Why should you get a home survey?

Nothing is flawless about a house. A property that has been meticulously maintained will still have a few imperfections.

There’s no doubt you could make an impromptu list of the things you know should be repaired in your current home.

The same is true for the property you are considering purchasing. It is likely that routine, minor repairs and maintenance items will need to be performed.

It is common, however, for people who commission a building survey to discover problems in the report that they had not expected to encounter, in addition to routine maintenance items that they already knew about. Arrangements can be made to lower the purchase price in order to account for the cost of such repairs prior to purchase.

Homebuyer Reports and Building Surveys that saved our
clients money

During the past few weeks, here’s two situations that Carpenter Surveyors were able to spot significant issues that helped our clients save a lot of money:

In a recent Building Survey in Birmingham, we discovered ‘closed cell spray foam’ to an original old tile roof. This can rot timber roof frames and cause severe damage. Unfortunately, the roof would need to be replaced and the foam spray completely removed from all the roof timbers. The estimated cost of these works was between £15,000 and £20,000. The amount of such works was taken off the purchase price.

In our second example, we had £15,000 saved for a client this month on a recent Level 2 survey on this 1950’s semi-detached house! As a result of a recent survey inspection of this traditional 1950’s property, it was identified that the solid concrete floors were suffering from a defect known as ‘sulphate attack’.

This was identified during, the course of an inspection of the ground floors whereby deflection of the concrete floor slab was noted.

A further investigation and subsequent quotation revealed an associated remedial cost of almost £15,000 was required. This defect is caused as a result of a chemical reaction with sulphates within the sub floor fill beneath the concrete, causing expansion and cracking of the floor slab. In worst case scenarios excavation and replacement of the floors is required at significant cost.

This will often be a condition of mortgage lending and affect saleability and value. Often, where there is enough evidence to warrant such the surveyor will advise on the need for a more intrusive floor slab sample test and report, such as building and cracked floors, deflection of the DPC, elevated moisture levels and unevenness to floors.

If confirmed, as in this case, the surveyor is able to advise on the impact on Market Value and enable subsequent negotiations over purchase price. As a result of being picked up during this survey, the client was able to re-negotiate the agreed sale price, with a reduction of £15,000 to reflect the cost of remedial works involved.

There are some properties that are in generally good condition, and a survey report provides peace of mind. Nonetheless, a significant number of properties are found to have defects that require mandatory repairs that the purchaser didn’t budget for. As a result of a building survey report, cost savings can be significant.

A building survey or Homebuyer Report will give you peace of mind that you won’t have to pay huge and unexpected repair bills after you purchase a home.

Contact us on 0800 254 5202 to get started, our friendly team can support with your enquiry and advise on what you may need.