How much should a structural survey cost?

Jaguar_Skills

Hi all,

A few questions as I am completely new to this.

We think we want to get a full structural survey done on the house we have just bought. FTB, house price £386,000 4 bed built in 1982. Firstly is there any reason to go for the level down?

We have our mortgage in principle with Halifax and one of their panel of experts may be able to do the full structural as well as the valuation survey. However, when we asked for a rough price they could only give us a price for the middle survey which was about £800 + VAT (bit high? I am not sure). Anyway is there anyone who knows what a reasonable price would be for a survey? It would obviously be easier to keep it under one roof ie valuation survey and structural survey but not sure on the price.

I phoned an independent surveyor who said he doesn;t call them that anymore but calls them an engineers survey, is that the same thing? He quoted £600 + VAT so well below what the lender said.

Any advice would be so much appreciated.

silvercar

We have always arranged a full structural survey privately and then gone for a lender's basic valuation.

We have hit the same problem you have, that lender's surveyors only seem interested in doing the middle survey together with the valuation.

I guess pricing varies around the country. £600+vat would be cheap, but not impossibly so, for a structural survey without a valuation.

heebie-jeebies

We are in the process of buying our house too and previously stuck with the lender’s surveyors for a survey (HBR). We’ve had 2 this way –once as FTB and second on a house that eventually fell through – and both reports were of poor quality with a lot of covering themselves. On our current purchase, we decided that we were getting the basic valuation only from the lender and then selected our own surveyor. The biggest argument for this is that this time the surveyor was working to our instruction and not for a lender and I’d really recommend it, we were able to speak to the surveyor directly and ask him to look at particular areas of concern. The report is the best we’ve seen and gives advice on any defects that need to be addressed immediately and anything that needs ongoing maintenance to not be an issue in the future. We used reallymoving.com for some quotations from surveyors and chose one who followed up promptly with good examples of his work.


Depending on the house, I’d check if you really want a full structural surveys as I would expect a Homebuyers Report would cover your needs.

Jaguar_Skills

Heebie Jeebies thanks very much - very useful. When you say check if you'd want a full structural survey - what should we be looking for? The house is relatively new 1982 and appears to be in excellent condition.

DaftyDuck

If the house is that recent, I might well not get a structural survey. If it's an estate house, or one of many, ask neighbours what they've had go wrong, see what they have had replaced.

Surveyors will negotiate on price if asked. Frankly, a Homebuyers isn't worth it (for me) as it states the obvious, and doesn't poke around enough. So, I might just go with a valuation in this case. But, I do know a bitabout houses, and recognise that most on here would disagree, and have some form of survey.

tea-bag

Pay and get a full survey, on a 386k house you would be bonkers not to! I paid £480 for mine in wales, He earned his money as well the place needs full refurb!

Jaguar_Skills

Ok so does anyone have idea of type of price we are to be looking at that is reasonable?

The lender is going to charge around £1000 - £1200 I can imagine. We just have no idea what is reasonable.

I am basing the above purely on the fact they have quoted £795 for Homebuyers.

DaftyDuck

Usually around £700 - 800 for a £500 - £700,000 house.

Hoploz

My lenders surveyor said they don't do structural surveys, they only offered valuation or Homebuyers. We didn't bother this time.

Previous house 8 years ago I searched online for quotes. Online surveyors .co.uk or some thing like that and I got various quotes and chose which one to go with. I paid £400 for a structural survey on a £385k purchase price in 2007. My friend asked the EA she was buying from a year ago to recommend a surveyor and the guy wanted over £2000!!!!

Jaguar_Skills

Yes sorry I should have been clearer. The lenders don't do them themselves but go to a panel.

I used a website and got some quotes for £600 for full building survey so going to go independent I think. The guy has great reviews as well.

Annie1960

http://www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/consumer-guides/home-surveys/

This explains the difference.

If the property is fairly modern and straightforward, I wouldn't bother with a full building survey.

If it has any any extensions etc, then it's worth getting a building survey, in my view.

The cost seems to be related to the price of the property.