Not to get a building survey done on new house.

[ItsPeanutButterJelly]

We are buying a nearly new home. Built a couple of years ago. Still has years left on the new build guarantee thing. We'll be the second owners. Moving from an old house with loads of little niggles - nothing that isn't standard for an old property.

I want to get a basic building survey done for my own piece of mind but OH says we shouldn't bother.

We are pushing ourselves to the edge financially because we are frittering a lot of money away at the moment and don't want to move again (until kids move out, etc) so every £100 counts.

I am, by nature, a worrier and "just in case" type where OH is into being "lean" and all about only doing things where they'll add value. He is NOT a worrier and deals with things when they come up. I am having counselling to help me with worrying/checking/panicking etc.

I worry if there are issues I'll resent him/kick myself if they could have been picked up in a survey. Im aware though that surveys are a fairly broad brush stroke with lots of caveats which can make them useless. He feels most things would be covered by the new home warranty and we should just read that and make sure the obvious things are covered.

I am completely torn. Any angles, perspectives, experiences welcome!

Be aware that an NHBC guarantee only covers structural issues and it can be a lengthy process to claim on. I’d also make sure my insurance has legal costs cover as well.

If it’s a timber frame building then I’d get that checked - friend’s 2yr old house had serious issues from a construction fault that had caused damage to the timber frame.

The trouble is that surveys are so full of caveats that they are often virtually useless. My dh is a RICS chartered survey and he says that getting a good builder to look at the property is better than a home buyers report full of get outs.

Have you seen a Final Certificate from Building Control?

I've never had one on the properties I've purchased; I could see what needing doing and was confident enough to proceed and put the money towards what needed doing instead.

Honestly, I think I was a bit naive, the next house purchase I will get a survey. Luckily the houses have been fine but anytime we've had an issue I've been worried it's a bigger issue and would it have been flagged up. It would be worth it for peace of mind.

I'd get one done.

Having watched them build houses at the end of our road for the last 2 years I would definitely get a full survey on a new build. I also know a tradesman who briefly did some work on the site and he said that the standard of workmanship is appalling. If you look at the builder's website it is full of glamorous conversions to footballers multi million pound houses!

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-london-50000504

This is a good reason to get a decent survey done!

Whilst not new, they are not that old.

I would get one. What is a few hundred pounds in the grand scheme of things when you are going to be spending potentially hundreds of thousands? My dh works on a lot of the new build sites and refused to even consider buying a new build because of some of the problems he sees. I'm not trying to put you off as I'm sure the house is lovely. But I'd definitely get a survey done

I wouldn't bother with a survey, but then, I wouldnt ever buy a house built after 2000.

I rather went off new builds when I learned there were actual companies making actual money by being paid to arrange to sort out all the problems with new builds to save the owners the hassle.

www.housescan.co.uk/

I mean how shit is your building if it needs that ?

I would be more likely to have a full survey on a recently built property than an older one!

Definitely get one. We had a basic one and I'm kicking myself that we didn't get a better /more detailed one. Our house is 17 years old and since we've moved in we've had roof issues and structural issues on one part of the house (extension shoddly put in).

Definitely get it. It's worth the money even to just tell you what you're likely to expect.

I'd be doing this for any property. Not just old builds

New home warranties aren't worth the paper they are written on.

Standard building survey won't tell you much. You'll want a full structural survey if you are really bothered about the house having issues.

I wouldnt ever buy a house built after 2000

Strange arbitrary cut off there. "New build" properties built in the 80s and 90s have just as many problems as those built in the last 20 years.