THE TARISA STANDARD
A trust standard you can inspect.
Anyone can call themselves trusted. The TARISA Standard is the documented method underneath every check we perform — what is checked, by whom, to what evidence standard, reviewed how, expiring when. We publish it because a standard you cannot examine is only a claim.
The six principles
1. Scope before payment
Every engagement states in writing what will be checked, what will not, who will do it, what it costs, the target turnaround and the limitations — and you approve it before any work begins. No client should discover the boundary of a service after paying for it.
2. Authority matched to risk
A trained field officer establishes facts and captures evidence. A registered professional gives technical opinions in their own discipline. We use the current registers — the Engineering Council of Zimbabwe, the Architects Council, quantity surveying and land surveying registers, and the Estate Agents Council — and we do not certify beyond the competence of the person assigned.
3. Evidence, not impression
Originals are retained separately from anything edited for a report. Timestamps, capture metadata and location data are preserved. Every visit follows a defined shot list. Documents are recorded with their provenance. Change history and report versions are kept. ISO/IEC 17020 — the international standard for inspection-body competence and impartiality — is our long-term operating benchmark.
4. Separate the signals
Verified fact, provider-supplied information, professional opinion, exception and unobserved are five different things, and every report keeps them apart. Blending them is how a report ends up saying more than the evidence supports.
5. Review before release
An assurance desk checks completeness on every case. Complex, high-value and contested cases receive a second professional review. No report is released with a critical evidence omission.
6. Everything expires
Every check is a point in time and carries its date. Important checks are refreshed at least annually and immediately after anything material changes. A status without a date is not a status.
Who is allowed to say what.
| Question | Who answers it |
|---|---|
| Is this business here, and what is physically on the site? | Trained field officer |
| Is this credential genuine? | TARISA, confirmed with the issuing body |
| Is this structural work acceptable? | Engineer registered with the Engineering Council of Zimbabwe |
| Are these quantities and costs reasonable? | Registered quantity surveyor |
| Where is this boundary, actually? | Registered land surveyor |
| Is this design compliant? | Registered architect |
| Is this transaction legally sound? | Legal practitioner — referred, not performed by TARISA |
| Is this agent permitted to act? | Estate Agents Council register |
How evidence is captured and kept.
On site
A defined shot list per assignment type, so visits are comparable across time. Original files retained unedited. Timestamps and capture metadata preserved. Location data where available. Narrative notes recorded at the time, not reconstructed afterwards.
For documents
Provenance recorded — what it is, who supplied it, and whether it was confirmed with an independent source. Copies retained. Anything that could not be confirmed is marked as unconfirmed rather than quietly dropped.
In our systems
- Role-based access and least privilege
- Encryption in transit and at rest
- Originals stored separately from report images
- Server timestamps, change history and report versioning
- Consent, retention and deletion rules aligned to Zimbabwe’s data protection requirements
- Backups, incident response and vendor due diligence
We do not use blockchain and we are not planning to. A disciplined audit trail and trustworthy people produce far more reliable evidence than novelty does.
What happens between the visit and your report.
Completeness check
The assurance desk confirms the agreed scope was actually covered, the evidence is present and intact, exceptions are recorded, and the limitations are stated.
Second review
Complex, high-value and contested cases are reviewed by a second appropriately qualified professional before release.
Conflict declaration
Every inspector declares conflicts on every case. No inspector’s compensation is tied to whether a client buys, or whether a provider passes. Inspectors are rotated, and pairings are monitored.
Performance management
We track rework, report timeliness, complaint rate, agreement between reviewers, and the results of random field audits. Where a reviewer is consistently out of step with the others, that is a finding about the reviewer.
When something goes wrong.
If a client is dissatisfied. Raise it with us and it is investigated. Where TARISA omitted an agreed check, misreported evidence or failed its own stated method, we correct or reperform the work and apply the remedy in your engagement terms. Our terms do not attempt to excuse fraud, deliberate misconduct or our own negligence, and they never will.
If a provider disputes a finding. Request a correction and we review it. If we decline, appeal, and the appeal is decided by someone not involved in the original decision. Corrections and appeals are free.
If a registered professional’s opinion is contested. The complaints and professional-indemnity route applies, and independent review is available.
Our responsibility, plainly. We stand behind the competent performance of the checks we agreed to carry out. We do not represent verification as insurance against every project loss, and we never will — because the moment we did, the standard would stop meaning anything.