Four ways RISE
works for you

Section 19 Case Assessment

Every flood that goes unreported is a flood that never officially happened. Under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, your Lead Local Flood Authority has a legal duty to investigate flooding in its area — but that duty is only triggered once an event has been formally reported and properly recorded. Memories fade. Evidence gets cleared away. Neighbours move on with their lives. If this flood isn't documented properly now, it may not count as evidence of a pattern the next time your property floods — and by then, it may be too late to build the case you need. Don't wait for a second flood to prove the first one happened. Answer a structured set of questions about your flood and your council engagement so far, and receive a personalised report today — setting out exactly where you stand, what the realistic next steps are, and whether the full Drainage Investigation & Council Escalation service below is the right next move for your situation.

• Personalised to your specific flood event and council engagement history
• Identifies your Lead Local Flood Authority and the correct escalation route
• Written report delivered to your inbox within 15 minutes
• An honest assessment — including when the case is not yet strong enough to escalate
• No obligation — a clear-eyed starting point before committing to further services

Flood Recovery Guidance
& Property Advice

For homeowners in the immediate aftermath of a flood. The decisions made in the first 48–72 hours — whether to claim, who you let on site, what you photograph, what you sign — define the entire recovery. RISE provides urgent, honest, independent guidance before any of those decisions are made irreversible.

• Full policy review — coverage, limits, exclusions, accommodation budget
• Build Back Better and FloodRe eligibility confirmed on day one
• Accommodation budget reality check — what the headline figure actually funds
• Claim decision support — full implications of both decisions
• Loss adjuster briefing — who they work for, how to engage
• Contractor access — what to allow, what to refuse, what to document
• Flood cause assessment — who may be liable and what evidence to preserve
• Photography and documentation protocol from day one

Independent Rebuild Oversight Advisory
& Contract Review

Eyes in the room. Attention on the detail. On the side of the person who has to live in the house.

Your rebuild will be run by competent professionals. A chartered surveyor or insurer-appointed project manager. A flood-recovery contractor with a portfolio. A loss adjuster who has seen hundreds of claims. They are not the problem.

The problem is that none of them are going to wake up in five years to discover that the screed was laid over a compromised damp-proof membrane. None of them are going to find, six months in, that the air bricks were never specified. None of them are going to be standing in the kitchen at three in the morning when the water comes back through the same wall the contractor said was waterproof.

You are.

RISE is the one person in the chain whose interest is aligned with yours — because RISE has been the homeowner in this position. Twice. Once recovered the wrong way. Once recovered the right way. The difference between those two outcomes was measured in years, in five-figure sums of overspend, and in a second flood that should never have happened.

RISE attends the meetings that decide the scope. Reads the contracts line by line. Walks the site at the stages that matter — strip-out completion, damp-proof membrane installation, screed pour, completion sign-off. Notices the things that would otherwise be missed. Reports them to you, in writing, so the decisions remain yours.

RISE does not project manage your rebuild — that is for your surveyor. RISE does not instruct your contractor — that comes from you. RISE does not act as your agent with the insurer — you remain the principal in every conversation. What RISE provides is the one thing that nobody else in the chain is paid to provide: focused, experienced attention on your side of the table.

The time to engage RISE is before the scope of works is signed. Not after. Almost every expensive mistake in a flood rebuild is locked in during the first weeks — in the language of the contract, in the specification of the products, in the things that quietly get omitted from the schedule. After that point, the conversation becomes about damage limitation.

RISE has experience of documented JCT600 programmes of works — phased moisture barrier installation, named specified products, coordinated trades, structured handover. Sample programmes available on request as reference for discussions with your surveyor or contractor.

• Scope of works review — granular gap analysis, not general overview
• Contract review — JCT, JCT600, and bespoke contracts read in detail
• Meeting attendance on the client's behalf — pre-contract, site meetings, sign-offs
• Site visit oversight at critical stages — strip-out completion, DPM installation, screed pour, completion
• DPM continuity verification — the single most common failure in insurer-led rebuilds
• Tanking, waterproofing and resilient materials specification reviewed against BS 85500:2025 and Ciria C790
• Sump pump, non-return valve, flood door specification review
• Build Back Better specification review — product detail, application timing, completion documentation
• Observations and findings reported to client; all instructions to surveyor and contractor remain with client

Drainage Investigation
& Council Escalation

If your home floods repeatedly, the cause is almost certainly infrastructure that belongs to someone else. Collapsed culverts, blocked highway drains, inadequate watercourse maintenance — these are the legal responsibility of the council, the water company, or the riparian landowner.

Under Section 19 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, the Lead Local Flood Authority has a statutory duty to investigate. RISE knows how to use that process — and how to apply sustained, documented pressure until the problem is permanently resolved. In one case, this approach secured over £2 million of council-funded infrastructure works.

Worked example: Buckinghamshire Council's Section 19 investigation report (PDF) →

Reference manual: The Section 19 Reference Manual — the complete working guide, available on the site or as a downloadable PDF.

• Assessment of likely drainage, culvert, and surface water causes
• Responsible party identification — LLFA, highways, water company, or riparian
• Commissioning of drainage engineers for independent CCTV and structural survey
• Section 19 investigation evidence used in formal representations
• Formal written representations to LLFA and Environment Agency
• Sustained engagement — councils rarely act on a single letter
• Specialist solicitor signposting where legal proceedings are appropriate

Flood Resilience
Property Review

Flooded two or three years ago and your reinstatement was managed by the insurer's contractor? Your home may not be as protected as you think. This service is a formal, independent review of any previous flood reinstatement against the standard it should have been built to.

Available to any English homeowner who has flooded — regardless of when it happened or whether a claim was made.

• Assessment of previous reinstatement against BS 85500:2025
• DPM continuity check — the most common hidden failure
• Tanking and waterproofing integrity review
• Flood resilience measures audit
• Written report with clear, actionable findings
• Prioritised remediation recommendations