When people say 'get a builder to advise'

[cluecu]

Just got our homebuyers survey back on house we're hoping to buy. Quite a few things I'm keen to know more about and am toying with the idea of paying for the full structural survey in addition.

However, all the advice I seem to get in general online is 'get a builder to take a look' and I'm thinking even if a get a recommended builder from someone, why would they? There's no guarantee of any work and it's not exactly a specific piece of work we'd want a quote for. Do builders generally come round to advise on things highlighted in a survey? Or is there a fee that's associated?

I'm only asking as it seems so obvious to suggest getting an expert in, but in reality they must charge something surely?

I think if you could get one to come and give you some quotes - or at least ball park figures - then it would be money well spent in terms of a couple of hours of his time, as a fraction of the purchase price of the house. However - and I don't think this is just my personal experience - it's bloomin' difficult to get a builder to come back to you with an actual quote. I've been waiting for quotes from 2 different builders - both highly recommended - for some work on a community hall I'm involved with. I met both of them there (diff days) in March and am STILL waiting for quotes, despite follow up texts and e-mails.

I think, unless you have a builder in the family or who is a personal friend, this is something that people say very easily but is actually very hard to do.

How old is the house? Is it specific things you would want a builder to look at? You'd be more likely to get a proper idea if it is something specific, rather than them just giving it a once over (they'd never find anything more than the surveyor would anyway, because that would involved ripping up carpets / floorboards etc).

I have had a builder 'have a look'. But it's a guy I basically have on retainer as I live in a large detached 150 year old house (not for much longer!). He did an extension, landscaped the garden and put my pool in, and if there was any work to be done on a new property he'd most likely be doing it so he's fine with coming out to advise.
I have also paid a structural engineer for an hour of his time to look at a house I was considering which had some concerning cracks. Well worth the money as it wasn't the house (fixable) but the rear retaining wall of the garden which supported the neighbours higher garden - he said that was in a bad state and would cost £££ to redo properly, and I hadn't even noticed it!
Nowadays it's hard to find one, but if you did, a fee should be paid (damp guys do this - they frequently have to do damp reports on new purchases and charge a fee which may be put against the cost if you then use them to do the work, though I do think that's a conflict of interests)!

When we had issues come up on survey I just phoned surveyor and asked him to give an estimate, was a lot quicker and our seller accepted that.

You can ask people round for quotes or the vendor can though think tradesman are quite busy at the moment. Generally I've always had done for free but once think I may have paid £50 or so which came off cost of work if instructed. Normally I find if they are in the area anyway they are quite happy to do it but if they've got plenty of work on / out of their way you may have more issue.

Many thanks for the replies so far. The house is 1940s and the main issue we're concerned about is cracked lintels. Damp is also mentioned. I think we will go for the structural survey next and seek help from there too. The lender has mentioned a bowed wall but I see no reference to that in the actual survey so am querying this.

You pay for the builder to have a look — we didn’t actually pay as we know our builder from years back, but it’s well worth the money, IMO. You get a completely different take on the property from that of a surveyor, and a ball park cost for what needs sorting in what order of urgency.

We got our survey back and it was so detailed and put us off really. So a builder who is a friend/subbie (I work for a plumbing firm) took a look at it and came for a viewing and basically said to me that the things that were highlighted were really simple and inexpensive to put right.

One of the weird things is that in the valuation report to the lender, the surveyor has mentioned bowed wall/s but that isn't referred to at all in our HomeBuyer survey

The surveyor will apparently call me to discuss and our mortgage broker has queried this point with nationwide and survey company but I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed with lack of knowledge.