Pre purchase structural survey

elmolesto

Hi guys,

Could you tell me how much is a standard fee for a structural survey?

We got a quote today of over 400

It seems awfully expensive.

I'd like as many feedback as possible regardless where you are based.

Thanks

pwurple

350 plus VAT is what we paid, so 420. We had three of these annoying things done on three seperate houses before we went sale agreed. Feels like a giant wste of money, but there are some showers of estate agents who 'won't accept a bid' unless you do a survey. Jobs for the boys as far as i can see.

elmolesto

pwurple wrote: »

350 plus VAT is what we paid, so 420. We had three of these annoying things done on three seperate houses before we went sale agreed. Feels like a giant wste of money, but there are some showers of estate agents who 'won't accept a bid' unless you do a survey. Jobs for the boys as far as i can see.

Thanks, I got the exact same quote today, I thought I was taken for a foul.

Doop

elmolesto wrote: »

Thanks, I got the exact same quote today, I thought I was taken for a foul.

A fool would not get a survey done...and as for jobs for the boys... 2 totally different professions, you could apply that logic to anything.

So you're willing to spend anywhere around 250,000euro on something and your're not happy to spend 400e on finding whats wrong with the place before you proceed???

Sure dont bother... just keep the receipt for the house handy :rolleyes:

Mr.Wemmick

Of course surveys are very important but to me that isn't the point here. You have pay for them upfront before you make a bid or have sale agreed, this is such a scam.. poorly regulated Estate agents and the range of property sales methods in Ireland are the problem here. To think a EA will tell prospective buyer after buyer to get one done on the same property knowing full well the outcome, but no transparency means the onus is on you to fork out the money.

Clearly a law is needed so that any survey done on a property for sale has to be made public via the seller or the EA. If you then make a bid and get as far as sale agreed, you should be able to take out your own more trusted, full structural survey to make sure your money is being spent wisely.. but only once a sale is agreed and subject to further surveys and searches by the buyer. It's not rocket science.. but the archaic complicated methods of today are there to ensure prospective buyers have their time and money wasted, again and again..

Ray Palmer

Not sure how trust worth a seller's survey would feel. Bare in mind reliance on self regulation of building control has been proven to be a disaster.

It would make sense for a surveyors report from anybody selling but it would need a lot of regulation to be trustworthy. Strange they decided the BER is vital considering it is such a bad system of information.

Mr.Wemmick

Ray Palmer wrote: »

Not sure how trust worth a seller's survey would feel. Bare in mind reliance on self regulation of building control has been proven to be a disaster.

It would make sense for a surveyors report from anybody selling but it would need a lot of regulation to be trustworthy. Strange they decided the BER is vital considering it is such a bad system of information.

If the seller or EA have no choice but to get a standard survey done by a reputable well-regulated group of surveyors then you would be able to trust it enough to make a bid, get sale agreed and then go on to spend money on your own detailed structural survey by another reputable source to make sure the building is a sound buy.

The trouble of course is if EAs aren't regulated, then surveyors wont be either.. it seems a lot of what we do when it comes to house buying is down to simple luck that we happen to find the house is being sold by a good EA, or a honest/transparent recommendation of a good surveyor, etc.

miss no stars

Mr.Wemmick wrote: »

Of course surveys are very important but to me that isn't the point here. You have pay for them upfront before you make a bid or have sale agreed, this is such a scam..

Sorry, I just have to pick you up on that. I had relatives sell their house recently and they went sale agreed subject to structural survey. They then had to take a couple of grand off the agreed upon price based on something highlighted in the survey.

I think that THAT is the fairest option for everyone - you're showing you're serious about buying it and get to put in your bid, but that bid can be revised or withdrawn later on based on anything that comes up in the survey that wasn't apparant beforehand. It's then in the seller's interest not to hide anything massive that will be picked up in a survey and they end up with an secure offer fairly close to the original bid.

Saves a lot of silly carry on.

Mr.Wemmick

miss no stars wrote: »

Sorry, I just have to pick you up on that. I had relatives sell their house recently and they went sale agreed subject to structural survey. They then had to take a couple of grand off the agreed upon price based on something highlighted in the survey.

I think that THAT is the fairest option for everyone - you're showing you're serious about buying it and get to put in your bid, but that bid can be revised or withdrawn later on based on anything that comes up in the survey that wasn't apparant beforehand. It's then in the seller's interest not to hide anything massive that will be picked up in a survey and they end up with an secure offer fairly close to the original bid.

Saves a lot of silly carry on.

not if there are three interested buyers all paying for structural surveys and not one have had had their offers accepted and they are unaware of each other, all paying for the same survey.
Structural surveys as they stand should only happen once a sale with one buyer has been agreed. The point here is a buyer has to organise and pay for the survey first before the offer is accepted that is plainly not fair.

miss no stars

Mr.Wemmick wrote: »

not if there are three interested buyers all paying for structural surveys and not one have had had their offers accepted and they are unaware of each other, all paying for the same survey.
Structural surveys as they stand should only happen once a sale with one buyer has been agreed. The point here is a buyer has to organise and pay for the survey first before the offer is accepted that is plainly not fair.

As I said, it's fairest if an offer is accepted subject to structural survey. Go re-read my post.

Mr.Wemmick

miss no stars wrote: »

As I said, it's fairest if an offer is accepted subject to structural survey. Go re-read my post.

I am writing posts based on the thread's previous posts - doing surveys before sale agreed.

What are you picking me up on then? You need to re-read my post and the thread.

miss no stars

You quoted me though. That implies you're replying to my post specifically.

