timber and damp report

sirhobo

whitemouse75 wrote: »

you reckon those are realistic prices?

I've got quotes for an independent damp survey of a flat for £130, but you could always get two or three free surveys from companies that provide DPC and remedial work. Obviously don't trust them to be correct but you may get a sense of the upper end of the price range. Miller Metcalfe (go through reallymoving website) will arrange a full structural survey for £450.

whitemouse75

not as bad as i thought then, but as the loft conversion issue from my other thread suggests, i'm not sure how much i want to lay out

alanmilstein

Ultimately you're the buyer of the property and need to make sure that you know what you're getting into.
A survey that I would do would give you a good overview of the issues you need to consider. If I can't find the root cause of a problem then, yes, I will recommend getting in a spacialist. I guess it's a little bit like getting a full medical from your GP. He'll explain what the issues are and then refer you to the most suitable consultant.
It sounds to me like you have a number of issues to contend with. Damp, timber defects, unsuitable loft conversion, probably electrics. But what about the roof timbers, external brickwork, external roof covering etc etc etc.
Are you going to get an army of trades in to look at all these things (and which ones are you going to miss?), or get a full survey done and then target the issues that matter most.
I typically find that clients save between 5-10 times the cost of the survey by renegotiating the price when armed with my report. In which case it's a highly competitive resource!

whitemouse75

ok, i know you're nowhere near the midlands, but roughly what price am i looking at for such a survey?

and what does it not include, ie do i still then need to pay to get the electrics checked, damp checked, loft conversion checked?

edit: as in, what needs actually checking and what is back covering i guess is what i meant

whitemouse75

how much of the loft conversion can you actually see though, bearing in mind how non-intrusive you need to be?

alanmilstein

whitemouse75 wrote: »

how much of the loft conversion can you actually see though, bearing in mind how non-intrusive you need to be?

Depends. It's different every time. Is there any access to the remaining roof space? Are there any eaves storage areas that aren't fully boarded out? How far can one explore?
In some conversions there's plenty to see, in some there's none.
However, if there's no building regs/building control approval on the conversion AND there's nothing to see because it's all sealed up then I would certainly be ringing some alarm bells. In this scenario it's anyones guess what has taken place and the only way to find out will be to open up the plasterwork/plasterboard to look at the roof timbers. As that is likely to be impractical then there has to be a big question mark as to whether or not one would want to proceed with a purchase.
Even though YOU might be happy to buy a property with this type of limitation, always remember that you are going to want to sell it at some point in the future. The question will come up again and one never knows what the implications will be. In such circumstances your solicitor should be able to advise you.

whitemouse75

there's full length eaves storage down either side, that's all i know. to be honest the whole thing freaks me out because i cannot imagine for one minute trying to save a few quid to meek an extra room where the kids could be sleeping

alanmilstein

Unfortunately there's often not much logic when it comes to people spending money on doin things properly!
Who knows who did the conversion and how it's been done?
Was planning permission sought for the conversion? Do you know when it was done? Was Building Control involved?
Your solicitor will be asking all these questions of the vendors solicitors and unless they can provide some good answers then there has to be a big quesion mark over this.
If it's an unapproved conversion then how safe is it from a fire point of view? I note from the other topic that there's no fire door. Are the stairs safe? is there a minimum of 1.8 metres headroom on the staircase? Is there a safe fire exit from the room itself?
Putting aside any thoughts of permissions/approvals, if it's an unsafe place to be then would you want to sleep up there?
Speak to your solicitor before doing anything else and then decide if this an something you want to proceed with.

dampdaveski

Alan,
Maybe you could move your sales pitch onto pm's between you and your prospective client!!

Whitemouse in answer to your first question try www.property-care.org and have a look on the contractors section, there are also independant surveyors on there too

alanmilstein

dampdaveski wrote: »

Alan,
Maybe you could move your sales pitch onto pm's between you and your prospective client!!

Whitemouse in answer to your first question try www.property-care.org and have a look on the contractors section, there are also independant surveyors on there too

Errr, no, not trying to sell my services specifically. But the services of a good independent surveyor? Most certainly.

Which? magazine found that 1 in 4 home buyers had to spend an average of £2500 to put right defects that they found in their newly purchased homes that would have been picked up by a thorough survey. For some inexplicable reason less that 1 in 5 buyers actually commission a survey. Many of those who don't are under the mistaken belief that their valuation is a survey. It's not! And even the lenders themselves recommend that you get a full survey carried out separately.

Of course, many home buyers rely on their friend/builder mate/relative giving the place a "once over". That's fine except, of course, they don't retain any records of what was there at the time of the purchase (in the event that you want to claim in your buildings insurance in 5 years time for the crack that's opened up in the wall but which wasn't there when you bought the place), they don't have any professional indemnity insurance in case they stuff up and miss something significant, and are likely to suggest you get in a damp proofing company who will immediately want to hack off all the plaster to install a damp proof course that may not be needed.

Sadly many surveyors of old have given the profession a less than appealing face, but I'm glad to say that things are changing. There are new products on the market and new blood coming into the profession. There's a new industry standard, the Residential Property Surveyors Association (RPSA), to make sure that you're getting a quality product and good service, which is backed by solid indemnity insurance and continual assessment of surveyors performance.
Yes, I'm unashamedly selling the very practical and sensible concept that anyone spending £x00,000's on a house (that, on average in this country is going to be half a century old!) should spend just a few £hundreds to get it looked at properly and to understand what they're buying.