1. The surveyor will work their way through every room, documenting and photographing every item.
2. The surveyor will require a valuation certificate for all jewellery, paintings, artwork, antiques, collections and other valuables.
3. Important: Any high-value items not presented to the surveyor or for which no certificate of value is made available, might not be covered by the insurer.
4. Jewellery and other valuable assets must always be handled exclusively by the client.
5. Daily-use items such as clothing, bed linen, crockery and cutlery are valued by applying an average percentage; any high-value items in this respect must be pointed out to the surveyor.
6. As we respect our clients’ privacy, the surveyor will not open any cupboards or drawers or unpack any containers.
7. The surveyor will ask the client to provide an estimated value for all the curtains in your building.
8. The surveyor will also photograph the exterior of your building.
9. Once the survey is completed, all photographs and documents will be kept in an electronic safe and will not be made available to any third party without the client’s written consent.
10. To ensure that the valuation is accurate, we may consult with the client again after the survey to agree on a value for unique items for which we were unable to source prices.

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The duration of the actual survey depends on the scope of assets to be recorded but usually takes about 2 - 3 hours for an average household. On average, the survey report is completed within 10 -15 working days from the survey date.

Read more: Contents Valuations - How it’s done

While most household and office contents can be replaced “off the shelf” and are easily valued, some assets, like jewellery, artwork, Persian carpets, and collections are unique and irreplaceable. In these cases, the surveyor’s task is to provide proof of ownership by capturing valuables and collectibles on the survey report, either with a client-agreed value or with a “zero” value until the client submits the desired insurance value.

The client may obtain an expert opinion from a jeweller, antiques dealer, auctioneer etc. however, in most cases the true value of unique assets can only be determined through willing-seller-willing-buyer transactions such as at public auctions.

Beware: Some service providers claim to be specialists in valuing of all types of valuables and collectibles because the client has no way of knowing that they merely guessed the value. The fact is that not even a seasoned auctioneer is able to predict what value an item will attain on auction.

Read more: Contents Valuations - How it’s done

The replacement cost assessment of specialised equipment and industrial machinery requires detailed input from the client and/or the relevant equipment vendors. Therefore, Mirfin’s role in determining the replacement value for these assets will be of a secondary nature.

Read more: Contents Valuation: Moveable Asset Registry