Mr.Wemmick

miss no stars wrote: »

You quoted me though. That implies you're replying to my post specifically.

because you said you had to pick me up on "that" - which is what exactly?

As I said re-read the thread.

The whole point here it is not being done fairly - great that your relatives had the system work for them and their buyer. However, this is not regulated and too often the system fails and is unfair on the prospective buyer - hence the reason for the comments on this thread.

Gosub

My experience of surveys tells me that they are a waste of money in most cases. If there is a structural problem it's normally fairly obvious - cracks, bulges, etc. If there are cracks present I would then employ a surveyor to give an opinion on what is causing them. A surveyor will only do a visual inspection and maybe a damp check. I employed a surveyor once who wouldn't even lift the corner of a carpet to inspect the floorboards.

When I sold in Dublin, the buyers surveyor didn't find fairly obvious damp. I told the buyer that his surveyor had missed the damp, he wasn't impressed. If a surveyor misses a problem and it causes major issues in later years, the surveyor will take no responsibility for missing the problem.

All the above said... I would never advise anyone to buy without a surveyor's report. I guess I'm just a risk taker at heart. I'm buying a very old cottage at the moment and don't intend to disturb a surveyor.

Mr.Wemmick

Gosub wrote: »

My experience of surveys tells me that they are a waste of money in most cases. If there is a structural problem it's normally fairly obvious - cracks, bulges, etc. If there are cracks present I would then employ a surveyor to give an opinion on what is causing them. A surveyor will only do a visual inspection and maybe a damp check. I employed a surveyor once who wouldn't even lift the corner of a carpet to inspect the floorboards.

When I sold in Dublin, the buyers surveyor didn't find fairly obvious damp. I told the buyer that his surveyor had missed the damp, he wasn't impressed. If a surveyor misses a problem and it causes major issues in later years, the surveyor will take no responsibility for missing the problem.

All the above said... I would never advise anyone to buy without a surveyor's report. I guess I'm just a risk taker at heart. I'm buying a very old cottage at the moment and don't intend to disturb a surveyor.

Exactly! An unregulated mess.

Lucky your buyer had you as a vendor and you were honest about the damp. It's a game all down to luck.. unless you're in the business and know all the sound surveyors and EAs.

miss no stars

Mr.Wemmick wrote: »

because you said you had to pick me up on "that" - which is what exactly?

As I said re-read the thread.

The whole point here it is not being done fairly - great that your relatives had the system work for them and their buyer. However, this is not regulated and too often the system fails and is unfair on the prospective buyer - hence the reason for the comments on this thread.

You don't HAVE to pay for them up-front. The seller has obviously instructed the EA as such, or the EA has decided it for themselves. If in doubt, note in the letterbox to the seller saying you want to make an offer but you'd rather know where you stand with the offer of that amount before paying for a survey. Not all sellers and EAs have require the survey to be done prior to a bid and I think that most sellers (given that a good chunk of them will be in the process of buying another house) will be sympathetic to someone genuinely interested who would like to know where they stand with a bid of x amount before forking out for a survey! So no, you don't HAVE to pay beforehand. You choose to do so to facilitate EA antics.

Mr.Wemmick

miss no stars wrote: »

You don't HAVE to pay for them up-front. The seller has obviously instructed the EA as such, or the EA has decided it for themselves. If in doubt, note in the letterbox to the seller saying you want to make an offer but you'd rather know where you stand with the offer of that amount before paying for a survey. Not all sellers and EAs have require the survey to be done prior to a bid and I think that most sellers (given that a good chunk of them will be in the process of buying another house) will be sympathetic to someone genuinely interested who would like to know where they stand with a bid of x amount before forking out for a survey! So no, you don't HAVE to pay beforehand. You choose to do so to facilitate EA antics.

So everyone has to read your post before knowing if the EA is being honest or not, or doing things in the right order or not, ha that's funny.

Many people have been caught out and do pay beforehand, as written and proven in this thread already..(I am going around in circles here) if the system was regulated then people would know the correct way and what is not the correct way.

So you can shout all you like about the right and wrong way, and about EA's antics, the fact is people do not know as the business lacks transparency and clarity so EAs and surveyors can get away with a poor service and tell lies all day long, and many on the receiving end are non-the-wiser.

valleyoftheunos

Property is sold as seen and the seller makes no warranties as to the condition of the house nor does he have to, essentially its a case of buyer beware. if a seller or EA were to provide a survey or even pass on the results of someone else's survey they would be providing a warranty.

Anyone going sale agreed on a property without first having a full survey done is taking an taking a massive risk for the sake of saving €400.

slavetothegrind

pay that kind of money to a good experienced architectural technician and i think you would get more bang for your buck in highlighting all sorts of issues not just the structural element of the house.

A structural survey is just that, does not refer to anything else, electrical, plumbing etc.

And i know from experience the best you can hope for if they miss something is a refund of fee as a goodwill gesture not admitting fault.

You are paying for an opinion, that's it, no warranty on that at all, so why not get the opinion of a well rounded building design professional on all points of your potential purchase?

Just my two cents and i'm not an archtech, builder or surveyor of any kind.

therightangle

Gosub wrote: »

A surveyor will only do a visual inspection and maybe a damp check.

That depends what the surveyor or engineer is quoting you for.
Ask for a Pre-Purchase Survey rather than a Structural survey and ask what will be in it, or specify what you want covered in it.

Gosub wrote: »

If a surveyor misses a problem and it causes major issues in later years, the surveyor will take no responsibility for missing the problem.

If it was part of what was quoted for in the survey as above, how can the surveyor dismiss it? They should have Prof Indemnity insurance in case they cant pay up.