We charge a fee for pre-purchase inspection and reports, and pre-sale inspection and reports, this is for two reasons, firstly on occasions when we find severe problems with a property and raise the alarm bells, people often back out of the purchase.

This means we would have covered the cost of sending our professional surveyors to a property without even having a chance to quote for the work, creating an overhead which would have to be covered by increasing the cost of other people’s jobs. We are sure you will agree this is not fair.

We are sure you will also agree it is worth paying for an expert to find these problems before you enter into a contract to buy a property, giving you a chance to negotiate over price before completion, rather than facing a huge bill to put things right after you have bought the property.

Our current charge for Inspections/reports are as follows:

We will examine external walls/masonry for signs of cracking which can be caused by defective wall-ties, defective lintels and or building movement.

Pricelist

Damp Inspection – £240.00 + VAT

• Penetrating Damp
• Rising Damp
• Condensation/black mould

Timber Inspection – £350.00 + VAT

• Wood boring insect infestation (Woodworm)
• Fungal decay (Wet Rot and Dry Rot)

Structure Inspection – £100.00 + VAT

• Structural cracking
• Wall Tie defects

Combined inspections:

Timber and damp Inspection – £480.00 + VAT

• Combination of timber and damp inspections above

Full survey (including all of above) £600.00 + VAT

• Combination of all specific defect inspections

Additional costs

The above inspections are based on a time basis based on covering anything up to an average two storey 3 bed house consisting of up to 10 rooms including attached garages, toilets, bathrooms, landings and hallways.

Properties with Additional rooms are charged at the above rates plus 10% per additional room.

Detached outbuildings and garages count towards rooms of the inspection and are also charged at an additional 10% per room.

Calcium carbide test: this is a specialist materials analysis to accurately determine the level of moisture in the mortar of a masonry wall – £100.00 + VAT.

Re-visit: this is where a inspection of a suspect area is required following receipt of written permission from the vendor, to open up an area where damage may be caused in doing so – £80.00 + VAT.

We will lift floorboards where accessible, we cannot lift fitted carpets or laminates, hardwood flooring or parquet flooring unless we have written authorisation from the vendor to do so.

Our report does NOT constitute a full structural survey and should NOT be treated as such. If you are purchasing a property or require such a report to be carried out we advise you contact a RICS surveyor for a detailed report on the overall condition of the property. If you require contact details for a Chartered surveyor we have used in past we will be more than happy to assist.

The amount of money the surveyor acting on behalf of the bank / mortgage lender believes would cover the cost of any required works. This amount isn’t necessarily just damp proofing works and may be an overall retention to include electrics, plumbing, roofing and other works. For more information regarding this we suggest you speak to mortgage or financial advisor.

The initial inspection is free. With regards to any work that is required then one of the following usually applies.

1. Buyer pays for work following completion.
2. Seller pays for work prior to completion.
3. Seller and buyer agree to share costs normally.  (Although we are happy to speak with all parties we will not get involved in any negotiations so recommend you clarify this with your estate agent, mortgage advisor or solicitor).

If seller has agreed to pay for some or all of work they will do one of the following?

1. Pay for work (or their portion) prior to completion.
2. Reduce sale price accordingly.
3. Offer an allowance on sale (for more information regarding this we would recommend you speak with your solicitor and mortgage advisor / financial advisor).