Meet Otto.
Your auto-mode RICS report writer.

A typical Level 2 auto-mode flow completes from audio upload to editable web report in 5–15 minutes, depending on transcript length and image count. Compared with 2–3 hours for a manual report, that's an 80–90% reduction in non-judgement time.

Our frontier AI engine handles sentence-level routing with careful deliberation, with an automatic AI fallback to a secondary engine if the primary is unavailable. Speech recognition handles audio transcription. A vision AI handles photo categorisation. All operate behind smart caching to keep latency and cost low.

No. Otto only routes and synthesises content you have dictated, typed or photographed. It does not invent observations. Every routed field has a 0–1 confidence score and is fully editable. You remain the surveyor of record on every output.

Yes. Otto supports both RICS Home Survey Level 2 and Level 3. For Level 3 it additionally auto-populates Section H (Legal-Adviser Issues) from the D-G condition findings and supports custom rating scales beyond the standard 1/2/3.

You can drag any sentence to a different field, edit it inline, or delete it. The accuracy sidebar shows confidence per field so you focus review on the ~10% with lowest confidence. You can also re-dictate a single field — a new dictation session replaces the old routing for that field only.

If the AI is unavailable, an automatic AI fallback switches Otto to a secondary engine for routing. Auto-mode continues without blocking. Quality is comparable; the careful deliberation step is unavailable on the fallback path.

Yes. If your firm uses a 5-point rating scale instead of the RICS 1/2/3, define it in your firm settings. Otto snapshots your scale per report at the moment of creation, so the routing remains consistent even if you change the scale later.

Yes — Otto is included with every RICS-regulated firm's verified Home.co.uk listing. There is no Otto-specific subscription and no pay-per-lead. Otto runs are metered on a pay-as-you-go basis, so you only pay when you actually generate a report. Direct bookings carry a small transaction fee, paid only when a consumer pays you. Search for your firm on the surveyor directory to check if your listing is already live.

Yes. Otto supports both Level 2 and Level 3 across all property ages and construction types, including pre-1900 and listed buildings. The routing engine understands solid brick, timber frame, stone and other traditional construction, routing observations correctly to elements such as D1 Chimney Stacks, D4 Roof Structure and E2 Internal Walls. You flag any statutory constraints in your dictation and Otto routes them to Section H (Legal-Adviser Issues) automatically. For very complex heritage surveys, the editable web report lets you adjust or expand any section before PDF export.

Otto suits both equally. Sole traders get the reporting throughput of a larger office without hiring an admin — pay per report generated, no monthly subscription. Larger practices benefit from Otto's style profile injection, which keeps tone consistent across every surveyor on the team regardless of who conducted the inspection.

For Level 2, Otto covers all sections in the RICS Home Survey template: Section A (Inspection details), Section B (Overall Opinion and priority items — auto-populated from D–G condition findings), Section C (About the Property — pre-filled from EPC, UPRN and risk data), Sections D–G (External Condition, Internal Condition, Services, Grounds — populated by sentence-level dictation routing), Section I (Energy and Sustainability — auto-populated) and Section J (Surveyor declaration). For Level 3 Building Surveys, Sections A through O are covered, with Section H (Issues for Legal Advisers) additionally auto-populated from D–G findings. Sections K–O support free-text entry in the editor.

Yes. Any phrases stored in your firm's Standard Phrases library are injected into the routing step. Otto selects the most appropriate phrase for each field and condition rating, so the language in your AI-drafted report matches your pre-approved wording. You can build and manage the library at any time using the Standard Phrases tool.

Otto's report structure, section headings and condition ratings follow the RICS Home Survey Standard for both Level 2 and Level 3. Condition ratings (1, 2, 3) are applied consistently at element level with a supporting confidence score and evidence trail. Nothing enters the signed report without your review and approval — Otto is the drafter; you are the signatory. After populating the report, the built-in RICS Standards Check reviews any text block against current RICS guidance and flags potential gaps before you sign off. Otto systematises documentation; it does not substitute for your professional judgement.

Yes. Otto accepts both audio files (MP3, WAV, M4A) and pasted text. If you prefer to type your observations during the inspection, or you already have a typed draft from a previous tool, you can paste the transcript directly into the dictation field and skip the speech recognition step entirely. Otto treats typed text and transcribed audio identically from the routing step onwards.

You need a verified Home.co.uk surveyor listing — Otto is included at no extra charge with every RICS-regulated firm's listing. Once your account is active, create a report from the dashboard, enter the property address, and Otto resolves the UPRN and pre-fills the property record automatically. You can begin with audio dictation, typed notes, or photos only. Search for your firm on the surveyor directory to check whether your listing is already live, or register your firm to get access.

