Got sight today of the full structural survey commissioned by my
buyers on my house. Cost them just over £1000 plus VAT and he was on
site for 5.5 Hrs.

Apparently our genuine Edwardian fire place surrounds are cast
aluminium
Apparently our 9" x 6" galvanised iron airbricks are also cast
aluminium
It seems our two fir trees planted in the 1950's are leylandii (they'd
be twice as tall if they were !)
Apparently the baltic pine spindles on the first stair run are non
original and are a different pattern from the higher stair runs which
I never got round to having dipped and stripped unlike the other
(identical!) ones.
Sadly it seems that the emulsion painted plywood plumbing inspection
panel that has its grain showing is infact likely to be asbestos.
However it is good to hear that the boiler flue is in excellent
condition despite the fact that the top section joint has swiveled
over at 45 degrees (trivial problem easily fixed but not seen by the
blind surveyor)

Oh and the boiler that was installed in 1986 is apparently quite new !

OK it's not my money, and he has (correctly as there isn't anything
particularly to worry about) given the house a clean bill of health,
but where do they get these people from !!!!!

It really annoys me that the buyers have paid very significant money
for a document full of factual errors and yet covered in the usual
escape clauses regarding what he cannot see to the extent that it is a
worthless piece of paper.

AWEM

Andrew Mawson wrote:

It really annoys me that the buyers have paid very significant money
for a document full of factual errors and yet covered in the usual
escape clauses regarding what he cannot see to the extent that it is a
worthless piece of paper.

Exactly the reason we are not having any report done on the late 17th
century terraced house we are in the process of buying.

:¬)

--
http://gymratz.co.uk - Best Gym Equipment & Bodybuilding Supplements UK.
http://trade-price-supplements.co.uk - TRADE PRICED SUPPLEMENTS for ALL!
http://fitness-equipment-uk.com - UK's No.1 Fitness Equipment Suppliers.
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Andrew Mawson wrote:
Got sight today of the full structural survey commissioned by my
buyers on my house. Cost them just over £1000 plus VAT and he was on
site for 5.5 Hrs.

Apparently our genuine Edwardian fire place surrounds are cast
aluminium
Apparently our 9" x 6" galvanised iron airbricks are also cast
aluminium
It seems our two fir trees planted in the 1950's are leylandii (they'd
be twice as tall if they were !)
Apparently the baltic pine spindles on the first stair run are non
original and are a different pattern from the higher stair runs which
I never got round to having dipped and stripped unlike the other
(identical!) ones.
Sadly it seems that the emulsion painted plywood plumbing inspection
panel that has its grain showing is infact likely to be asbestos.
However it is good to hear that the boiler flue is in excellent
condition despite the fact that the top section joint has swiveled
over at 45 degrees (trivial problem easily fixed but not seen by the
blind surveyor)

Oh and the boiler that was installed in 1986 is apparently quite new !

OK it's not my money, and he has (correctly as there isn't anything
particularly to worry about) given the house a clean bill of health,
but where do they get these people from !!!!!

It really annoys me that the buyers have paid very significant money
for a document full of factual errors and yet covered in the usual
escape clauses regarding what he cannot see to the extent that it is a
worthless piece of paper.

AWEM

Great! now hows the Foundation,Damp,Dry rot, ect,ect?
WTF has the stuff you mentioned got to do with the survey?

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

Andrew Mawson wrote:

It really annoys me that the buyers have paid very significant money
for a document full of factual errors and yet covered in the usual
escape clauses regarding what he cannot see to the extent that it is a
worthless piece of paper.

I have friends who paid for a "homebuyers" survey on a house they ended
up buying. The report said there was mains gas conencted to the house.
When they came to move in their gas cooker, there was nowhere to
connect to. No gas pipes. When they asked Transco they confirmed the
nearest gas pipe was 200m away. Complained to surveyor. He pointed to
some caveat or other... upshot is the survey was wrong but there's
nothing that our friends can do about it. I would never get a survey
again, other than a valuation. (And then only for the benefit of the
bank)

Jon.

"Andrew Mawson" wrote in message
news
Got sight today of the full structural survey commissioned by my
buyers on my house. Cost them just over £1000 plus VAT and he was on
site for 5.5 Hrs.

