Crack outside house. Should I place offer?

EddyBaloch

I do not have a surveyor. Apologies if I am sounding too dumb on the subject. I have been renting flats for past 10 years and all my friends live in flats as well. May be the solution is to pay a surveyor or a builder to do a survey. Any idea how to hire one for a quick visit to the house? This house is in Orpington London.

AdrianC

That looks like tired render to me. It's not where you'd expect structural cracking to be.
Unless...
That's an extension on the end? I wonder if there's insufficient structural support were the wall was removed to open it up? Has the chimney been removed below there?

csgohan4

No no no no

EddyBaloch

It doesn't look like an extention as there are about 4 similar houses ( i.e. 8 semi detached) with exact same shape.

I don't know whether chimney was removed or not.

Do you know where to find a surveyor who would go with me to view? I presume either a builder or surveyor would do.

G_M

You need either an RICS surveyor (like a GP for houses) or a structural engineer (like a hospital consultant who specilises).

....unlike a random forum nutter.

I resent that robatwork - forum nutter yes, but I am NOT random....

stator

Pay hundreds to a surveyor for them to say something vague, or run a mile.
I'm not a surveyor but that crack looks big to me (width of gap rather than length of crack) and so I would run a mile.
Doesn't look like a building that's been looked after very well.

You can find local surveyors on a website called ReallyMoving and it has some reviews, but it doesn't allow you to search for anything specific.

If you do get a survey make sure it includes specialist advice regarding the structural condition and that crack.
If you get a Home Buyer's Survey or some other Building Survey it won't include specialist advice unless you ask for it.

On a side note, have you checked if the chimney is still in it's original place within the house?
People doing bodge jobs removing parts of chimneys indoors is a common cause of structural problems.

EddyBaloch

Thanks very much for all the advice.

I have managed to find a builder on trustatrader who has agreed to go with me for a fee of £100.

He has seen the pictures and said that that the property is rendered and the solution is to remove liise rendering and replace with new. He also suggested that the property needs a paint job on the outside.

Do you know how much does rendering and painting work cost? ( I am absolutely clueless as to what it even means)

Thanks,
Eddy

G_M

EddyBaloch wrote: »

Thanks very much for all the advice.

I have managed to find a builder on trustatrader who has agreed to go with me for a fee of £100.

He has seen the pictures and said that that the property is rendered and the solution is to remove liise rendering and replace with new. He also suggested that the property needs a paint job on the outside.

Do you know how much does rendering and painting work cost? ( I am absolutely clueless as to what it even means)

Thanks,
Eddy

1) do you mean one of the the commercial trustedtrader sites that accepts builders who pay to be included? And which does not kick them off or publish negative reviews as that would reduce their income?

or do you mean Which?trusted traders which really can be 'trusted'?

Or Trading Sandards TT?

2) A builder really is not ideal for this - personally I'd use a SE eith a remit to look specifically at that one issue.

3) having said that, he may well be right - once water getsbehind render it just sits there causing problems. If stripping it off you might do better not to replace it.

4) did you actually need a builder to tell you a paintjob was needed......?

EddyBaloch

G_M wrote: »

1) do you mean one of the the commercial trustedtrader sites that accepts builders who pay to be included? And which does not kick them off or publish negative reviews as that would reduce their income?

or do you mean Which?trusted traders[/URL] which rally can be 'trusted'?

Or

I just googled and this site trustatrader . com came up and I spoke to the one who had the best reviews. Have i approached it all wrong? Please suggest me. This house buying is very stressful.

alumende27

EddyBaloch wrote: »

I just googled and this site trustatrader . com came up and I spoke to the one who had the best reviews. Have i approached it all wrong? Please suggest me. This house buying is very stressful.

What you need to do is when asking a question listen to the advice. So when 5 people tell you to get a survey and or a structural engineer to look at it, do that instead of doing something completely different and finding a builder who possibly has no clue about such things.

In my experience a RICS surveyor will tell you to get a structural engineer to look at it. A proper chartered structural engineer will be the most appropriately qualified person to say whether it's an issue. If a structural engineer says it's cosmetic and only cracking on the render you'll be good to go.

And if you get a mortgage and use the lenders surveyor they'll probably ask for a structural engineers report too.

The usual process would be to get a mortgage valuation and then get additional surveys as required.

P.S. I hired a builder from one of those trustatrader style websites because of his great reviews and now we're about to go to court, so take those reviews with a punch of salt!