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AI Due Diligence

How Surveyor AI uses artificial intelligence

Written for firms documenting the AI tools they use. It sets out what the software does, which models it uses, the controls that keep a qualified surveyor in charge, what it cannot do, and the risks we track. Print this page to save it into a procurement pack.

Last reviewed 23 September 2026

Intended use

Surveyor AI drafts property survey reports from evidence a qualified surveyor captured during their own inspection. It is a drafting assistant for professionals. It is not a valuation engine, not a substitute for inspection, and not for use by anyone unqualified to sign the report.

  • check_circleReads the photographs and notes the surveyor captured on site and drafts the report narrative from them
  • check_circleSuggests a condition rating per element, which the surveyor confirms or changes
  • check_circleDrafts photo captions, the executive summary and recommended actions
  • check_circlePulls published property data (EPC certificate, flood, radon, ground stability, listing status) and labels where each figure came from
  • check_circleTranscribes voice notes the surveyor dictates on site

What it never does

  • blockIssue, send or share a report with anyone — only the surveyor does that
  • blockFinalise a report on its own; sign-off is a deliberate action by the named surveyor
  • blockAccept evidence supplied by a client or third party as the basis of a report
  • blockProduce a Red Book valuation without the surveyor’s own figures and judgement
  • blockAlter a report once it has been finalised
  • blockUse your reports, photographs or client data to train AI models

Models used

Named, so your own risk assessment can be specific. No model is trained on your reports, photographs or client data.

Report draftingAnthropic Claude (Sonnet)Falls back to OpenAI GPT only during an Anthropic outage, so a survey is never lost mid-job
Photograph analysis and captionsAnthropic Claude (Haiku)Runs per photo, with the element it belongs to as context
Photograph labellingGoogle Cloud VisionObject and label detection only; skipped when unavailable
Voice note transcriptionOpenAI transcriptionAudio the surveyor dictated, transcribed to text

Human controls

The professional judgement, and the liability, stay with the surveyor. These controls are built into the software, not left to good intentions.

Three-stage workflow

Inspected → Review → Finalised. A report cannot reach a client without a surveyor moving it through Review and pressing Finalise.

Everything is editable

Every paragraph, condition rating, cost figure and caption can be rewritten by the surveyor before sign-off. The AI draft is a starting point, not an output.

Disclosure printed in the report

Every draft export carries: “This is an AI-assisted draft that must be reviewed, verified and signed off by the named surveyor before issue.” The declaration states that the report was drafted with the assistance of AI and that all professional judgements remain the responsibility of the named inspector.

Finalised reports are locked

Once finalised a report is read-only, and the AI cannot alter it. Re-generating is only possible in draft, and only by the surveyor.

Named inspector on every report

Reports carry the inspector’s name, and RICS membership details stay with the individual — they are never inherited from a firm profile.

Source labelling on external data

Published data is shown with its source and date, e.g. “From the EPC certificate (1967-1975)”, so the surveyor can weigh it rather than assume it.

Known limitations

Stated plainly, because a tool that claims none is the one to worry about.

  • warningThe draft is only as good as what was captured on site. Photographs that are blurred, dark or mislabelled produce weaker text.
  • warningAI can misread a photograph — describing a stain as damp, or a shadow as a crack. Every finding must be checked against what the surveyor saw.
  • warningAI can write confidently about something it has not seen. Anything not evidenced by a photograph or a note must be removed or verified.
  • warningCondition ratings and cost figures are indicative drafts for the surveyor to set, not valuations or quotations.
  • warningThe inspection is visual and non-invasive; the AI cannot know what was not opened up or accessed.
  • warningPublished property data (EPC and similar) is supplied by third parties, can be years old, and may be wrong. It is shown for the surveyor to weigh, never as fact.

Risk register

The risks we track in using AI for survey reports, and what reduces each one.

AI states a defect that is not supported by the evidenceSurveyor reviews every section before sign-off; findings sit beside the photographs they came from; disclosure printed on every draft.
Surveyor signs off a draft without reading it properlyFinalise is a deliberate, separate step; the draft is watermarked until finalised; the declaration names the inspector personally.
AI provider outage mid-surveyAutomatic fallback to a second provider, and a queued retry — the survey and its photographs are never lost.
Client data used to train a modelContractual: the AI providers do not train on data submitted through their APIs.
Third-party property data is wrong or staleSource and certificate date shown beside each figure; nothing is pre-filled where the certificate is ambiguous.
Unauthorised access to reports or photographsLogin required on every route; firm-level access controls; reports visible only to their owner and, where applicable, their firm.

Data handling

Your reports and photographs are yours.

  • shieldNo client data is used to train AI models
  • shieldData is processed for the sole purpose of drafting your report
  • shieldReports and photographs stored in the EU (Ireland and Western Europe); the application runs in London
  • shieldThe UK recognises the EEA as adequate, so no extra transfer safeguards are needed for that storage
  • shieldAccess requires a login; reports are visible only to their owner and, in a firm, to permitted colleagues
  • shieldPhotographs are stripped of EXIF location data on upload
  • shieldYou can export your reports as PDF or Word at any time

Our Privacy Policy and GDPR & Data Rights notice are linked in the footer of every page, and set out the full detail on storage, retention and your rights.

Professional standards

The RICS AI standard places duties on the member using the tool — due diligence on it, an assessment of the risks, and disclosure to the client. This page exists to help a firm with the first two, and the wording printed in every report helps with the third.

Reports follow the RICS Home Survey Standard for Level 2 and Level 3, the Decent Homes Standard and HHSRS for stock condition work, and NHBC guidance for new-build snagging. Read more on Compliance & Standards.

Questions

If your firm needs something this page does not answer — a supplier questionnaire, a data processing agreement, or detail for your own risk register — get in touch and we will answer it directly.