s a high-value property, we typically require joint inspections to ensure quality control.

I cannot leave the house without…

…the surveyor’s survival kit: ladders, damp meter, electronic measure, waterproofs, sanitiser, face mask, protective equipment – and a can of Diet Coke!

Challenges of working from home recently have been…

…accessing properties. Of course, during the full lockdown it wasn’t possible for us to visit properties to physically inspect them. We introduced desktop valuations, which worked well for standard buy-to-let propositions, but Paragon focuses on the specialist, more complex end of the market, and you cannot properly assess these properties without visiting them.

Since the housing market reopened, the challenge has been visiting properties safely; protecting our employees, our customers and any occupants of the properties. So far we’ve been pleased with the measures we introduced.

But on the plus side…

…less travelling meant more time with family and being able to do other things, such as going for walks after work instead of battling the motorway.

In reality, my lockdown was short because the housing market reopened fairly quickly. Plus, I have started to spend more time in the office rather than work from home.

The main purpose of my job is…

…ensuring that the property we are lending against fits our criteria and complies with our quality requirements, as well as industry and Rics standards.

Paragon has always employed its own surveyors, which means we assess each property from a BTL perspective, not just with a mainstream residential lens. We look at local levels of tenant demand, the sources of tenant demand, and how the property compares to the broader local rental market. That approach over the past 25 years has meant our arrears have tracked lower than those of the wider sector.

I manage the Regional Surveyor team, the ‘gatekeepers’ for each region on valuation work and market themes. I also work with other departments on service and property decisions, and legal queries, as well as with panel surveyors.

A common misconception about my job is…

…that surveyors ‘down-value’ as a matter of routine.

Our role has its challenges on occasions when values or rental expectations are not consistent with the market, but we have a responsibility to the company and our customers to be fair, consistent and honest. That can lead to difficult conversations for our underwriters, but it’s the right approach.

Another misconception is that the surveyor’s role is just about the property being inspected. We have to look at that property in the context of the local housing market, the economy, the factors that influence tenant demand, as well as the portfolio owner’s model or their intention for the property.

My favourite work memory is…

I love the fact that my job enables me to see many property types, meet a wide variety of landlords and travel across the UK, where I encounter both the good and the bad. It’s that broad enjoyment of the role that gets me up in the morning.

A perk of the job is…

…the privilege of managing a highly respected in-house team. Plus, getting out to see the variety of often ornate and sometimes high-value individual or unique property types.

To unwind after work I like to…

…watch (while not necessarily enjoying) the blue half of Birmingham in terms of football team, plus cricket and other sports. I also like camping and exploring the outdoors.