Yes — both tools live in the same account under one login. On a new-build visit where the buyer wants both a RICS Level 2 report and a snagging inspection, you can run Otto for the Level 2 (dictation-to-report in 5–15 minutes) and use the Snagging Report Builder for the room-by-room defect capture. There is no separate subscription or additional fee for snagging alongside your RICS reports. Many surveyors offer this combined visit as a premium service — a structural condition report on the build plus a snag list the buyer can hand to the developer.

A general-purpose AI chat tool does not understand RICS report structure, condition rating scales, element codes (D1–G3) or what the RICS Home Survey Standard requires in each section. You would need to paste your notes in, write detailed instructions and then spend significant time restructuring the output yourself. Otto is purpose-built for this: it knows the RICS section template inside out, infers condition ratings (1/2/3) at element level, routes observations to the correct field automatically, synthesises Sections B, C, H and I from structured data, and produces a compliant branded PDF in a single pass. Crucially, Otto holds a confidence score per field and an audit trail linking every sentence back to your dictation and source photos — neither is possible with a general-purpose tool. It is also surveyors-only software, so your client data is not used to train anything else.

Yes. Otto accepts MP3, WAV and M4A files, so any digital Dictaphone or portable recorder that exports in one of those formats will work — including Olympus, Sony and Philips handheld recorders commonly used on inspections. Record your walk-through as normal, transfer the file to your phone or laptop, then upload it to your Otto report. There is no app to install and no Bluetooth pairing required. If your device exports to a less common format such as WMA, convert the file to MP3 using a free audio converter before uploading. Alternatively, recording directly on a phone voice-memo app and uploading immediately from the car is the fastest workflow for most surveyors.

If the property has no EPC on file, Section C (About the Property) is still pre-filled from any available data — Land Registry title details, previous listing history and risk datasets for flood, subsidence and radon. Otto flags any missing data fields in the editor so you can complete them by hand. UPRN resolution works for almost all UK residential addresses, including recent new builds registered with the Valuation Office Agency. In the rare case of a very new or unregistered address, you can confirm the address manually and Otto creates the report with a partial pre-fill, leaving unresolvable fields blank for your input.

Otto's routing engine understands common surveyor shorthand for serious defects. Dampness observations are routed to the appropriate element — penetrating damp to the relevant wall or floor element, condensation and moisture ingress to the appropriate internal element. Subsidence and structural movement observations route to the relevant structural elements depending on context. Any observation routed with a condition rating of 3 (Serious Defects) is highlighted in the accuracy sidebar as a priority review item. For legally sensitive findings — structural movement, suspected invasive plant species, flooding history — you dictate the observation and Otto routes it to the correct element field; for Level 3 reports, relevant material is also flagged in Section H (Issues for Legal Advisers). You review, reword if needed and sign off. Otto proposes; you decide.

Yes. If your inspection spans more than one visit — for example a large detached property, a heritage building with restricted access areas, or a Level 3 survey requiring a specialist contractor on a second day — you can upload audio from each visit or paste additional transcript text into the same report. Otto appends new content to the existing routing, merging incoming sentences with what is already placed in each RICS field. You can re-run the routing step on the combined transcript at any point; your manual edits to individual fields are preserved. For multi-visit Level 3 Building Surveys, a common workflow is: main structural walk-through on day one (roofs, structure, services), specialist access observations on day two (roof space, drains, heritage fabric). Upload both recordings to the same report and run Generate again — Otto merges both sets of observations into the relevant D–G elements and synthesises Section H from the combined findings.

Yes. Audio recordings, inspection photos and report content are held in secure cloud storage with encryption in transit and at rest. Each surveyor's reports are fully isolated — no other user or firm can access your data. Otto does not share client personal data with third-party services beyond what is required to perform transcription and routing, and all processing is covered by UK GDPR-compliant data processing agreements. A data processing addendum is available on request for practices that need it for their own GDPR compliance records.

Yes. Otto is a web-based tool — there is no app to install. Creating an inspection, uploading audio and adding photos all work on any modern smartphone or tablet browser. Most surveyors record their walk-through using the phone's built-in voice recorder or a Dictaphone app, then upload the file from the car and review the finished report on a laptop back at the office. If you prefer to trigger the Generate step before leaving the site, the mobile browser interface is fully functional — Otto processes the report in the background whether or not you stay on the page.