I was born in Sennen near Lands End, Cornwall and moved to St Ives when I was nine years old. I attended Truro Cathedral School, Cornwall College and North Gloucester College of Technology and Finally Aston University. I left Fox & Sons in March 1988 to form my own practise, Douglas Cawley & Associates in St Ives Cornwall as a Chartered Building Surveyor, undertaking Valuations, Homebuyers Reports and Valuations, Full Building Surveys, Litigation Reports, Schedules of Dilapidations, Schedules of Condition, New Building Certification, Drawing of Plans for Planning and Building Regulation approvals, Mundic Block Testing, Rental Reviews etc.