A measured survey of a typical single-story house takes one to two hours on site. Additions, split levels and sunken rooms each need their own reference. A house with several takes longer in proportion.

What a Phoenix survey is reading against

There are 642,867 housing units here, and the median one was built in 1984. A single set of elevations is a snapshot of one day in a house’s life: it shows the shape of the floor, not whether that shape is still changing. That is the argument for keeping the report rather than filing it, because the second survey, a season or a year later, is the one that tells you which kind of house you have.

The reasoning behind that

The time on site is mostly the readings. Elevations are taken at points across every floor plane, and a simple rectangular house on one slab is one plane. Every addition and every step down into a sunken room is another. Each needs its own reference before the readings mean anything. Access is the other variable. Furniture, flooring and stored belongings all hide the points a reading needs. A garage stacked to the door is a section that cannot be read. Clearing access before the appointment shortens it materially. Time on site is not the same as turnaround. The report usually arrives afterwards: the readings, where each was taken, and the date. If a contract deadline is running, ask about that turnaround, not the length of the visit. If nothing arrives in writing at all, the visit produced an opinion, not a measurement. An opinion cannot be compared against a second reading next year.

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