Countrywide : Double Award Win for Countrywide Surveying Services

Double Award Win for Countrywide Surveying Services

Countrywide Surveying Services has been named 'Best Surveying Firm' and 'Winner of Customer Service/Treating Customers Fairly (non-lender)' at renowned Mortgage Finance Gazette Awards, along with a high commendation award in the 'Innovation (non-lender)' category.

These prestigious industry awards were originally established in 1869 as the Building Societies Gazette and has been a market leading publication for the mortgage lending industry for 150 years.

Part of the UK's largest property services group, Countrywide Surveying Services provides valuation and panel management services to the mortgage lending community, and employs 480 chartered surveyors across the UK.

Commenting on the Best Surveying Firm award win, the judges of the industry awards said that, 'Countrywide's response to the pandemic was swift and its move to desktop valuations helped thousands of homeowners and home movers secure a mortgage offer. Now with more lockdowns in place the hurdles continue, but Countrywide said it had been able to meet these difficulties with honest, open conversations with clients and customers as well as ensuring the safety of its surveyors were maintained at all times. This submission was praised for offering the widest range of tools to deliver efficiency and improve standards in surveying.

On top of this it has received ISO Accreditation and delivered 20 more surveyors to the industry through its training academy. This builds on the 200 plus it has introduced over the last six years.'

On the award for Customer Service Treating Customers Fairly (non-lender), the judges commented, 'One of the testimonials in Countrywide's submission read, 'An unforeseen consequence of these extraordinary times is a realisation that the mortgage industry needs valuers… More than that, it needs valuation companies that are innovative and able to adapt to the challenges of the locked world.' Countrywide proved itself well in this respect. It moved to a desktop valuation model and adapted this quickly to client demands. It kept in touch with customers to ensure it had the capacity to support them when lockdown ended. Judges were also particularly impressed Countrywide kept the pipeline moving during such a testing time for this sector.'

Paul Wareham, Managing Director B2B, says, 'I am really proud of the continued fantastic work that Matthew Cumber and his team in our Surveying Services business do for our clients and customers and winning these awards reflects this. Despite the unprecedented challenges we continue to face, from new Covid-secure working protocols to record volumes of cases to work through post-lockdown, as well as a mini mortgage lending stamp duty holiday boom, we have continued to deliver at the highest level in the industry throughout.'

Paul Creffield, Group Managing Director, added 'These awards really are a testament to the commitment, dedication and ability of our people. We take pride in delivering best practice and excellent service to our customers day in and day out, and these awards demonstrate just that.'

For further information, please contact:

Lianne Scott, Public Relations Manager
07712 538753
[e-mail]