Following the launch of new brand Westmarq, Mortgage Soup fires the questions at managing director Richard Sexton about the business, the changing valuation market and what lenders should expect from their surveying partners.

Mortgage Soup (MS): Westmarq is a new name for a business with a long history. What prompted the change?

Richard Sexton (RS): A lot has changed behind the scenes, the new name is just a part of it. The business had become viewed as non-core under the previous owners and therefore, in truth, we were effectively treading water, rather than thinking about a forwards strategic plan. That has changed significantly.

We now have a clear direction for the business, a reconfigured management team and investment behind us. That gives us the opportunity to look at what lenders truly need from a surveying partner and build the business around that.

The Westmarq brand reflects that change. We have more freedom to be nimble and innovative, rather than trying to fit into a one-size-fits-all model. We want to facilitate lenders be the right partner for them and give them access to the right combination of professional expertise, technology and data for the cases they are dealing with.

MS: You held an event to mark the launch of Westmarq. What were you hoping to communicate to lenders?

RS: The event was really about putting some substance behind the new branding and bringing together the people and partners who are part of the next stage of the business.

One of the words that came up during the event was partnership, and I think that is important. Surveying can sometimes become a transactional part of the mortgage process, but we want to have a much more constructive relationship with lenders.

That means understanding what they are trying to achieve and being responsive enough to adapt our approach. Different lenders have different requirements and different books of business, so we don’t think there is much value in pretending that one model works equally well for everyone.

The market is changing quickly, and we think there is an opportunity for an independent business to offer lenders another option, particularly when it comes to combining technology and data with experienced professional judgement.

MS: Technology is clearly playing a bigger role in valuation. Where do you see the role of the surveyor fitting into that?

RS: I don’t think the debate should be about technology versus surveyors. Technology is very good at some things and professional judgement is very good at others. The challenge is working out where each is most useful.

Our Property Decision Engine is designed around that principle. It uses property data, automation, machine learning, risk modelling and surveyor rules to assess a case and determine the most appropriate valuation route. That could be an AVM, an Assisted Valuation, a Desktop Valuation or a physical inspection.

The important thing is that the technology is helping to make that decision rather than simply pushing every case towards the most automated option. If a property is straightforward and the evidence is strong, there may be little benefit in adding unnecessary intervention.

If a property is unusual or presents greater risk, that is where experienced professional judgement becomes much more important.

MS: Westmarq has been talking about Desktop Valuations for some time. How have they changed since you first introduced them?

RS: We have been developing and delivering Desktop Valuations (DVs) since 2017 and actually brought them to market, so they have been part of our proposition for a long time. What has changed is the technology and data available to support them, as well as the way the industry thinks about remote valuation.

When DVs first emerged, much of the conversation was about whether you could value a property without physically visiting it. I think the more useful question now is which type of valuation is most appropriate.

There are properties where the evidence is strong and a DV is entirely appropriate. There are others where the characteristics of the property, the available evidence or the level of risk mean that a physical inspection is the better option.

Our average DV turnaround is under one day, with priority DVs available in under two hours. That speed can be valuable to lenders, but speed on its own isn’t the objective. The point is to use the right valuation route for the individual case.

MS: Does that mean the traditional physical valuation is becoming less important?

RS: I don’t think so. If anything, I think the role of the surveyor becomes more important as the industry adopts more technology, because you need experienced people making decisions about where technology is appropriate and where it isn’t. We don’t seem alone as an industry in experiencing this.

We deliberately don’t operate a high-volume model where the priority is simply maximising the number of instructions completed by each surveyor.

Our surveyors generally complete around 20% fewer instructions per day than a high-volume model, because we want them to have the capacity to properly consider the cases in front of them.

That is particularly important with complex properties. We have experienced generalist surveyors as well as specialist expertise, including a dedicated HMO team, because there will always be properties where professional judgement matters.

We are also continuing to invest in technology and data that can help our surveyors make better-informed decisions. For lenders, the objective should be a proportionate valuation process.

Straightforward cases should not necessarily receive the same level of intervention as complex ones, but neither should technology be used as a substitute for judgement where judgement is needed.

MS: What do you think the valuation market needs to do differently over the next few years?

RS: The industry needs to keep moving away from the idea that there is one correct way to value every property.

We now have far more data and technology available than we did even a few years ago, but that doesn’t mean every valuation should be automated. It means we can make better decisions about where automation works, where a DV or Assisted Valuation is appropriate and where a surveyor needs to physically inspect a property.

For us, that is what being a modern surveying business means. It is not about technology for its own sake, and it is not about abandoning the principles of professional surveying. It is about bringing the two together properly.

Ultimately, lenders need confidence that the valuation they receive is appropriate for the property and the risk involved. That is the standard we want Westmarq to be judged against.