Building Survey Reports - are they worth it?

Padilla

What are people's opinions on them - are they worth the cost given how much the surveyor tries to cover their back and the reports I hear can be caveated a lot advising you to get an expert in for a specific area?

Thanks

Doozergirl

The point of the report is to find the question marks and ask you to have experts look at things in more depth where relevant.

Surveyors aren't electricians or gas engineers and so you should always have those things checked separately.

I think surveys usually pay for themselves if you follow up on the advice. They are either a negotiating tool or provide peace of mind.

Take anything mentioning damp with a pinch of salt but most surveys will spot something that needs addressing.

stator

If you're not confident in looking for problems then yes, get a structural survey. But don't expect too much.

kinger101

90% of it is from a pro-forma. But the 10% might save you from making the worst decision in your life.

Mickygg

Totally agree with kinger. A lot of it you will read and notice it's a standard paragraph or page that is written for everyone. However for me its all about finding the possibility of the big one - subsidence. Yes you may see evidence yourself, but you may not as the buyer may have hidden the cracks by diy from view wherever possible!
Anything else in the report I've usually noticed myself as I look round with a very fine tooth comb.
It's £1k that probably will be a waste of money but could, just could save you many thousands.

eddddy

Surveys are a bit like insurance policies.

If you make a big claim on an insurance policy, it seems like great value. If you never claim, it feels like a waste of money.

Similarly...

If a survey spots some major problems (and it means you avoid taking on some big future costs), it seems like great value. If it doesn't find any problems, it feels like a waste of money.

Padilla

Thanks everyone! That's all been very helpful and a good way of putting it

AnotherJoe

eddddy wrote: »

Surveys are a bit like insurance policies.

...where the policy has been written with more caveats than you can shake a very big stick at and mean you have even less chance of getting recompense than when you fell over a pool tile in Marbella and broke a leg.

If you make a big claim on an insurance policy, it seems like great value. If you never claim, it feels like a waste of money.

Similarly...

If a survey spots some major problems (and it means you avoid taking on some big future costs), it seems like great value. In the unlikely event it spots a big problem you wouldnt, like a honking big crack or a fuse board from the Edwardian era) If it doesn't find any problems, it feels like a waste of money.

IME surveys generally dont point out major problems you couldn't find yourself, they focus on minor ones, couldn't do's, and most of the content is the bleedin' obvious, caveats, or a call to get someone else in to check. If the owner has for example covered up subsidence, then why would a cursory look round of the sort that most surveys entail, find it either? "couldn't raise carpets, couldn't gain access to loft, couldn't check behind furniture"....)

Go and have a really good look yourself, take a friend or parent along for a second pair of eyes, and binoculars for the roof, get specialists in if anything worries you (whats the fuse board like for example? ).

There are numerous posts in here from people either needlessly worried about survey contents ("might be asbestos in the soffits" or whose surveys missed a major point (spotted crack in garden path, missed damp causing large section of plaster to fall away (behind furniture) etc etc. )

DaftyDuck

My rule of thumb is: if a poster needs to ask about them, it's likely they'll benefit from one.

Which one to opt for is another question, and the answer would depend on many factors, from age and condition of property, alterations made and paperwork available, through to cashflow state of buyer, and even mental state from the trauma of buying....