Would I be mad not to have a survey done on house we are buying?

[crokky]

Hoping that you can help me out...

We are buying a house and we are not sure whether to get a survey done. The house is only 8 yrs old and on an estate where there are hundreds of similar houses that locals consider well built (still has NHBC guarantee for 2yrs). It is a cost we could do without - would we be mad not to get a survey done?

TIA - I may be rushing around!

Can I ask when would you go for a full structural (building) survey instead of the homebuyer's report? I'm thinking we should do the full one - but would take any advice.

(sorry for hijack!)

Following the experience we had with our first home we went for a full structural survey on this one, which is also an old cottage. This was partly because I was getting relocation expenses from work I might add, because full surveys are pretty pricey. If I'm being honest, the structural survey we got wasn't worth the money - it wasn't much more informative than a homebuyer's report tbh. There was so much generic stuff in there it was like it was produced from a standard template with a few personal touches like the address added in. This was done by a large company that acts for mortgage companies and we weren't impressed. If we were to do it again, I would employ an independent structural engineer to do the survey.

We had a structural survey done. The basic one tells you nothing - it's really not for you, just the mortgage company. The homebuyers one just tells you to get lots of other checks if they even vaguely think there might be a problem. Also don't use anyone recommended by an Estate Agent, use an independant company. The only other thing I would check is whether your mortgage company will accept it - we ended up having both the full structural and the basic one, which was really annoying! One way it was described to me was that with basic surveys the surveyor doesn't get out of his car, homebuyers they walk around the house in a suit, and structural surveys they come in a boiler suit and crawl around the attic.

Our strucutural survey was like that - get this check done and that check done. The surveyor got his knickers in a twist about a few shakes in the loft timbers - it's a 200 year old house fgs.