Homebuyers or full building survey?

[lettie9]

Would you get a homebuyers or full survey for a 1910s house? It has a loft conversion and a conservatory.

We have heard such opposing views. It will cost £2000 for full. Less than £1000 for homebuyers. Surveyors - having seen a link to the house - have also said opposite things.

Help!

For a house that old I’d do full.

Yes, it has has fiddling about done on the roof supports and the foundations. If either one is dodgy you will have problems.

I had the same problem. Surveyor I spoke to said full is more for dilapidated old farmhouses or similar.
The thing is, even if you do full, if the survey pulls up anything you've got to pay extra for further investigations anyway.
I found talking to surveyors before and after instructing them really helps.

I think a good surveyor (or accountant) usually saves you more than their fee.

Think of it as a % of the price of the house.

Absolutely full survey. Especially if over 100 years old!

Depends what your planning on doing to it ? If your gutting it and spending a lot of money on it I wouldn’t bother with either, but if you just want to move in and don’t want any future problems then it might be better to get surveys done.👍

We're only planning to do cosmetic stuff, like new kitchen, bathroom etc.

We've had surveyors say don't bother doing full - not sure what they'd have to gain by saying that. We've also had surveyors say do full. Our agent says do level 2, then if that flags anything, do more.

Arrrgh!

Our agent being my agent for selling, rather than the seller's agent. Again I feel like he should be relatively independent.

I'd get full survey and then pay for the additional gas and electric checks that aren’t covered by a standard survey

I got my fingers burnt with a dodgy gas fire I wanted to change

I got more than my fingers burnt when my lethal electrics were discovered when my old kitchen was in the front garden and my new kitchen in boxes in my living room waiting to be installed

@OnTheBoardwalk oh golly - you'd think the level 3 survey would cover those!

I would pay a very good builder for his time to go round with you. Then get a basic survey. Have electrics and gas checked too.

The issue with these expensive surveys is that they are very risk averse. They don't always see everything, and they won't comment on tons of stuff, so their reports are littered with " have x, y and z" checked, plus a, b and c. Meaning pretty much everything. So what did I pay for? That's been my experience anyway.

lettie9 the normal surveyors aren’t qualified gas or electricians by trade. I just got a line saying further gas and electric checks may be required

It was my first house so thought I would be ok - I was wrong

I'd have rather got the basic survey and paid for gas and electric ones separately.

I think your EA talks sense.

Your solicitor will be on top of getting guarantees, building regs certification etc for works done.

A specific damp, structural or electrics inspection, etc, can be commissioned if indicated.

Surveyors have recommended a homebuyers survey on a house that age? With a loft conversion as well? I'm astonished.
Survey types seem to have changed since our last one 2 years ago. The RICS site explains the differences here:
www.rics.org/globalassets/rics-website/media/upholding-professional-standards/sector-standards/home-survey--2021/helping-you-choose-the-right-survey.pdf
Level 3 is closest to the type we had on ours, which is 1920s with extensions.

My surveyor said they ONLY do full on Victorian/Edaerdian houses (even terraces) - if there is a loft connversion/ extension then definitely need it.

Definitely full as others have said due to age and work done.

I did a full survey. My property was built in 1867 - it is a flat - conversion of a larger house and has a basement which was dug out 8 years ago. The full survey found nothing and that gave me huge peace of mind and tips about future maintenance and what to take care of.

Thanks all, I think it's settled - full survey it is.