To think that a building survey on a house should come with an estimate cost of works?

[surveybuilding]

Just had a survey done on a house, it's not come back great. My friend says they should have included an estimated costs table. Is this right?

No they dont

Prices vary dramatically and so it would be impossible to quote price

You now get tradesmen to quote (note they wont be keen as you dont own it yet)

Note - this response is for England- may differ elsewhere

I once bought a house where the survey condemned the stairs. They were 400 years old- I took the risk.

What about if the house owners are refusing to allow tradies in?

Quantity surveyors deal with cost estimates not building surveyors.

If you talk to the company they might give you a ball park figure but doubt they’ll put it in writing

Not as standard, but can be included with request.

What about if the house owners are refusing to allow tradies in?
Run a mile?

Or be suspicious but perhaps that is just me?

Because of covid

Surveyors identify (potential) issues. They aren't specialist tradespeople, they can't provide estimates. If they note woodworm or rot, they will confirm it, but it would be for a specialist to confirm the extent of it & provide a quote to rectify the issue. If they had to be adequately trained to be able to reliable estimates on plumbing, rot, woodworm, roofing issues, structural failure, plus numerous others I've no doubt forgotten, a survey would cost a lot more due to the additional training required & the time it would take. Plus they would need additional insurance for if/when people tried to claim against them if the costs were more than they had advised.

I’ve never had a survey give an estimate, just the recommendation something needs doing then we’ve contacted the relevant trade to go round and have a look and give us a price.

If someone wanted to buy my house and wanted a builder to look at something now I would agree on the condition they wore a mask, sanitised their hands on entry but tried not to touch things. I imagine if I refused the potential buyer would walk away.

In your position, OP, I'd let the vendor know that you're not able to proceed any further unless they are willing to allow access to enable quotes for any works required.

Because of covid
But there are ways to mitigate that like PP have said.

Do they expect you to buy a house without knowing how much it could cost you to rectify?

Not usually. You can get vastly different quotes from different builders for the same work.

If your vendors won't allow you to send people in to do quotes for work id politely tell them you'll be pulling out of the sale unless they change their decision. How can you be expected to buy a house that you don't know how much it will cost you to fix up?!

Lots of vendors won't agree to you letting people in to quote because that means you may intend to lower your offer based on the quotes. It's not right but thats my experience

Our survey came with estimates. It was an independent surveyor commissioned directly by us.

We haven’t had any of the recommendations done so I can’t comment on the accuracy of the estimates.

Lots of vendors won't agree to you letting people in to quote because that means you may intend to lower your offer based on the quotes. It's not right but thats my experience
Fair point

If you want a real estimate then you need to organise a builder to go round with you OP. That’s what Phile always does on Location Location 🙃

We had some buikding work done. The builder estimates we had for the work were:
-£40k

• £75k (3 buikders said approx this)
• £115k, and
• £150k

So obvs it caries a great deal deoending on buikder and the standard you want!

Our building survey gave an estimate quote for works. That was one of the extra features compared to the home buyers survey.

It depends what you paid for.