Residential Building Surveys

Experience in construction, repair maintenance and the inspection of a vast range of buildings provides a technical basis to allow Dabinett to undertake detailed building surveys and condition reports on residential premises. Residential surveys require a great deal of knowledge and technical understanding to provide appropriate advice to clients which in effect ‘isn’t sitting on the fence’ or simply raises more questions.

Reports are our own format and differ from those offered by other practices and these are based on what we have learnt clients need over time.

Our approach has always been to provide reports that don’t flag up the need for further reports – we give professional advice rather than providing professional caveats.

We undertake two types of residential surveys; a summary report and a full building survey. Originally we purely carried out building surveys, however, we quickly understood clients were in need of a lower cost option which would still provide the reassurance that the property was structurally sound and not in danger of immediately falling down.

Summary reports focus on the main structures such as the walls, roof, floors and ceilings so as to provide an overall view as to whether there are any defects present and, if so, what works are needed.

The full building survey is a comprehensive report which considers all aspects of the property providing a detailed guide of the construction assessment of the condition and whether any works are necessary. The reports also incorporate budget costs for any works which we believe are required so as to provide the detail needed for clients to either negotiate reductions in the price or, alternatively simply plan for the future.

With both types of the report, full appendices of photographs are included, which clearly illustrate defects and different elements being considered. This is important as this clearly illustrates to the client many of the technical aspects discussed in the report.

In addition to the survey reports described above we regularly undertake structural reports where valuation surveys have flagged up issues such as possible subsidence and other indications of structural movement.

In such cases, we undertake a short-form report to ascertain whether any movement has occurred and indeed there are requirements for remedial works to be undertaken, or whether in the future there will be ongoing monitoring necessary. Reports also include damp and timber inspections where issues of dampness had been flagged by valuers.

Dabinett’s approach to residential building surveys

A key aspect of Dabinett’s experience is the fact that our surveyors are Chartered Building Surveyors and as such on a daily basis not only inspect properties but also design from scratch new buildings, tender and oversee repair maintenance projects, and as such have a full understanding of defects and how these should be remedied and importantly the cost involved.

Building surveys also consider issues such as boundary issues, planning and building control queries, other possible legal or ownership aspects which arise.

Fees

Typically our fees will be higher than the cheapest, but reports will offer comprehensive advice and unlike lower cost alternatives these will not recommend damp and timber surveys, or further structural inspections, which increase the survey cost to far more than Dabinett would charge.  An area of work for Dabinett is the inspection of properties which have undergone surveys already and have required further technical inspections.

If you require a building survey condition report on the property Dabinett can help you irrespective of the size of the property. Reports can be tailored to suit specific concerns or future plans for a building.