'In my ‘pre-Appleyards life’, I spent more than five years as a technician for a well-known car manufacturer. This was my first full-time job after leaving school and allowed me to combine my working life with a passion for cars. It also gave me essential transferrable skills: how to listen and learn – and, above all else, to never be afraid to ask if you’re unsure about something.

After several months of research, I decided that a career in building surveying might suit me better. I set about cold-calling several companies that offered building surveying services, and as time went on I became more and more positive about my possible career change. One of the companies I called was Appleyards, who invited me in for a chat and later offered me a role as an Assistant Building Surveyor. My decision to leave my first job was a difficult one – after all, the workshop is all I had known, work-wise, since leaving school. But the prospect of working for Appleyards and the first impression I had of the company made it too good an opportunity to miss.

Since joining Appleyards in September 2007, I have worked with a variety of corporate, public, private and local authority clients. This generally involves many different aspects of building surveying work, including feasibility studies, measured surveys, monitoring progress in development projects and strategic advice. I have taken a particular interest in party wall work.

Thanks to the support, sense of partnership and development opportunities that Appleyards provides, my career is going from strength to strength. I am currently studying for a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors accredited degree in building surveying: a five-year, part-time course at the University of Greenwich. Appleyards has not only sponsored me to complete the course, but also gives me time off to study at key times in the academic year.'