Current Rates

Our current rates are as follows :-

for Consultancy Surveying

All work, e.g. site visits, travel to and from site, oral consultancy both by telephone and directly, preparation of reports, treatment specifications, quotations, etc. etc.,

a) between the hours of 8.00 am and 8.00 pm, Monday to Friday - £100.00 per hour subject to VAT and a discount of £15 per hour for prompt settlement.

b) outside the above hours, at week-ends and on public holidays - at our Expert Opinion rate subject to VAT and a discount of £10 per hour for prompt settlement.

for Expert Opinions for Litigation Purposes

£150 per hour subject to VAT and a discount of £20 per hour for prompt settlement.

for an Assistant Timber Infestation Surveyor

£32.50 per hour subject to VAT and a discount of £2.50 per hour for prompt settlement.

for Technical Services

This will take the form of a separate contract directly between the client and a remedial specialist company, chosen at the suggestion of us or the client, with no contractual involvement with ATICS Ltd.

Our client's attention is drawn to our Conditions of Contract, a copy of which is issued prior to contract.

The Consultant

ATICS senior consultant, Dr CJD George, is a highly qualified and experienced timber surveyor. He has an MSc (with distinction) in Timber Structures and Engineering and a PhD in Fungal Enzymic Degradation of Timber from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, and is a Certificated Timber Infestation Surveyor (with credit). In addition to twenty years work as a surveyor, he also has considerable practical knowledge as a result of working for several years as an operative on site.

Dr George has lectured extensively to professional and academic bodies. He maintains regular contact with researchers in the field of timber infestation. He is the timber conservation lecturer on courses for building professionals given by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), in which he focuses on the control of fungal decay and insect attack with minimum damage to the building, and has served on many committees of the British Wood Preserving and Damp-Proofing Association, where he has been involved in liaison with government departments resulting in the various Codes of Practice for the safe use of non-agricultural pesticides.

Qualifications of our Consultant Dr C J D George, February 1999

He is Managing Director of All Timber Infestation and Consultancy Services Ltd (ATICS), a timber infestation and structural consultancy company formed in 1978.

In addition to the basic CSRT [with credit], he has the following qualifications:-

  1. an honours degree in Biochemistry (MA Trinity College, Dublin University);
  2. a doctorate in 'Fungal Enzymic Degradation of Timber' (PhD from the Timber Technology Section, Botany Department, Imperial College of Science and Technology, London);
  3. a Diploma of Imperial College;
  4. an MSc (with distinction) in Timber Engineering (from the Timber Structures and Technology Section, Civil Engineering Department, Imperial College of science and Technology, London);
  5. he is an Associate of the Institute of Wood Science (AIWSc)

He was employed by a well-known company from 1975 to 1977 as a Timber Infestation Surveyor, when he surveyed in excess of one thousand buildings and gained practical experience of fungal decay in buildings. Following this, he completed two years as a manual worker to gain an understanding of the techniques involved in timber treatment in the control of dry rot.

As a consultant to ATICS he has advised in a large number of cases and pioneered new treatment techniques for the control of dry rot. Broadly speaking, these techniques involve less timber removal of apparently sound timber adjacent to decayed timber and a greater emphasis on design and isolation of replacement timbers than is currently recommended by what are considered to be the established authorities.

He has also developed a method of saving tessellated tiles on floors infested with dry rot.

Since 1984 he has lectured on control of fungal decay at the Institute of Wood Science meetings at the Timber Research and Development Association, at the Imperial College, to the final year surveying students at South Bank University and elsewhere.

He has lectured in timber structures and pests on the repair courses for professionals given by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) since the mid 1980's.

He maintains close contact with the researchers in the field, particularly at the Building Research Establishment, Garston (DOE) and at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine.

As our company representative, he has served on the Technical, Publicity, Membership, Training, Environmental, Convention, General Purposes Committees and the Council and has been a Vice President of what was then the BWP[D]A is now the Institute of British Wood Preserving and Damp-Proofing [IBWPD]. He has been Chairman of the Training Committee, Remedial TreatmentCommittee and Associates Committee. He is currently the Hon.Treasurer of the BWPD [Trade] Association.

As a matter of routine he is asked to prepare expert opinions in litigation involving dry rot.

The Treatment Specification

Treatment varies with the type of timber pests. Treatment A is the basic treatment against the majority of insect pests. Please note the exceptions and modifications.

Treatment A. Surface Treatment with (Organic Solvent or 'Micro-emulsion') Insecticidal Fluid (STIF)

All accessible timbers (ie not those hidden by being buried in masonry, etc) should be exposed by the removal of floorboards at suitable intervals, or other coverings, where this is deemed necessary and must be dusted down (if needed) sufficient to allow fluid penetration, and treated by the application of an organic solvent borne insecticidal fluid at our recommended concentration. All floors or other timbers must be re-laid, or replaced where structurally unsound. Any wiring, junction boxes, water tanks, insulated piping etc, must be protected during the course of treatment. Where treatment is extended to joinery timbers, the details of removal or treatment must be individually specified in the report.

This Treatment A is suitable for all the common wood-boring insects (except the Wood Boring Weevil) together with suitable modifications where the following insects are found:

The House longhorn beetle will in addition require supplementary works involving the removal of all defective sapwood (the outer part of the original tree), together with supplementary strengthening of these timbers to comply with the given strength requirement. Treatment of existing timbers and cut ends of new CCA-treated timbers must be carried out.

