Snagging / survey on your own house

[andyb85]

Hi all,

I've moved into a property and didnt get a full survey done when I bought it.

Lesson learnt - should have had it done - will do in future now I've learnt the hard way!

Anyway - there's a couple of things wrong with the house that I'm slowly finding out. Is there a good way of having a survey/assessment done of a house after you have bought it - i.e. to point out all the work I will need to have done?

As an example - I have found I can look into the cavity

So far I have had RICS damp surveyors in to find the root cause of some damp patches - is it just a case of calling in separate surveyors for separate issues - or would it be worth paying for a full £1000 structural survey like I should have done when I bought the house?

 

[Burnerman]

A true assessment can only be carried out if its possible for the surveyor to access problem areas - they won't break into walls, some don't even go into the loft.
Personally I think you'll get better advice on this forum! Just give us plenty of pictures when you can.
John

 

[jeds]

Spending money on a survey at purchase makes sense because you can use the report to negotiate a reduction on the purchase price. Probably 50% of surveys I do people say they more or less got the cost of the survey back. Others saved a lot more because I discovered defects that they were able to get repaired or reduce the purchase price even more, and probably 25% got no money but have piece of mind. A survey is also an insurance policy of something goes drastically wrong with the house later that the surveyor should have spotted. But none of these apply to you having a survey done now. My advice is ask a local surveyor to give you an hour or two to do a walk around with you. Shouldn't cost much and you might get nearly all you need from it with no further costs.

 

[^woody^]

You should just look yourself, and you will see the obvious things. Problems will be obvious.
If there is anything you feel concerning, then you can instruct a survey just for the specific things if you wanted to.

For your cavity gap for example, you don't need a surveyor to tell you that the gap needs to be sealed.

If you do instruct a survey, then you will probably not need a full in depth report. A look and some verbal comment or a few bullet points may be enough. But you just ask for whatever things you want looking at to be looked at, and the level of reporting you want. You don't need to be confined to a fixed style of survey or report.

If you want comment on methods of repairs, urgency and costs then you need to specifically ask for it.

I'd suggest an hourly fee rather than a fixed fee may be more cost effective. But it depends on the level of reporting you require.