Data collected on site becomes the report. Readings, photographs, construction details and measurements captured in a structured way write half the document, while notes on a phone mean an evening of reconstruction.
The report outlives the conversation. Somebody may act on it eighteen months later, so it has to be comprehensible without the person who wrote it, and retrievable when they ring.
Follow-up is where advice becomes work. A client given five recommendations will do one, and a call three months later about the next one is the difference between a consultancy and a report-writing service.
Grant deadlines are unforgiving. A scheme closing in March is a date the client will forget, and the consultancy that reminds them is the one that ends up delivering the work.