What Is Involved In A Home Survey?

What Is Involved In A House Survey In Bristol?

Building surveyors in Bristol are busy month in month out helping potential new buyers of houses, existing house owners who are having extra building work carried out and also helping house building companies fall within all of the laws of the land when it comes to making sure every part of the building project is performed correctly. In this article, we will look at what is involved within the process of completing a house survey in Bristol and hopefully steer you in the right direction of what to expect when you use a Building surveyor in Bristol.

What Is A Building Survey?

A building survey is sometimes commonly known as a structured survey and it’s basically performed by a fully qualified building inspector, sometimes working for the local council and sometimes working for a private company specialising in building surveys. To build any type of dwelling or to adjust and expand an existing dwelling you should employ the services of a fully qualified building surveyor. They will produce for you a report which will advise on all of the requirements needed to satisfy the local planning laws as well as advising on any type of local laws which may affect your project such as listed building status.

If we take the example of a house extension project in Bristol let’s look at how the Bristol-based building surveyor gets involved. It may well start with a detailed look at the plans that have been drawn up by an architect for your extension project, this would be to check that all the plans will fall within the guidelines set out by the local council. It will detail things such as drainage, neighbour boundaries, local height and size restrictions if there are any and also take into account any new governmental laws which have recently been brought in to make building an extension to your home in Bristol easier to facilitate with far less red tape now needed. 

Along with a structural engineer’s report and the architect’s drawings, this report will form the plans needed to obtain the local planning consent for your project and also it will be invaluable to your chosen building company who are carrying out the works for you. You will also find though that sometimes these ideas between the architect, builder, structural engineer and building surveyor may vary and they all can disagree with each other. The rule of thumb is to obey the permissions you have been given by the local planning application department and you should be absolutely fine.

So, what’s included in a home survey now we know what you can use a building surveyor in Bristol for?

A home survey or also known as a home-buyers report is a document authorised by the RICS, The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and is used by the public if they are purchasing a dwelling. There are several different levels of homebuyer survey or home building report that you can go for and vary in cost due to the amount of information you get in each report respectively. Depending on the type of property you are considering purchasing should help you make your mind upon which type of report suits your needs. If you are purchasing a new build for example you may choose to just employ a building surveyor in Bristol to compile a snagging report for just before you move into the property highlighting and minor or on the very odd occasion, major faults with the build. Alternatively, if you are buying a 200-year-old cottage that has many bespoke features then it is advisable to perhaps look at a more in-depth report as there are far more things that could go wrong once you have moved in and would cost much more to fix than something simple on a new build.

Included in the home survey would be a report on the building’s structural situation, any unstable walls or subsidence perhaps, issues with the roof or chimneys, advice on the types of glazing and glazing surrounds you should have, any drainage issues, any additional soak-a-ways required, history of flooding etc. It’s the buyer of the property who pays for the survey as of course it’s in their interest to safeguard their investment and of course, the property seller may often be paying for a survey on a new property that they are moving into. 

Surveys vary in cost dependant on what each company includes, however you should base your expectations around the £400 mark for the base level survey rising to over £1500 for more in-depth ones. It’s a vital part of the house-buying process though so don’t skimp on it as you may well regret that at a later date.

• A greater look at the levels of house survey available in Bristol is as follows.
• A level one survey which as we said early can be also known as a snagging report of new houses is the one more suited to new build property and will include this such as urgent defects, legal risks and the overall property condition.
• A level two survey or homebuyer report or homebuyer survey will include the above but also focus on the items of the house that would decrease the value of the house over time and would also look to give you a market valuation to ensure that you are not paying over the odds. This is also useful for the mortgage company to ensure that you are not buying a property that will need lots of further cash spent on its condition should you have to sell it at a later date in time. 
• The third level of the house inspection report is a far more in-depth report, as we mentioned earlier, that would look at issues such as the upcoming maintenance costs associated with the property and what that means for the purchaser and is recommended for properties over 50 years in age and ones with unique features such as things like thatched roofs, outdoor gas and oil supplies, properties built on gradients or properties with complicated cellars or roof extensions.  The cost of these reports can stretch up to £1500 but as we mentioned earlier in this article on what is involved in a Bristol home survey it can save you much more than that in the long run and you will find that many mortgage companies will insist on you having it completed as part of their loan agreement on the property.

Superior Building Surveyor In Bristol

So, in this article we have found out about the different types of house survey that are available on the market today, they go from basic surveys, which may well be just a drive past, for houses that really should not have a real issue to surveys that included an up to date valuation on the property, which mortgage companies will almost certainly ask for, all the way up to advanced more in-depth house building reports which take into account and bespoke issues for the property, any ongoing maintenance needed and anything specifically that needs noting down for the mortgage lender.

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This post was written by sitemanager_rhs