Newark Homebuyers Survey - Fees
Steve Butler Chartered Surveyor has been surveying, valuing and managing a portfolio of properties in Newark since qualifying as Chartered Surveyor in 1992. Steve Butler has also passed the Government's Home Inspector Examinations and is a qualified commercial energy surveyor and associate member of the Chartered Institution of Legal Executives.
Steve Butler Chartered Surveyors are entirely independent of any estate agents lenders or mortgage brokers and not not pay introductory fees ensuring our independence.
Our surveyors have lived in or owned properties of all types and ages in many parts of East Midlands so we have considerable local knowledge of most areas, and practical experience of owning and maintaining many types and ages of property.
Newark Surveyors Homebuyers Report a 1902 terrace house
Newark RICS Hombuyers surveyors report on a 1925 detached houseThe front and rear walls of this property had been badly damaged by water because of failure to undertake a few hundred pounds of gutter and down pipe repairs. Intruders had damaged the kitchen and bathroom and run off with the boiler as well as damaging central heating pipes. An extension containing the bathroom and kitchen was single skin construction and likely to be cold and prone to water penetration. An attic conversion had dangerous stairs and no fire protection and probably no insulation of the ceiling.
Low Surveyors Fees
Our RICS surveyors provide a rapid response in the Newark area at low cost. Homebuers Report Costs and Building Survey Prices are fixed and as there is no hidden VAT so you know exactly where you are.
Low Cost Homebuyers Surveyors Fees
Low Cost Building/ Structural Surveyors Fees
If you are you buying a property in Newark then a pre-purchase Building or Homebuyers Survey may help avoid future expenses.
We specialise in surveying and valuing residential property in Newark offering a rapid turnaround with efficient and competitive service.
All Building Survey and Homebuyers Reports are undertaken by Steve Butler RICS Chartered Surveyor personally ensuring that personalized service to all our clients.
Newark Surveyors RICS Building Survey Report on a 1925 Detached House
Newark RICS building surveyors report on a 1925 detached house. The chimneys were in poor condition, tiles were slipping, gutters were clogged and broken. The roof face had dished. Additional timbers had been added to strengthen the roof. The property had long standing movement at the head of an opening to a rear bay window. A timber floor had humped slightly.
RICS Building Surveys provides a more detailed picture of a property’s construction and can be carried out on practically all residential properties.
The report is bespoke and tailored to your requests.
It is most suitable when the building is less conventional. This could be because it is very old, it has been built using unusual construction methods, or it is dilapidated. Similarly, it can be very informative if a building has been extensively altered.
An RICS Building Survey will tell you about the condition of the property including the state of the chimneys, roofs, rainwater goods, roof edges, walls, floors, ceilings, partitions, windows and doors. We can tell you whether there is any structural movement or settlement, wet rot, dry rot, woodworm or damp problems. We give you an overview of the services such as the electrical installations, boiler, central heating, hot and cold water.
Newark RICS Surveyors Report on a leaning gable end.
The report on the suspected movement and suggested remedies
Measurement with a spirt level by our surveyors suggested that the top fifteen course of bricks are out of plumb by 150mm from above the point at which two purlins bear into the gable wall. The top ten course of the wall are built with a single skin of bicks and are likely to be unstable. The the likely cause of the leaning wall is failure to ties it into the strcture at the time of construction.
Our surveyors suggested that the top fifteen courses of brickwork should be rebuilt with a 225mm wall that is inherently more stable. Straps set into the centre of the wall can be secured to the roof structure. The straps can be secured to the existing longitudinal timbers and to planks screwed across and perpendicular to the rafters just below each side of the apex. 18mm x 120mm x 2.4m floor boards or similar would suffice.
Sadly in this instance the purchaser had relied on a mortgage valuation for the purchase of the late 1920's house which is thus about nintey years old. The surveyor thus had no duty to report the leaning wall to the purchaser as he was only worried about his mortgage lender. The purchaser will now have to stand the cost of about £250.00 of labour and about £750.00 of scaffold if the wall is to be properly repaired by rebuilding it. A homebuyers survey by Steve Butler Chartered Surveyors Newark would have cost about £400.00.
A standardized report produced by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) to highlight significant problems and matters requiring urgent investigation.
It is designed to flag up major defects and problems that need urgent or significant attention, because such issues will affect the property’s value.
It is the cost effective choice for the majority of property purchasers.
A valuation of the property and estimation of reinstatement cost for insurance purposes is included as standard in both our Building Survey and Homebuyers Survey reports.
Due to the time taken to measure the property Building Surveys cost considerably more than the Homebuyers Report, however you should bear in mind that they are unlikely to find any serious defects to the property that the Homebuyers Survey and Report will not.
It is considered that the Homebuyers Survey and Report will be suitable for most clients.
RICS Homebuyers Survey of a Newark Bungalow built about 1980
Although modern this property suffered from a buckled flank walls, rotting timbers and a fractured floor.
Our RICS surveyors undertake residential property valuations for all types of purpose such as matrimonial disputes, probate and insolvency. We are fully familiar with the requirements for Help to Buy Valuations. Our surveyors have undertaken hundreds of Help to Buy Valuations and are used to meeting Target's (The administrators of the scheme) requirements.
