Valuer Kaiwhakatau Wāriu

Physical Requirements

Valuers need to be reasonably fit and healthy because they often visit sites and spend long periods on their feet. They should have good eyesight (with or without corrective lenses), good hearing, and normal colour vision.

Useful Experience

Useful experience for valuers includes:

• real estate or land development work
• rural/farm work
• building or construction work
• banking, finance or insurance work
• work as an auction room attendant
• insurance work
• selling, repairing or making art, jewellery and antiques
• mechanical engineering work 
• photography.

Personal Qualities

Valuers need to be:

• honest, trustworthy and responsible
• confident and clear communicators
• observant and accurate, with an eye for detail
• able to work well independently and as part of a team
• able to keep information private and confidential
• analytical, with good decision-making skills
• good at maths and keeping records.

Skills

Valuers need to have knowledge of:

• the principles and procedures of valuation
• the history and details of the items they are valuing
• the market value of items, or how to find out this information
• styles and trends in their area of work
• valuation ethics.

Property valuers also need to have knowledge of:

• architectural and engineering plans
• building methods and materials
• property, land ownership and resource laws
• building codes and local government laws
• real estate markets
• how the economy affects the value of property.

Conditions

Valuers:

• usually work regular business hours, but may work longer hours to meet deadlines or visit clients in evenings or weekends
• are based in offices, auction rooms, art galleries, museums, and jewellery or antique shops
• can spend a lot of time travelling locally, visiting clients in their homes, or inspecting businesses and factories for valuations. Senior valuers may travel nationally and overseas to do valuations.