Excel for Surveyors

Citation

Clarke, S.J. (2001), "Excel for Surveyors", Property Management, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 207-211. https://doi.org/10.1108/pm.2001.19.2.207.1

When I saw this book advertised I thought “brilliant”, at last someone has produced a book aimed specifically at surveyors – a simple, easy‐to‐use guide to creating complex valuations on a spreadsheet.

As a regular user of Excel in daily practice, as well as having taught undergraduates the principles of spreadsheets and how to apply them to valuations, I was pleased to see a text designed for the market leader.

However, on receiving the book I was disappointed that all the screen shots were taken from an Apple Macintosh computer. While I accept the authors’ comments that there are few practical differences between the PC and Apple versions of the software, it could be off‐putting to a surveyor or student browsing the bookshop.

This is probably a minor quibble, but as the majority of surveyors use IBM PCs, a little extra effort should perhaps have been made to provide compatible screen shots. This is of particular concern as the book states in the cover notes that “No prior knowledge is assumed and therefore the book is equally suited to the novice using Excel for the first time or the browser wanting to add to his or her existing skills”.

Setting this issue aside, the book promises a great deal in terms of assisting surveyors, the primary strength being those sections that demonstrate how to convert valuation formulae into functions on the spreadsheet. While most of us who have been using spreadsheets for the last 20 years have had very little difficulty understanding the principles of the application, the conversion of valuation formulae was somewhat hit and miss in the beginning.

From my own viewpoint, as someone experienced in using both Excel and spreadsheets for valuations, the book is an aide‐mémoire and an interesting insight into how others have converted formulae. In order to test the book more thoroughly, I offered it to three junior members of staff to evaluate.

The first two surveyors were about to submit their final APC papers, both had used Excel but neither was confident in producing their own valuations. They both considered that the book was useful but limited. The main problems that they encountered using Excel were easily resolved by asking others or referring to general texts such as Excel for Dummies. The application of valuation formulae was not a major issue. Reverting back to simple algebra was sufficient to enable the creation of formula for the spreadsheet.

The third surveyor has only recently joined us and is about 12 months away from the final stage of the APC. This surveyor has entered the profession on a non‐cognate route, and had never used a spreadsheet before and had no idea of its uses or functions.

In the opinion of these prospective surveyors, the book was aimed at beginners but only those that knew how spreadsheets worked in the first place and were competent valuers. After receiving an in‐house introduction to “what is a spreadsheet” they felt better able to use the book and were hopeful that in time it would prove helpful. Watch this space!

I must commend the authors for attempting to produce a practical guide for surveyors, but I am not convinced that it fully achieved its aims. The book is well written in a friendly open style. The text and screen shots are a little cramped on the pages and would be clearer on a larger format.

Students and practitioners who have received a thorough grounding in valuation principles and with an understanding of the basics of spreadsheets will probably find little value in such a book. I would not go as far as recommending this title to students but would classify it as “worth a look”. In fact a good guide to Excel, such as that mentioned earlier, could be just as useful.