How do I choose a surveyor?

[neonshine]

We live abroad and have done for many years. We've now bought a house back home, our first in the UK so the process of buying property in England is completely new to us.

The house has a converted loft and kitchen extension. The seller has disclosed cracks previously appearing in the kitchen extension and that a surveyor was called in and put it down to settlement cracks.

We'd like to have a full building survey done to check the whole of the building. The solicitors have recommended a surveyor who's quoting 700 + vat. I've googled and used reallymoving.com to get a couple of quotes. IThey came in at around 500/550 (including VAT). Some of these companies have reviews online. I chose two of these companies and contacted them directly to confirm the survey price and they remain the same. Both companies are chartered surveyors and registered with RICS.

Is there anything else I should be checking before appointing a surveyor? Would hate to appoint one because they were cheaper and have problems later on, but I also don't want to spend an extra 150 if I don't have to!

I've avoided using the EA's recommended surveyor as well as the bank's. Will also make sure they are registered with RICS. Is there anything else I should be looking for?

Thank you.

call him and have a chat. You need to ensure that you don't get a report full of instructions to get other reports, that he'll get off his backside and go into the attic and so on. You also do a lot yourself; go test taps, showers, toilets, open cupboards, visit at different times and days (standing outside will do), ask around for pending planning issues (pending ones don't show on searches) etc etc.

he doesn't test electrical installations and he doesn't do gas safe certs. Everything else is what he is paid to do so insist on it.

surveyors (unlike solicitors) do need to be local. RICS is a given but they are utterly toothless in case of a complaint.

Great advice^^ also - if you've family/friends/colleagues in the area, ask them for recommendations. Our excellent surveyor was a partially-retired self-employed guy who didn't advertise or have a website - all his business came via word of mouth.

Thank you to you both for the good advice.

We don't yet live in the UK and wont until after completion so this will all be done from abroad. Unfortunately all family live a couple of hours away from where we've bought the house so no personal recommendations either.

I'll do what you've recommended and call the two surveyors I'm thinking of using and try to ask everything I can think of. I'll make a list before I call them and if I have any further questions I'll post back.

Thanks for your help :)