The Deathwatch beetle treatment may include several successive annual smoke canister applications of insecticide during the `flight season', together with the selective drilling of large dimension timbers to apply the fluid directly to the site of the attack and also the use of preservative pastes.

Our client's attention is drawn to our Conditions of Contract, a copy of which is issued prior to contract. Our leaflet `A Description of Treatment Techniques' provides particulars of the above general specifications.

Treatment B. Wet Rot Treatment (WRT)

Our report will specify the action for removal of the cause. The cause must be rectified under a separate contract, perhaps by the client's builder, together with:

  1. The removal of structurally unsound timbers
  2. If justifiable after a COSHH assessment, the treatment of the remainder by Surface Treatment with Fungicidal Fluid (STFF) or perhaps a preservative paste.
  3. The replacement of the removed timbers with sound copper-chrome-arsenic (CCA-) treated timber.

Only where justifiable under COSHH, can extra protection can be given by treatment with an insecticide to protect against future insect attack.

Our client's attention is drawn to our Conditions of Contract, a copy of which is issued prior to contract. Our leaflet `A Description of Treatment Techniques' provides particulars of the above general specifications.

Treatment C. Dry Rot Treatment (DRT)

Almost without exception the elimination of dry rot is a two stage process.

Stage 1. Exposure Works

Elimination of the cause of attack (as for WRT) together with exploratory works. These exploratory works, such as the removal of plaster and defective timbers, are designed to establish and define the full extent of the attack. A report of these findings is prepared and then a fixed price quotation for the next stage, viz:

Stage 2. Treatment Works

Owing to the persistent and often hidden nature of the attack by this fungus, it is often necessary to carry out extensive ancillary works in addition to timber replacement. The nature and extent of these will be carefully and unambiguously detailed in the report and will include some or all of the following:-

  1. The removal of all structurally defective timbers affected by the fungus, possibly with apparently sound timbers up to 1m from the nearest visible decay as determined on site by ATICS.
  2. The removal of all plaster/rendering within the affected area and up to 1m beyond as determined by our surveyor. This to be followed by the brushing down or vacuuming of exposed brickwork.
  3. For timber, Surface Treatment with Fungicidal Fluid (STFF) and/or for masonry, a masonry biocide, in a manner and to an extent detailed in the report. For timber this treatment is likely to be restricted to wet, large section timbers at risk and for masonry may include the drilling of holes at staggered centres around the perimeter of the exposed brickwork such as to form toxic barriers through and around the affected masonry.
  4. Replaster with any cementitious or lime plasters, for example a sand;cement render or `Limelite' renovating and finish (vermiculite lightweight aggregate and gypsum and lime plaster). Renew any ceiling surfaces using plasterboard together with a finish coat of retarded semi-hydrate board finish such as `Thistle'. Zinc Oxychloride fungicidal plaster can be used in special circumstances in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications (Preservation Centre for Wood Ltd., 24 Ossory Road, London SE1 5AP).
  5. For areas not due for plastering, such as reveals, apply two coats of ZOC fungicidal paint to all brickwork to which treatment timbers are to abut.
  6. Install suitable, treated replacement timbers as detailed in the report.

Our client's attention is drawn to our Conditions of Contract, a copy of which is issued prior to contract. Our leaflet `A Description of Treatment Techniques' provides particulars of the above general specifications.

The ATICS Conditions of Contract

  1. (a) Payment : Due 28 days
    (b) Discount: Survey fees are subject to a discount if settlement is received at the above address within the discount period of 14 days.
    (c) There is a minimum charge equivalent to 1 hour's work unless otherwise agreed
    (d) Payments: Are to be made to ATICS Ltd, of 15 Baskerville Road, London SW18 3RJ except where otherwise specified.
  2. Quotations are open to acceptance for 28 days from the above date, after which we reserve the right to modify or withdraw.
  3. We reserve the right to withdraw from the contract should any stage payments not be forthcoming at the time they are due.
  4. It is the responsibility of the client to:
    (a) ensure that all electrical circuits and installations within the treatment area are safe and in good order before the commencement of any work, and
    (b) ensure that the electricity supply to any circuits within the treatment area are cut off and remain cut off during the course of this treatment.
  5. The report remains the property of ATICS Ltd and may not be used, relied on or copied until paid for in full. It is an express contract term that no liability accrues to us from any reliance on a report that has not been paid for in full including any 'extras' and associated costs, such as interest.
  6. The report will be for the sole use of the client * and their professional advisers. No responsibility whatsoever to any third or other parties can be accepted for the whole or any part of its contents.
  7. We reserve the discretionary option to charge interest at a daily rate equivalent to 3% per month on all overdue accounts.

    PLEASE NOTE these limitations on the scope and quality of the survey :

  8. Unless a "full" survey as described in our General Information Leaflet No 1 (GIL 1) has been requested and confirmation in writing received by us, any work done is limited as agreed in the brief and by these terms and conditions of contract freely entered into and provided to you prior to contract.
  9. The detailed inspection of the degradation of external joinery timbers subject to weathering and requiring maintenance is not within the normal scope of our inspection.
  10. We will not have inspected woodwork or other parts of the structure which are covered, unexposed or inaccessible and we will, therefore, be unable to report that any such part of the property is free from defect.

Accordingly, the scope of our survey will be commensurate with the above conditions.