Damp proof surveyors recommendations or any to avoid?? SW London

[Veryworried12]

Our structural survey has come back recommending a damp proof survey due to some damp on a couple of walls and due to a failed damp proof course.

Should 'free' damp proof surveys best be avoided? are there any companies around SW London who offer an insurance backed guarantee that you could recommend please ?

Bump...

I am in Norfolk and had a 'free' survey company visit when I first moved in. They whizzed round, stuck a damp meter in the walls and told me I needed £5000 of treatment, I have ignored their suggestions and engaged an independent damp proof surveyor.
I found him after much searching on the internet, reading of reviews and general research. He had a 6 week waiting list and is coming in January, hopefully this will be £500 well spent to find out what is actually causing the damp. He will be here for around 4 hours and has quite a good range of equipment to identify problems. He also gave a free half hour phone consultation where we discussed the age and construction of the house, and he gave me quite a few pointers of things to look for.

Peter Cox

Can recommend, they are in the middle of investigating our long term damp problems and started off by advising the basic, relatively low cost measures we could take. Surveyor was excellent and went into detail about possible causes (old property). Wish we’d gone for them years ago instead of the typical “cavity wall experts” who solved nothing and possibly made things worse.

Thanks both - @Saucery could you please let me know how much you paid for the Peter Cox survey?

The survey was free iirc. The vent work we had done was about £500 by one of their contractors. There’s a lot more to be done once all the plaster has been stripped off and new windows etc put in but Covid has delayed that somewhat. The surveyor was very thorough and looked at the flooring as well as the walls.
They were recommended to us by a friend who used to renovate older houses and always used them because they look closely at the individual property and aren’t “one approach fits all”.

Thank you