Party Wall surveyors Newark
We can help property owners in Newarkshire with Party Wall matters. Steve Butler surveyors can help prepare schedules of condition prior to works on an adjoining property so that there is no argument as to whether the proposed works cause damage. Our surveyors can also draw up an agreement between the parties so that works are carried out in a manner that will reduce the risk of damage to an adjoining property and inconvenience to the neighbour.
Newark Surveyors Property Survey Survey Report on a 1850 Detached Cottage
Our Newark building surveys went to this property with a damp proofing contractors report in hand only to find that none of the works recommeded were necessary. Our RICS surveyors found damage to the property from condesnation, swollen joinery windows that required early refurbishment rotten conervatory roof joists high ground levels and a drain that had recently been blocked.
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Defects noticed by our Newark Surveyors whilst undertaking Homebuyers Reports and Building Surveys in Newark
Wet rot growing on damp timbers in a cellar. Our RICS surveyors considered that the damp was entirely due to condensation. Beetles and very destructive dry rot also like damp timbers in unventilated spaces. The correct ventilation of cellars and the underside of suspended timber floors is very important. Common errors our surveyors see are coal drops into cellars that have been filled in, underfloor vents sealed in the mistaken belief that it will reduce draughts in the property or in order to keep out harmless bees and wasps. Under floor vents are often blocked by constructing extensions or raising the ground level over them.
This flight of stairs was discovered by or surveyors during a Homebuyers Survey and Report on a typical late Victorian terrace house in Newark. The bathroom and kitchen are in an annex constructed with a height that is two or three feet lower than the remainder. This leads to the ceiling heights having to be lowered in the kitchen and bathroom resulting in the need for these steps down from the main part of the property. Our surveyors considered all steps to be a fall hazard however they become even more of a hazard when placed immediately beyond a doorway. Our surveyors would have liked a landing to be constructed within the room between the door and the steps but there is not often room to accommodate one.
This cellar of a building in Newark particularly concerned or RICS Chartered Surveyors. The attractive looking fugus is dry rot. The potential problem is that it can travel many metres from a source of wet wood destroying dry wood. Remedial works are expensive as it is often necessary to access parts of the building to which access is not available without some dismantling. Timber ground floors and timbers in cellars are most commonly affected. Dry rot is usually triggered by a sudden increase in water such as a leaking pipe or rain water goods but can also occur due to condensation. One of its requirements apart from relative warmth is still air conditions. The chances of it occurring can thus be reduced by good underfloor ventilation. In this case there was no ventilation to the cellar. Whist the cellar was subject to high humidity it was suspected that the dry rot outbreak had in fact been triggered by a water ingress into the property.
Modern wall constructed about 1980 which blew over in strong winds. Interesting points are the wall has blown to the right but houses not seen on the photograph provide shelter from the left. The wall has blown away from the piers that have been attached to help support it. This raises the question as to whether the wall would have blown down if the piers had been on the right of the wall. The wall has snapped immediately above the engineering brick damp proof course raising questions about whether mortar bonds well with engineering bricks, or given all the Victorian railway bridges that are still in first class condition whether modern cements bond well with engineering bricks. The Victorian railway bridges are boned with lime based mortars. Lime mortars are more flexible than modern cements and one thus wonders if a lime bonded wall could have flexed in the wind rather than snapping.
Our Newark surveyors were impressed by this simple solution to prevent slates slipping on this house dating from about 1900. Small blocks have been stuck to the back of the slates so that they rest on the timber battens. This should prevent the frequent problem in properties that are about 100 years old of slates slipping when the fixing nails corrode
Our Newark surveyors noted this creature lurking in a doorway with a view to covert entry during an autumnal Homebuyers Survey near Newark. Other creatures that move into houses are bees, wasps, mice rats and squirrels. Bees and wasps are not threat to either or people if left undisturbed. They are often in occupancy for some months until their numbers increase when their activity becomes noticed. Wasps nest only last a season and bees two or three years. Mice and rats are disease spreaders and rats and squirrels can do extensive damage from gnawing.
Fracturing of a solid wall. That the horizontal joints are tight and the vertical ones open suggests that the wall has moved along its length rather than down. Such movement is usually caused by heat. The failure of the paint to adhere to the wall is probably because it is damp. Likely causes are condensation or a pile of earth on the outside of the wall.
Plants that take root in wall or other parts of buildings can cause considerable damage. The roots and branches are very strong and can often force apart substantial structures. The long the plant is allowed to grow the more difficult it is to successfully remove it. Trees can be particularly destructive if they grow from gaps between concrete slabs and walls. They will soon displace the wall so that it buckles.
Micro-bore pipe that was popular in the 1980's as it could be rolled out in long sections without needing any joints and because it was cheap. There are stories that it can become easily blocked. Here the pipe has been correctly sleeved where it enters a concrete floor. If not sleeved there is a risk that the concrete can chemically attack the copper eventually causing it to leak. Un-sleeved pipes running through floors are a particular problem if they contain gas.
The floor slab of this extension has been laid too high in relation to the oiginal building, hence the need to slope the floor. The channels are supposed to acccomodate underfloor heating but there appears to have been no thought about laying insulation under the pipes so that the surface of the floor rather than the slab get the heat. Our surveyors suggested that the best solution was total demolition.
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