Building Survey shows nearly £100k of repairs required

tooldle

Many of the items in this list wouldn’t suggest ‘urgent’ to me. Do the internal walls and ceilings look to be in reasonable condition? We’ve recently sold and our buyer had many surveys. The issue of bathroom ventilation came up. The surveyor told us that it is now standard to recommend improving bathroom ventilation, to cover against claims from purchasers who choose not to open windows for ventilation. 
In my part of the world a 1920’s house would have a slate roof, rather than tile. How old is the roof? Might it be considerably newer than the rest of the structure?

sammyjammy

This is a very strange survey report, does it have numbers 1 to 4 against the issues it raises?  I know that's a thing these days.  I would say as well that I bought a very unmaintained victorian terrace 22 years ago, I'm still doing the work that was listed in the survey now and have lived here very happily and comfortable for all that time.  If you think the house is worth what you are paying for it I would take most of this with a pinch of salt.  You say you have a sum of money to do what needs doing anyway so I'd go with it or if you are that unsure get another viewing and take a reliable builder with you looking at the issues in turn.

manitravels

sammyjammy said:

This is a very strange survey report, does it have numbers 1 to 4 against the issues it raises?  I know that's a thing these days.  I would say as well that I bought a very unmaintained victorian terrace 22 years ago, I'm still doing the work that was listed in the survey now and have lived here very happily and comfortable for all that time.  If you think the house is worth what you are paying for it I would take most of this with a pinch of salt.  You say you have a sum of money to do what needs doing anyway so I'd go with it or if you are that unsure get another viewing and take a reliable builder with you looking at the issues in turn.

It was a RICS building survey so numbers 1 to 3 with 3 being the most severe issues. 

trance_abbey

manitravels said:

It was a RICS building survey so numbers 1 to 3 with 3 being the most severe issues. 

I'm surprised that they gave you price estimates. I just got a survey back the other day which just had a list of things to be done and how important they were...

Keep in mind the survey is giving you the worst possible case scenarios. It's up to you to use (or hire someone with the skills) to determine what's the surveyor covering their a@@ and what's actually urgent.

verytired11

manitravels said:

Apologies for the confusion. I didn't want to put down all 32 items as I assumed it would turn people off. The list above are the items which were defects that needed investigation/repair urgently. 
The urgent repair items came to £50'200.  
I didn't include others as some are down to personal tastes i.e. refurbishing the bathroom, having a new kitchen installed circa £22'500

You can't really count new kitchen/bathroom since you would have known this from the viewing.   It sounds like the roof is the main potential issue - can you get a roofer round to give a quote?  

[Deleted User]

I think it sounds like your £50k TLC could quite probably be fine.
I agree with others that the v large expense roof quotes are completely excessive. We have a c.1900 cottage that we have just had completely reroofed on the main cottage, plus a substantial additional flat roof area + guttering all replaced for £9,500 reusing majority of the tiles and replacing where necessary. This included chimney repairs / flashings etc
A lot of low level damp issues were easily solved and the few issues remaining are just a period property requiring good ventilation and we use a dehumidifier that really helps with this. 
If you spent £10k roof + £5k other repairs + £8k bathroom + £15k kitchen you would still only be on £38k leaving further for plastering, decoration, additional bathrooms etc.
In my experience there's also a lot of '£500' '£1000' repairs added on for very little! .e.g. our surveyor added £500 to add a small bannister / £500 for a 'low headroom' sign etc!
Be realistic. A period property is a challenge but rewarding. You have to sometimes expect things won't be 'perfect' and that is part of it's charm. 

I think you need to get a couple of actual roofers in to give a full quote and their opinion as this is the biggie. Bathrooms & kitchen you were expecting anyway and the other stuff is just standard period property.

youth_leader

My buyer's surveyor gave him quotes like this too, no idea what tradesmen he had obtained the quotes from but they certainly weren't local.  I remember he'd quoted £17K for the attic, £10K for the damp in one room, £15K to replace the floorboards - every quote was sky high.  Could you ask the vendor if they'd allow a roofer round?

md258

Give the surveyor a ring. Ours was happy to talk through concerns that we had and give an opinion verbally that he wouldn't do in writing. Yours may do the same and say that the £10k on the roof joists will probably be fine without doing, but the roof really does need doing (for example). Once you know that, you'll know what you _need_ to do straight away and what can be left a bit longer.

Splatfoot

The survey sounds over the top! The roof clearly needs doing but 30k, I doubt it. When we sold our last house, our first buyers had a survey which said we needed repointing doing (which we did). Surveyors ballpark fig was 4k. We got it done when these buyers pulled out for £400..... The house we've just bought suggested 45k for tanking the basement and various other rubbish. It's an 1895 solid stone house.... there will be absolutely NO tanking going on down there! Ventilation, airflow, and some warmth should do it. All the rest of the damp is caused by failing guttering, blocked gulleys, drains full of mud and leaves, and repointing needing doing. Take round a tradesman you trust, do not go for any of these 'damp remedies'

2bFrank

Im going to be honest, half of that work isnt urgent structural work. and they quotes are mental. for a 3 bed semi, you can get a brand new roof for less than £30,000, never mind just fixing it up. and with that they can fix the wood issue in the loft whilst the roof is off pretty cheap too.

Either you are missing something, or the quotes you have do not match up to the work. I would ask the vendor if you can invite a trades person round to look at the issues individually and quote properly. Regards to the ceiling and wall plaster replacement, you can do that when you come to decorate that room. alot of these things can wait, and if that's the case then its upto you, is the house worth living in, in that condition for now.