Level 3 Building Survey
The most comprehensive of the surveys available for residential properties. Our thorough analysis uncovers any defects, provides detailed repair recommendations, and offers maintenance advice to ensure your property's longevity and value.
What is a property building survey?
A home, building & property survey (previously known as a full Structural Survey) is a wide-ranging inspection of a property, dealing with hard to reach places and structural issues. It is designed for buildings in need of modernisation, have been heavily extended in the past, or high value unique properties.
It is the most comprehensive of the surveys available for residential properties and provides a detailed evaluation of the condition of a property. Although one of the more expensive options of survey available, the level of detail in the final report makes it vital, especially when buying older properties.
Find out the importance of a building survey in our article “The eight not-so-great reasons you need a home property survey.”
“The left side of the roof is poorly weathered and may be allowing water into the roof. In addition, a plastic bag is wrapped around the soil pipe which penetrates this roof. This may also be allowing water penetration.”
Example Level 3 Building Survey Report below:
What's in a building survey report?
Features
- Describes the construction and condition of the property on the date of inspection
- Aims to identify any problems that need urgent attention or are serious
- Aims to identify things that need to be investigated further to prevent serious damage
- Aims to tell about problems that may be dangerous
- Aims to show up potential issues and defects, before any transaction takes place
- Aims to help you decide whether you need extra advice before committing to a purchase
And more…
- Aims to enable you to budget for any repairs or restoration
- Aims to advise you on the amount of ongoing maintenance required in the future
- Aims to establish how the property is built, what materials are used and how these will perform in the future
- Aims to describe physical defects, plus exposing potential problems posed by hidden defects
- Aims to outline the repair options and give you a repair timeline, whilst explaining the consequence of not acting
- Provides specific comments on energy efficiency
- Provides a market valuation if requested as an additional service
- Provides a reinstatement cost to help you avoid under or over-insurance if requested as part of the valuation
What is a building survey suitable for?
Larger, older, or unique properties and those in obvious disrepair.
This survey offers an extensive inspection of the property and includes a comprehensive report with diagnosis of defects, detailed advice on repairs and maintenance, a full description of the condition and construction of each element of the property and a section on energy efficiency, together with an overall assessment, including an overall opinion and a summary of condition ratings, repairs and suggested further investigations.
As the eyes and ears for your legal advisors, a special section is included for them to raise additional enquiries of the Vendor.
Once our surveyors have seen everything on site, they are in the perfect position to advise you exactly what the property is worth. Including an independent RICS Market Valuation is highly recommended to protect your investment.
What is reinstatement cost?
The Reinstatement Cost (also known as rebuild cost or building sum insured) of your home, is the amount it would cost to completely rebuild the property from scratch if it were totally destroyed, by a fire for example.
It is required for building insurance applications and is the amount of money for which your home is insured in case of total loss. It includes, costs of clearing the site, materials, labour and professional fees. It is not the same as the value of your home.
Reinstatement costs are for an accurate reconstruction of your property whereas market value is simply what the property is worth as a whole finished product.
Whether it's your building, property or home, our award-winning property experts can help
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