Specialist concepts and expert reports
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Specialist Concepts and Expert Reports
When damage has to be assessed, or when it has to be settled how a site is to be cleaned: independent, transparently reasoned and grounded in the practice of facility services.
When an appraisal has to stand up
After four years a floor covering is dull and stained. The client says the service provider cleaned it badly. The service provider says the covering was laid poorly or was the wrong choice in the first place. Both mean it seriously, both have arguments, and neither can produce evidence for their position.
Situations like this rarely arise from carelessness. They arise because it was never set down which surface is to be treated with which method. The service specification describes rooms, areas and cleaning frequencies. What it almost never describes: which covering lies where, and what it will tolerate.
Two questions follow from this, and we answer both. Looking back: what is the condition, and what caused it? Looking ahead: how should this site be cleaned? Often the first question leads to the second.
Why our appraisals stand up
01
Independent of supplier interests
We sell no cleaning services, no chemicals and no machines. Our appraisal has no commercial interest in a particular outcome, and in any one project we act for one side only.
02
From practice, not from a desk
90+ years of sector experience in the team, from operational site responsibility as much as from procurement. Whether a method suits a surface is something we judge from having applied it ourselves.
03
Robust towards third parties
An expert report also has to hold up in a committee meeting where nobody is from the field. We document the reasoning, not just the result. Christian Schuhen is a DGuSV-certified expert (Sachverständiger), examined and certified by the Deutscher Gutachter und Sachverständigen Verband, the German association of experts and appraisers.
What we produce and what we review
The building blocks fall into two directions. The first three establish what the condition is and what caused it. The last three set out how work is to be done in future. In practice it usually begins with damage and ends with a concept – the reverse order would make more sense, but it rarely happens.
01
Damage reports on surfaces and floor coverings
Greyed-out areas, damaged linoleum, scratched vinyl coverings, dull natural stone in sanitary areas. We record the finding, locate it room by room and name the probable cause.
02
Assessment of disputed service delivery
A comparison of the service agreed in the contract with the service actually delivered, recording the deviations and how material they are.
03
Statements for committees and supervisory bodies
Technical matters prepared for a council, a supervisory board or an audit office, in a form that remains readable without prior knowledge.
04
Drafting the cleaning concept
A survey of the surfaces, permissible methods for each covering, cleaning frequencies and deep-clean cycles, exclusions, hygiene requirements by area, plus responsibilities and ongoing revision.
05
Reviewing existing concepts and service specifications
An outside view of an existing document: what is missing, what is out of date, where gaps open up between the description and daily operation.
06
Site inspection and ongoing revision
A concept describes a site at one point in time. After conversion work, a change of use or a change of service provider, it needs reviewing.
07
When the appraisal turns into a decision
An expert report answers a question, but it does not take a decision. In most of the cases we examine, the finding ends at the same gap: it was never set down how this site is to be cleaned. On request we support what follows – the conversation with the service provider, drafting the cleaning concept, adjusting the service specification. The groundwork is then already in place, which saves working into the subject a second time.
Frequently asked questions
The questions we are asked most often
What is an expert report typically needed for?
Most often for damage to surfaces and floor coverings, where two sides disagree about the cause. Beyond that, for disputed service delivery under a running contract, and where a committee has to be able to follow a decision. In all three cases the point is less whether something is there – that is usually visible – than what caused it. And who pays depends on the answer.
Are you a publicly appointed expert?
Christian Schuhen is a DGuSV-certified expert (Sachverständiger), examined and certified by the Deutscher Gutachter und Sachverständigen Verband, the German association of experts and appraisers. Our expert reports rest on 90+ years of sector experience in the team, from tendering as much as from operational management. For court proceedings that call for a publicly appointed and sworn expert, we are not the right address; we are glad to refer you on.
What is the difference between a cleaning concept and the service specification?
The service specification describes what is done: rooms, areas, cleaning frequencies. It is a procurement document and has to be drawn up so that bidders can submit comparable offers. The cleaning concept describes how: which covering lies where, which method is permissible for it, what must expressly not be used. For the tender the service specification is enough. For daily operation it is not – and that is exactly where the damage arises.
How long does an appraisal take?
An appraisal of documents already available is usually ready within one to two weeks. A damage report involving a site inspection takes longer, because the findings have to be recorded on site and located room by room. Expect three to four weeks from the site inspection.
Can an expert report be used with the audit office?
Yes, provided it meets the requirements for traceability: documented foundations, disclosed assumptions, reasoned conclusions. We build the structure with that in mind. Whether it suffices in a particular case is for the reviewing body to decide.
Further reading
Articles on this topic from our blog.
Specialist concepts and expert reports
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Damage Patterns in Building Cleaning: When the Surface Suffers
Specialist concepts and expert reports
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In-House Cleaning or Contracting Out: How to Cost It Properly
You need an appraisal that holds up.
Describe the question to us. In an initial consultation we tell you what scope it needs – and whether an expert report is the right instrument at all. Free of charge and without obligation.
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