Homebuyers Report or FSS?

Jessica29

In the process of buying our first home. Mortgage valuation is booked for next Tuesday so we're looking at getting a survey booked in for soon after (mortgage valuation result dependent...!)

We have initially got a quote from FridaysMove (anybody heard of/used them?) £360 for a Homebuyers or £440 for Full Structural Survey. We then rang a local surveyor, who said that due to the age - 126 - of the property, he would only conduct a !!!!!! (and it would be almost £600!). I had a look on the RICS website who said that a Homebuyers report was suitable for properties up to 160 years old.

We were happy to have a Homebuyers all along as there doesn't seem to be any obvious issues with the house (I'm almost a qualified surveyor myself!), but the surveyors statement has got us thinking. Anyone have a similar experience and got any advice? I'm thinking of just biting the bullet and going with the FSS with FridaysMove..

single_lonely

Haven't used FridaysMove, but have used Carpenter Surveyors (http://www.carpenter-surveyors.com/).
They didn't call to say they were at the property (I had a few Q to ask) but they gave a mobile number so I could speak to him after the report was paid for.

I paid an extra £350 for the full survey and it brought up damp issues/cavity wall ties and other major issues. Money well spent as it would have cost 000's to remedy.

With older houses definetely I'd recomend the full survey.

Jessica29

Thanks Single Lonely. The more I read about getting a survey, the more it sounds like I'm going to pay someone vast amounts of money to tell me things I already know and for them to remove any responsibility for anything going wrong because they might not have seen it...