" wrote in news:1188801966.910724.206950
@k79g2000hse.googlegroups.com:

Likewise, my experience of surveyors equally poor.

If you do ask an experienced builder to look it over (which I think is
more useful than a survey) - be completely honest with him, that you
are only thinking about buying and offer to pay for his advice.

My lad is in the same sort of boat - he's looking at a terraced house that
is structurally OK as far as I can tell, but needs a fair bit of tidying up
(including demolishing the rear extension and rebuilding with something
that's at least true and watertight!) - he doesn't need a surveyor to tell
him this, he needs a builder to tell him how much it will cost.
How much is a builder likely to charge for a look and estimate? / How much
is it worth offering?