Six steps from enquiry to delivered report, and what happens to your information at each one.
You tell us the nature of the matter, the location, and roughly when. Nothing confidential at this stage, and we will not ask for anything confidential.
We reply within one business day. If we are not the right firm, we say so immediately and, where we can, tell you who is.
A call or a meeting, at no cost, to establish what you actually need, which is frequently not what the enquiry described. We will tell you if the requirement is smaller than you think, and we will tell you if it is larger.
If we continue, a mutual non-disclosure agreement is executed before anything substantive is exchanged, and a secure channel is issued for your material.
A written proposal: scope, what is included and specifically excluded, deliverables, timetable, the people involved, the fee, and what the fee does not cover. Fixed fee against fixed scope in almost all cases.
You are not asked to commit to anything on a call. Everything is in the document.
An engagement letter and terms of business, a mutual non-disclosure agreement, and a data-processing addendum where we will handle personal data. Governing law and forum are stated in the engagement letter.
Then an information request, so that time on site is spent verifying what exists rather than discovering it.
Desk work, then the site visit. We walk the site, inspect and where permitted test the systems, count what is held, and interview the people who would have to act. We verify claimed arrangements by contacting the providers directly.
Where access is refused or unavailable, we record it as a limitation. It reduces our confidence level; it does not reduce the fee, and we say so in the proposal rather than after.
The report is drafted, then reviewed internally against a fixed quality checklist before it reaches you. It is issued in the standard five-component form, then presented in person.
We record your decision on each recommendation, whether accepted, deferred or declined. A properly recorded declined recommendation protects both of us. A reassessment date is set, and we contact you when it falls due rather than leaving it.
Client identity is confidential. We do not publish or reference client names and we do not use engagements as case studies without written permission.
Initial enquiries come to a general address. Once an enquiry is accepted, client material moves to a separate secure channel issued to you directly. Reports are classified and distributed only to the people you name. Sensitive detail such as locations, layouts, quantities, suppliers, contacts and systems is held in restricted annexes rather than in the body of a report, so that the report can be shared with a trustee or an insurer while the detail is not.
Records are retained for a defined period, stated in the engagement letter, and then destroyed.
