The Inventory Clerk is a professional who visits residential properties and prepares detailed reports of their condition and contents. Every time Tenants are moving IN or OUT of a property the Letting Agent or the Landlord instructs an Inventory Clerk to visit the property, to inspect it and to make a report.
You don’t need any previous experience or formal qualifications to work as an Inventory Clerk. It’s a job that is very easy to learn and a business that can be started up quickly with a little investment on your side. All you need is some basic knowledge in order to produce accurate reports.
The work of the Inventory Clerks involves:
•Working from home – receiving instructions from Letting Agents by phone or by e-mail (usually at least a couple of days before the inspection).
•Visiting & inspecting residential properties – checking marks to doors, walls, floors, listings tables and chairs, sofas and cushions, beds, wardrobes etc. (to inspect a 1-bed flat it only takes about 30min.)
•Working from home – after the inspections the Clerk prepares the reports at home. The reports must be completed within 2-3 days after the inspection and then sent to the Agents.
As an Inventory Clerk you don’t have to be an expert in fabrics, woods, materials, art or antiques. You describe items in layman’s terms only so they can be easily identified. (E.g. painted white wooden door, brown leather sofa, dark wood table etc.) You don’t have to describe the items by their original name, period produced or material used in its production.
The Inventory Clerk is NOT a qualified electrician or gas engineer. You won’t be expected to test electrical or other appliances to check if they are safe and in working condition.
Once you complete our training you can work as:
•Inventory Clerk employed by a Letting Agent or an Inventory company for a fixed salary.
•Freelance Inventory clerk doing work for other inventory clerks or Inventory companies – usually they pay lower fees than the ones you can agree directly with the Letting Agents but they can give regular work while you build your client base.
•You can start building your own Inventory business straight away – by finding at least one Letting Agent as a client, getting some experience and looking to expand the business by acquiring more and more clients.
Flexibility
Having your own Inventory Clerk business offers great flexibility. Not only you can work full-time or part-time or only several days per month. But you can also do only the work you enjoy.
If you enjoy visiting the properties but you find ‘preparing the reports’ part tedious, you can easily outsource it. You can instruct a transcription company or a typist to type the reports for you. The prices of such services vary from about 85p to £1 per recorded minute.
On the other hand you might prefer to stay at home and to type your own reports and to use other freelance Inventory Clerks to do the inspections for you.
Or you might decide to concentrate only on finding new clients and building a steady client base while using other Inventory Clerks on a freelance basis to do the inspections and to produce the reports.
Whatever your background or age, whether you have no work experience or a lot, our checklist will help you decide if becoming an Inventory Clerk is for you:
Do you have good command of English?
Do you have good computer skills?
Are you well presented?
Are you willing to work from home?
Will you enjoy visiting residential properties?
Do you live in or within easy distance of an area with some Letting Agents?
is it for ME?
