Domestic Surveys

What is a Home Buyer Survey?

A Building Survey is the most thorough Survey of a property. It is not invasive but is the most comprehensive visual inspection we offer.

It concludes with a bespoke report that is not standardised which is in contrast to the Homebuyer Report which contains standard paragraphs and is a basic level report with limited information.

Our Building Survey highlights defects, diagnoses the cause, identifies the remedial repairs required and provides budget costs for our clients.

Why Choose Us?

As RICS Chartered Building Surveyors we specialise in property defect diagnosis.

Our Director’s 40 years of experience is wide ranging including inspections of commercial and industrial buildings as well as domestic properties. This is supplemented by targeted training with 20 hours minimum per year of Continuing Professional Development, of which we exceed. This may include attendance at training courses, giving lectures and staying up-to-date with changes in legislation, building products, techniques and British Standards.

We offer a personal service, therefore you deal directly with the Chartered Surveyor who visited your property.

What It Involves

Our Home Buyers Survey is a pass to “access all areas”. We look over, into, and behind all accessible parts of the building from the roof space to the cellar taking on the role of a Property Detective in seeking to identify any defects and tracing them back to the direct cause. We look for ‘tell-tale’ signs of repairs and alterations and we also take the opportunity to ‘quiz’ the vendor and the neighbours, where appropriate, to assist us in our diagnosis.

We establish the ages and types of the various elements of construction with the aim of identifying defects both in the design and the workmanship.

Typically our Survey comprises of:

• A Site Visit and structural inspection including a damp inspection identifying the design defects, thermal insulation, heat loss aspects etc. We also note any evidence of infestations.
• A Draft Report which lists priority work is prepared by the inspecting Surveyor and reviewed by our Senior Surveyor to ensure the best advice has been included prior to issue.
• A Final Client Report We aim to issue this report within 72 hrs of our site visit to meet our aim of providing Prompt, Professional, Property Advice.

In addition to inspecting the building we also examine the services which are essential to your enjoyment of the property and includes drainage, plumbing, heating, and electrics where we advise on their condition and identify any suspected defects and remedial measures.

The value of our reports is further enhanced by offering our clients suggestions and possible solutions to remedy the defects we have diagnosed.

We will also make recommendations for further specialist investigations on the property and invasive opening up if we suspect a defect.

Our Report

Our reports are concise, identifying the defects and possible solutions and are written in plain English so that they can be clearly understood. Where specialist terms need to be used, as appropriate, these will be translated for you to ensure your understanding of the issues raised.

Our Home Buyer Survey Reports are designed to provide peace of mind and confidence to prospective purchasers.

An important aspect is that we also offer a budget costing service which can allow you to negotiate with the vendor about repairs that are required.

It must be remembered that at some point all the defects that we have identified will need to be rectified. In most cases the sooner a defect is remedied then the cheaper and less disruptive it is.

Many clients choose to have our Building Survey before a purchase to avoid any costly surprises, and to gain peace of mind that they are investing wisely.

A Building Survey is appropriate for all properties whether new, old, Period or Listed, there are no exceptions.