When you’re buying a new home, you have a lot of decisions to make. How many bedrooms do you need? Where do you buy? Do you want a period home, or a more modern style? And so on. Some of those decisions are exciting, while others are less so. One of those potentially less interesting decisions is choosing which professional advisers you want to use during your purchase. Many people here will just opt to go with whoever their estate agent tells them to – after all it’s the easy route, right?
But remember, estate agents generally aren’t looking out for your interests. You aren’t their client – the seller is, and so it’s in their interest to have you use advisers that will pay them a referral fee. All of which means that using estate agent recommended advisers can be expensive. If you want a cheaper and smoother buying process then it’s important to choose the right advisers for you. This includes solicitors, mortgage brokers, and surveyors. But how do you know who is right for you?
Well, we can’t speak for other advisors, but we can give advice on how to choose the right surveyor for your property purchase.
Everyone buying a property is different, and the requirements for the type of home you’re buying and the survey you need will vary as well. Which is why you always need to choose a surveyor that can meet those needs.
In our experience, most buyers are interested mainly in the level of disrepair that needs to be dealt with and how much it’s going to cost them. Particularly, they want to understand what that means in real world terms, and have the information presented to them in a clear, easy to read manner. So that’s how we present out surveys!
However, this isn’t always the case. Sometimes if a property is of particular historical significance, the buyer might be really interested in the history of the property, so they would appreciate a detailed report about how the property has been constructed to understand the older building techniques. If this is you, you’ll need to really choose your surveyor carefully. Even within our expert team at Harrison Clarke, we would only allocate this type of survey to one of our most experienced surveyors with an interest in historic buildings.
For some buyers, their main concern is the price of the survey. This is a totally valid consideration – buying a property is expensive and it can cause cashflow issues, so some buyers will just appoint a surveyor based on how much the initial report will cost them. But this can be a minefield because, as with anything, you get what you pay for. So if this is you, be aware that you might end up with an inexperienced surveyor and a report that’s light on specific detail and heavy on caveats.
Then there’s the buyers who have left their survey right to the last minute. If this is you, oops! Never assume that a surveyor will be able to get to the site straight away, especially at times when the market is very buoyant. This might limit your choice of surveyors to the ones who can get there right away. At Harrison Clarke, we can typically inspect a property within 5 working days of appointment – even when others are offering 6 week waiting times! This is mainly because we have a wide range of surveying staff on our team, so we have the flexibility to get to sites quickly.
This might surprise you, but it doesn’t end there! You should also consider how else a building surveyor might be able to add value to your purchase. For example, it’s quite common for purchasers to have questions once they’ve got their report. Some surveyors will be friendly and approachable with questions, and have included the cost of a consultation in their survey price. Others might offer consultations for an added fee, and others just won’t offer them at all, or respond to any of your questions. A good surveyor might even be able to give you pointers on how to use your report to renegotiate the asking price on the property. In this case, the more experienced the surveyor you appoint, the more useful advice they’ll be able to give you.
The reality is, most people don’t buy properties regularly, so it can be difficult to know exactly who to use. Assuming you’re not in the ‘race to the bottom’ camp in terms of price, we would always recommend looking for a surveyor who’s a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, ideally with over 10 years’ experience. You can usually find this out with a quick phone call to the surveyor and asking these questions. This also gives you a good idea of how they will treat you – if they’re friendly when they answer your call then there’s a good chance this will continue through the process, but if they’re grumpy or unhelpful then that’s probably what your surveyor will be like too!
Most surveyors love working with clients who care about their experience and knowledge, and are happy to chat and answer these types of questions. Often the best surveyors will be the most in demand, and so they can command higher prices. While the most expensive doesn’t always mean the best, you can use price as an indicator that you’re dealing with a company that employs experienced surveyors that can add value to the home buying process.
Another thing to look out for is the use of tech. Bigger firms will often use tablet software to help them create their reports. On the face of it this seems great, but in some instances, this makes the surveyor little more than a data entry clerk, and really restricts then from offering the best advice, since they have to make the software (and the company caveats) match the property. The resulting reports are often really clunky and difficult to read. Not a great result for the client, but it means the surveying company can wiggle out of any claims arising as a result of using an inexperienced surveyor.
I’ll let you into a little secret – Harrison Clarke does not try to compete on price, but rather we offer a great service with friendly, knowledgeable surveyors who will provide the best quality expert advice to each individual client.
If you think that Harrison Clarke could be the perfect surveyor for you, then you clearly have good taste and are almost certainly right! We’d love to help you choose the right survey for your property and will match you up with the best surveyor for your instruction, who will be happy to speak with you after your survey has been sent out. Give us a call on 023 8155 0051 and we will be pleased to assist you on your home buying journey.
We also have a range of videos talking through various aspects of Surveying. You can access them via our website or our YouTube channel.
At the time of writing, we have a total of 105 reviews across Trustpilot and Google. We are proud to say that they are all 5 star ratings across the board.
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Tim set up Harrison Clarke Chartered Surveyors in July 2017 following a series of public and private sector surveying roles, having previously worked for the University of Cambridge, Rund Partnership, Goadsby, and CBRE.
Tim has degrees in building surveying, construction project management, and business administration.
