Anyone can become a marine surveyor. This makes finding a reliable one a bit tricky. The good news is that with proper research, finding the right provider would be effortless. If you are too busy to research, you can always consult a few knowledgeable individuals. Understand that while you can always work with many different providers, choosing the right one from the offset guarantees convenience, especially if you are too busy. It also saves you the expenses that come with hiring many experts. Below are tips to help you find a dependable service provider.
Experience is obviously the basic thing to look for in a marine surveyor. Again, anyone can claim to be a provider since there are no specific requirements or even licenses needed for one to become a marine surveyor. To be on the safe side, it is important to focus on providers that have been in the industry for many years. It is advisable to focus on providers with glowing reviews from their past clients. Most importantly, look for one that belongs to associations such as the National Association of Marine Surveyors (NAMS). Such associations ensure that their members adhere to high standards of service delivery.
Choose a surveyor with respect to the types of services you need. Some of the services such providers offer include insurance survey, vessel appraisal, pre-purchase survey, vessel walk-through, damage claim survey, and corrosion survey. If you have owned your boat for some time, you need a marine corrosion survey expert to understand whether the electrical bonding system of your boat is in excellent shape. If you are seeing to buy a preowned vessel, but you are too busy to show up for an inspection, you need vessel walk-though services. In case you need a plethora of services, choose a surveyor that can offer all of them.
It is important to inquire about a potential surveyor’s availability before choosing them. If you need comprehensive services, you should not assume that your potential provider would be free enough to offer the level of support you need. For instance, a condition, value, and pre-purchase survey requires the conclusive inspection of a vessel on and out of the water, as well as inspection of on-board systems. In case you need walk-through services, ensure that the provider would be willing to work with your schedule, especially if you live in different timezones. Make sure that the provider would handle the work personally.
Ask regarding their service fees before signing any agreement. Most marine surveyors bill clients on an hourly basis. Since some might have a different billing method, you should not assume that your choice one works on an hourly plan. In case the expert has different billing methods, you should compare them to choose one that favors you. Understand that some might have additional charges, which makes it important to confirm the listed fees prior to making a decision. Researching the fees to pay for the specific services you need would help avoid overpaying for services. This is because affordable providers do not necessarily have fair fees.