Would a builder give pre-survey once over?

nementai

I viewed a house today that I'm tempted by.
It's been reduced to a very good price, it's a size and location that suits us, but it will need some work.

Main issues I can see are;
1. electics - EA says 15 yrs old, they aren't old pull out style, but look a bit ropey to me, plus most are external to walls and covered by those plastic boxy things.
2. large area of kitchen ceiling plaster burst out. Bathroom is above and flooring is warped in this area, looks like a one off flood to me, but ceiling needs fixing.
3. Lean to (advertised as utility room) has serious damp. Plaster is bubbling off all the way up, both int and ext walls, doesn't look like it was ever finished as a room.

I'm guessing if the wiring doesn't need doing now, it will do in a couple of years (plus I'd rather have it done in an empty house than living around it...)
But I'd guess the other two issues shouldn't be too tricky to sort (ie. quick and cheap!)

Do you think if I found a local builder and took him to a second viewing, he'd be able to give a rough idea if there really is an issue, and if so, roughly what it's going to cost?
Could / should I employ a surveyor to do this instead?
And how much am I going to pay for this kind of informal look over?

If it helps, I'm in Bristol and the house is a 2 bed terrace.

poppysarah

Hmmm depends if it's a builder you know and trust. Otherwise tricky.

rewire is 2-3k
ceiling is a few hundred - but depends on what else might be wrong
lean to? Is it just a shack or bricks?

Ring a surveyor and ask if they do a survey with prices for repairs in ...

Has it got damp on internal walls caused by outside problems? Does the leanto need pulling down? What caused the burst?

nementai

The lean to is brick and has a proper slate roof. It's been floored and plastered ok, but no lining paper or anything else.
The damp is confined to the lean to, but it is on the wall where it ajoins the kitchen. My guess is that it's coming up, not down, or the kitchen would be affected too...
No idea if the lean to could be saved, damp looks long established. Would guess with damp coursing (guess this is what it does...never researched it!) it would be fine.

The burst, I'd guess (bearing in mind my knowledge of buildings is limited to daytime TV :eek: ) was an overflow of the bath above.
There's also a hole in the bedroom ceiling, but it's next to the loft hatch and looks distinctly foot shaped!
Of course all th above is based on a lay person looking at it for about 20 secs...

Thanks for the surveyor suggestion, though I'm keen not to pay out too much or get too far into this without some clearer idea of what we're likely to get into! I might give a couple a ring and see.

poppysarah

Damp proof course in the leanto? Yeah not dear - ring a damp course company for a quote...

The basic survey from a surveyor is basically what you've already spotted - unless there are bulging walls and broken wall ties, serious nasty damp in the roof and the buildings about to fall down.

Is it very cheap cos there's something you've not spotted? A surveyors report will put your mind at rest.

Doozergirl

Invest in aproper survey.

The surveyor has no vested interest in selling you anything plus if they miss something, they are insurance backed.

If you don't personally know a builder then there is little point in asking what is essentially a random bloke to look over a house you may or may not be buying.

Get the house surveyed properly and you will know exactly what needs doing. You don't save money by not doing things properly.

"Lean to" sounds a bit depressing. If you think it isn't proper then it might just be a single skin of brick in which case you'll never get shot of condensation etc. otherwise I've seen plenty of dodgy washing machine plumbing that causes no end of trouble just for not being attached properly.

nementai

Thanks for that, it's good to get some reassurance we're not likely to throw thousands at a wreck!

It's just been reduced, and is in need of the very obvious repairs I've mentioned, which I guess would put a lot of people off.
Plus the kitchen needs replacing - the units have had it but otherwise livable.

Other than that, there doesn't seem to be anything else serious wrong (no signs of the stuff you mentioned). It's not as pretty as others we've seen, but then they're a lot more money!

It's currently around £10k under other similar properties, but they're 'motivated', it's been on for a while, and the EA reckons we can get it for £10k less again (£120k).

Tempted to try with an offer £115k, to account for repairs etc and see what they say.

nementai

Doozergirl - Thanks, but I'm definately not buying a house without a full survey! Seen my own parents suffer from that mistake.

I just want someone who actually knows what they're doing to cast their eye over before I invest time and money only to find the house is falling down.
From the sounds of it, the costs are likely to be significantly less than I'd feared :j

Doozergirl

Your surveyor will spot as much as any builder plus they carry the credentials.

It's hard to get a builder to commit to something that you haven't bought yet, plus if it really isn'tt hat bad then a 'builder' isn't what you need, just the right trades to sort things out.

EAs know nothing about electrics. How do they know what is 15 years old? They aren't qualified to even answer that question. On boxes outside the wall means either quite rounded sockets, in which case you are going to need a rewire but if it has a 'flicky switch' fuse box and the sockets are square but on the wall they may just have done a rewire cheapy and not bothered to chase the wires and boxes when they transferred from the older style 'stick it on the skirting board' type wiring. despite not being a qualified electrician, a conversation with your surveyor will give you an idea of whether it's a definate rewire. The written report won't.

adr0ck

the only thing to bear in mind is that the surveyor could come up with problems that you have missed

this is true for all properties though

sometimes it can be best to walk away even if you have spend money on a survey etc

bluebubble30

We had a 'Middle Survey' done on our 1930's house and the result was the house was fine.
Found out when we moved in that the freshly painted ceiling in the kitchen was due to water power in from the shower in the bathroom upstairs.
Nothing was earthed on the electrics.
When we went to have the boiler serviced, the Gas man cut it off at the Gas pipe and said it was kicking out so much Carbon Dioxide he was suprised we were still alive.
Am now having to live in it while gutting it as we've taken years to save up and get everything (the boiler of course was bought and installed straight away).

The next time I buy a house....I'll have the cheapest survey done and get an electrician/boiler servicer/plumber to check everything over.

We could have knocked the money off the price of the house if we knew when we put in an offer!