Bank Monitoring Surveyor | Role Insight
Posted by Daria Tkach, Senior Recruitment Consultant on Tuesday, June 21, 2022
The role of an Independent Bank Monitoring Surveyor is an established professional service and recognised as an essential part of a wider construction project team. If delivered efficiently it supports the successful delivery of any real estate development requiring bank funding and oversight. This specialist service focuses on project risks in order to manage and protect the interests of a lender whilst driving a successful development to completion and handover.
Bank monitoring can also be referred to as loan monitoring, project monitoring or independent monitoring surveying. It is increasingly becoming a popular, core service with different construction companies in the UK and Canada, especially cost and project management consultancies. Loan Monitoring Surveyors can utilise their experience of construction project management and cost management to deliver an outstanding all-round service to their clients. Clients include lenders, banks, owners, investors or developers and it varies for each project.
Essentially, the role of a Project Monitoring Surveyor is to undertake a risk assessment which requires a full understanding of all the costs involved to complete the build, and the impact of project risks versus available funds. This is not only to the benefit of those providing third-party finance (the lender), but also to the benefit of the borrower, with the shared goal of delivering a successful project on time and on budget.
Some of the key duties and responsibilities of the Loan Monitoring Surveyor are to:
- Outline the goals of the project and assess the feasibility of the proposed budget.
- Review and evaluate the risks involved in the lending agreement.
- Provide early warning to the lender on potential risks and how these risks can be managed or avoided.
- Advise on procurement options.
- Monitor the progress of the project in terms of the plan, timescale and budget.
- Approve and certify funds at each stage to ensure that expenditure of the development finance facility is being spent in line with the original proposals.
- Assess the risks if the borrower requests additional finances for their project, passing their recommendations to the lender.
- Visit the construction site regularly to check on the progress and carrying out checks to ensure that the development continues to be a safe investment.
A good Project Monitor must have a broad knowledge of real estate development delivery, such as understanding the parts that typically make up a successful project and being clear on all the risks and how they should be managed. Many UK-based employers will insist that Project Monitoring Surveyors have to be qualified Chartered Surveyor with The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
The lender will require the highest quality advice, tailored to their needs. They will expect the appointed Development Monitoring Surveyor to understand technical risks from their perspective and what can be done to make sure that those risks are mitigated. Lenders need to know at frequent intervals the status of the development in case there are any issues. If there are then the lender can communicate with the borrower and take immediate and effective action to deal with the circumstances.
The specialist bank monitoring service is only going to become more widely recognised, as the property and construction market in the UK is extremely competitive. Lenders need to be sure about who they are lending to, as construction projects are high risk which may affect the profitability.
The importance of a good relationship between the Loan Monitoring Surveyor, the lender and the borrower cannot be over emphasised. It could be the difference between a successful construction project and sound investment compared to one filled with problems, which ends up losing funds.
Due to the large volume of banking clients demand a number of premium cost and project management consultancy companies are getting heavily involved with providing fund monitoring service, to help them minimise risk when financing projects.
Feel free to contract me to explore your options in the Loan Monitoring sector and to discuss our current Bank Monitoring Jobs.
Daria is a Senior Recruitment Consultant with day-to-day responsibility for researching, shortlisting, contacting, and interviewing premium construction industry candidates. Daria works with our UK team to help construction industry jobseekers into exciting new construction jobs with our market leading employer clients. Daria also covers the Canadian market as part of her international recruitment responsibilities. Her focus is on Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and other major cities in Canada.