Access first: can a transit van park, can a skip be sited, where will materials be stored? Then existing fabric: wall build-ups, suspected lintel positions, signs of damp, condition of the roof. Then services: where the incomers come in, the route of existing drainage, the position of the meter cupboard.

After that the conversation with the client: what they like about the existing space, what they don’t, what they want the finished project to feel like, what they’re less sure about. That last conversation is where a feasibility estimate stops being a number and starts being a project brief.

We leave with photographs, measurements, a sketched scope and enough information to price defensibly.