Chartered architect to do survey?

dmhouse256

Hi all,

I am considering using a surveyor called Marcel Blum (google his name... as a new user I cannot post links apparently).

He is not a FRICS; his website says "Chartered Architect: Building Surveyor". He does however come with a lot of good recommendations on the reallymoving.com website.

Would I be making a mistake to not go for an official "Chartered Surveyor"?

dannim12345

Looks like (without doing any future digging) he's a charted architect but not a charted Building Surveyor. That would put me off even if he knows what he is talking about... I believed 'building surveys' are conducted by Chartered Surveyors.

AndyT678

I had a structural engineer do one for me. Go with whoever you're comfortable with.

martindow

I suppose it also depends on what you are thinking of doing to the house if you buy it. An architect should be able to suggest ideas for extensions which may help you decide whether to offer or not.

ClareTeaches

My partner is an architect (chartered is slightly different, but not that different, more to do with membership and so on) and he wouldn't do the structural survey on the house we're buying. We needed structural information and so employed a structural engineer at a reputable firm.

Having said that, being an architect doesn't mean you can't also be a surveyor - we've got a friend who's currently training to be an architect, but he used to be a surveyor before that.

Yorkie1

I wouldn't use an architect to do the survey on my house (unless dual qualified as mentioned above).

If they miss anything, they don't have professional insurance to cover it because that's not their area of expertise.

I'd rather have peace of mind by using the right specialist for the right job.