Instructions by email, please — it gives us the scope in writing and starts the file properly.
Write to office@haldersonmarine.com. A useful instruction says what the vessel is, where it will be and when, who we are acting for, and what question the report needs to answer.
We will come back with a fee, a realistic attendance time, and any conflict we need to declare before accepting.
Casualty instructions outside office hours go to the surveyor on call; put casualty in the subject line and the on-call phone will alert.
We answer out-of-hours mail. We do not, as a rule, accept an instruction by phone alone — the scope always ends up disputed.
| Conflicts | Tell us the other parties. If we have acted for any of them on the same vessel or the same casualty, we will say so and decline. |
|---|---|
| Fees | Quoted per instruction, not per page or per photograph. Disbursements (travel, port access, launch hire) are passed through at cost. |
| Terms | Our standard terms are sent with the fee quotation and apply once attendance is confirmed. |
| Records | Field notes and the photographic record are retained for six years and released only to the instructing party or on order of a court. |
We are not a 24-hour call centre and do not pretend to be. If nobody answers, the mail will still be read by a surveyor, not by an assistant.