Surveys!!

chrmd156

I am a first time buyer and am a bit lost with surveying!! from what i have heard it is worth getting a full stuructual one rather than just a home buyers report, but i have no idea where to start looking, what to look for and what is a good price
can anyone help?!!

princessamy86

Hi and welcome to the board

There are three levels of survey that you can have- basic valuation, homebuyers and full structural.

Basic valuation: if you are buying with a mortgage you will have to get one of these done for the bank. It is incredibly basic and usually consists of 1 side of A4 which states the general condition of the property and the valuer's opinion of what it is worth.

Homebuyers: more detailed than the basic valuation, they will test for damp and usually make a lot of recommendations for extra surveys and reports. Homebuyers is generally recommended for properties which are of standard construction and fairly recent build (last 30 or 40 years).

Full structural: Get this if the house is old and/or you suspect there may be structural issues. This is very comprehensive but obviously costs more than the others.

http://www.home.co.uk/guides/buying/vands.htm is a pretty good guide.

tbs624

RICS also have a guide to surveys(link)

scooter_chick

In terms of getting a surveyor & negotiating a price, then I found the RICS website a good place. I asked several surveyors listed on that site for a quote & went with the one who seemed the best (not just on price, but willingness to spend time chatting to me pre & post survey too. They'll tell you alot of stuff on the phone that they won't write down).

I'm moving to an area I don't know, so had no one to ask for a recommendation. Wasn't going to ask the EA obviously - actually I was quite pleased when he moaned that the one I'd chosen had a reputation for being picky!

princessamy86

scooter_chick wrote: »

In terms of getting a surveyor & negotiating a price, then I found the RICS website a good place. I asked several surveyors listed on that site for a quote & went with the one who seemed the best (not just on price, but willingness to spend time chatting to me pre & post survey too. They'll tell you alot of stuff on the phone that they won't write down).

I'm moving to an area I don't know, so had no one to ask for a recommendation. Wasn't going to ask the EA obviously - actually I was quite pleased when he moaned that the one I'd chosen had a reputation for being picky!

obviously, what with them all being crooks and liars and whatnot. Did you know that EAs can't actually refer to surveyors who work for their company? It's a conflict of interest. Also, RICS surveyors are impartial, whoever recommends them.

sonastin

I got quotes from reallymoving.com and (I think) localsurveyordirect.(?? - google it!)

Was immediately inundated by numerous phone calls undercutting those quotes which suggests to me that surveyors are pretty short of work at the moment and prepared to offer you a good deal.

Managed to get an independent homebuyers survey done for less than I had to pay for the lenders valuation (total cost about £50 more than upgrading to lenders homebuyer survey). Quotes for full survey were also less than lender charged for a valuation but I didn't feel like I needed that level of detail.

chrmd156

thanks guys have signed up to some of the website and waiting on some quotes!
your help is much apprecaited!!

ray123

scooter_chick wrote: »

I'm moving to an area I don't know, so had no one to ask for a recommendation. Wasn't going to ask the EA obviously - actually I was quite pleased when he moaned that the one I'd chosen had a reputation for being picky!

Did you move to London by any chance? I would like to have a surveyor lined up for when I buy.

scooter_chick

ray123 wrote: »

Did you move to London by any chance? I would like to have a surveyor lined up for when I buy.

No sorry Ray - I'm actually moving out of London!