Likely costs for a home inspection survey?

[fatbuddha]

Hi - first post here so be kind! :wink:

My wife and I are buying a Grade 2 listed property which was originally the stables of an oast house. The only reason for it's listing is due to it's attachment to the Oast which has an original cowl. The stables were converted in early 2000's (planning was granted in 2001) and to all intents, it's practically a new building - some of the walls are new, it has a concrete floor, and beyond a few original beams giving character, it's almost a new build.

Due to this recent build, we don't believe a full structural survey is needed and we are unsure whether an inspection survey is warranted. To help, could any knowledgeable people out there give us a likely cost to such a survey? If it's into the £ooo's then we won't bother, but a couple of £00 would be fine.

And are there any specific areas we should ask to be investigated in people's experience?? And does this survey provide a rebuild cost as we understand is always difficult with listed properties?

ta muchly

 

[mattice]

Part of your answer - Our building structural survey in the Midlands, from someone familiar with old houses was £800 in 2012. The most value obtained was in discussion with him rather than the report, although had we not had it done we may have been oblivious to a serious progressive roof defect, so it was well worth the £800.

 

[kreyszig]

Shop around - I managed to find a full structural survey by an independent specialising in historic buildings for £375. We didn't get a rebuild cost with that though. Other quotes were up to £750 (in 2013)

 

[Penners]

The only reason for it's listing is due to it's attachment to the Oast which has an original cowl. The stables were converted in early 2000's (planning was granted in 2001) and to all intents, it's practically a new building

Just before my answer to your actual question, I thought I should just mention to you that a listed building is a listed building. Even though the reason for listing may only be one or two architectural details, the entire building and its curtilage are listed. So you need LBC for any changes to any part of it. Apologies if you are fully aware of that!

As to the cost of a structural survey, this will probably depend on the size of the building, its location (I'm guessing Kent?) and how much you're paying for it. In my experience the normal charge for an average size house is roughly around £500 - £700. As Kreysig says, you may be able to find someone who's considerably cheaper, but I should check their credentials carefully. Cheaper may mean less thorough.

If you do go ahead with a surveyor, don't just point him/her at the building and sit back. Give them a written brief, explaining that you want their full standard service and mentioning any special details that might need a more thorough investigation, or which are of particular concern to you.

 

[Flyfisher]

I'd second all of that, particularly discussing your requirements beforehand and specifying exactly what you want to find out about the property. Our structural survey was about £2000 but there were some serious structural issues that we needed to know about before committing ourselves. The house is larger than average but even so there were issues that required rather more than a cursory assessment and I felt happy about spending the money because it allowed us to take things on fully informed . . . well, as fully as it can ever be with a 450 year old house. It was our first restoration project (and almost certainly our last!) and the detailed survey helped us with our steep learning curve.

I'd also strongly recommend you are present during the survey. Not so much to check up on the surveyor but because you will be able to discuss things directly and you'll almost certainly find he will be more forthcoming verbally than the formal report which will likely contain a million caveats. After all, it's one thing to have problems identified but it's rather more helpful to be able to also discuss possible remedies and their likely cost. An experienced surveyor should be able to do this.

 

[xanthe]

We had a full structural survey done, on the Grade II listed 400 year-old cottage we're buying, in September last year. We used an expert in historic timber-framed buildings especially Wealden properties. I don't know whereabouts in Kent you are, but we're on the Surrey/Kent border and I'm happy to pass on the guy's name if you decide to go down the survey route.

Survey took over 3 hours, I went round with the surveyor which was both very interesting and very useful. Lots of things that weren't obvious at first glance became very obvious once he pointed them out - he also gave us a rough idea of repair costs.

Survey report was 135 pages total including a lot of photographs and was emailed over a week after the survey. We paid £900 incl VAT and it was worth every penny. He wasn't the cheapest, but I wouldn't have felt comfortable using a surveyor who wasn't experienced with these kinds of buildings. He also told me that I was welcome to call him any time if I needed any advice or clarification on things in the survey - I've called a couple of times to check a few things and he's been very helpful.

 

[J-Nevil]

I just about managed to get it for £850!

 

[PeterI]

If you're getting a mortgage make sure the surveyor is acceptable to the mortgage lender, the damp report we had done (after the quick and dirty home buyer survey) nearly wasn't. The problem was he wasn't a member of the correct association (although a colleague was and signed off the report for us)

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Try to use a Surveyor who is accredited as a listed building surveyor. Fully agree with Penners and Flyfisher--we have three times used a company to be found on the 'products and services' section of this site and, although expensive at around £800 (circa 2003-6) was worth every penny and page of the report!
Good Luck

 

[Keithj]

Very much agree with the above.

We were fortunate in having an honest and trustworthy estate agent (yes, there are some!) who put us onto the local expert surveyor, who wrote us a book about the house. His findings and definition of what needed doing came in a thick book, and resulted in a £30,000 reduction in the price we paid for the house.

Compared with previous surveys we'd had done, which were a few pages telling us how they didn't know the state of the floorboards because they couldn't lift the carpet (and other such excuses) it was outstanding value.

 

[xanthe]

We negotiated a £20k reduction on the back of our survey. Surveyor advised that we should be seeking double that.

On rebuild costs, we worked on the basis of £2.5k per square metre. That is for each floor, not the overall footprint.

If a room is huge then you can reduce it as a sq mtr in the middle of a floor costs less to replace than the one at the edge with a wall and window in it!

Total figure seemed right so looks like equation is accurate.