Apparently our genuine Edwardian fire place surrounds are cast
aluminium
Apparently our 9" x 6" galvanised iron airbricks are also cast
aluminium
It seems our two fir trees planted in the 1950's are leylandii (they'd
be twice as tall if they were !)
Apparently the baltic pine spindles on the first stair run are non
original and are a different pattern from the higher stair runs which
I never got round to having dipped and stripped unlike the other
(identical!) ones.
Sadly it seems that the emulsion painted plywood plumbing inspection
panel that has its grain showing is infact likely to be asbestos.
However it is good to hear that the boiler flue is in excellent
condition despite the fact that the top section joint has swiveled
over at 45 degrees (trivial problem easily fixed but not seen by the
blind surveyor)

Oh and the boiler that was installed in 1986 is apparently quite new !

OK it's not my money, and he has (correctly as there isn't anything
particularly to worry about) given the house a clean bill of health,
but where do they get these people from !!!!!

It really annoys me that the buyers have paid very significant money
for a document full of factual errors and yet covered in the usual
escape clauses regarding what he cannot see to the extent that it is a
worthless piece of paper.

AWEM



Just to put the opposite point of view, we have had excellent value from the
survey of our Victorian House. I did shop around for a surveyor based on
experience and he did a good job despite the usual caveats. It enabled us to
reduce the price by many multiples of his fee, probably over 20. Good value.

Tournifreak wrote:
Andrew Mawson wrote:


It really annoys me that the buyers have paid very significant money
for a document full of factual errors and yet covered in the usual
escape clauses regarding what he cannot see to the extent that it is a
worthless piece of paper.


I have friends who paid for a "homebuyers" survey on a house they ended
up buying. The report said there was mains gas conencted to the house.
When they came to move in their gas cooker, there was nowhere to
connect to. No gas pipes. When they asked Transco they confirmed the
nearest gas pipe was 200m away. Complained to surveyor. He pointed to
some caveat or other... upshot is the survey was wrong but there's
nothing that our friends can do about it. I would never get a survey
again, other than a valuation. (And then only for the benefit of the
bank)

Jon.


When did you last see a surveyor up a ladder, or lifting a drain cover?
Bunch of parasites

Hi,

"Andrew Mawson" wrote in message
news
Got sight today of the full structural survey commissioned by my
buyers on my house. Cost them just over £1000 plus VAT and he was on
site for 5.5 Hrs.

I have a similar story. So many factual errors it was ludicrous. Ours is
an extended 1911 'cottage'. On inspection the surveyor said he found
damp around the downstairs loo.

The report came back saying "instruct your builder to excavate around
the toilet area to identify and remedy the source of the damp".

It turned out that the loo had no overflow pipe fitted, so any overfill of
the toilet was just running onto the floor (only a few drips, as it turned
out). Had the surveyor turned his head 15 degrees and looked at the
loo he would have seen it. It took me less than a minute to suss, but
he was happy to 'instruct' us to get the builders in. Fixed with an 8 quid
syphon including overflow. Now do you think the mortgage company
will believe me or him???

I could go on, but I won't. It puts my blood pressure up just thinking
about it.

It really annoys me that the buyers have paid very significant money
for a document full of factual errors and yet covered in the usual
escape clauses regarding what he cannot see to the extent that it is a
worthless piece of paper.

That escape clause is just priceless isn't it? "Spend thousands of pounds,
and if it turns out to be unecessary, it's not our fault". Gits.

Regards,

Glenn.

Ok - I'm going to be confrontational to the extent of saying of saying
that the construction sector is shot through with professional
parasites.

Surveyors, architects, strucural engineers - all will remove large
chunks of cash, not do very much and not take responsibility for their
actions.

There's good and bad in every profession, but particularly where the
people above work on domestic projects - I think taking the client for
a ride is rife.

It's much like the motor trade used to be (and sometimes still is). But
now many service centres will give fixed prices, do the work promised,
do it right - and stand by the warranty on their work. Those places
aren't cheap but do what they claim. Then there's the family businesses
that are also decent.

But IME the same can't be generally said of building trade
professionals - they play on FUD (fear/uncertainty/doubt) - respectable
family businesses or partnerships are less common - I have a much
higher level of satifaction with solicitors - expensive but at least
they completed the requested work correctly and on time.

Ok - a couple of caveats on what I said above - structural engineers do
have to get it right - though their solution may be sub-optimal,
overpriced or ill-considered to the point of chaotic - but it does have
to stay up.

I'd also add that the people that "do" in the building trade have in my
experince a higher degree of competance - the ones that have to "make
it work" tend to be much more down to earth/pragmatic/realistic (and
better value for money) in their solutions and recommendations through
hard-won experience.

Hzatph wrote:

Just to put the opposite point of view, we have had excellent value from the
survey of our Victorian House. I did shop around for a surveyor based on
experience and he did a good job despite the usual caveats. It enabled us to
reduce the price by many multiples of his fee, probably over 20. Good value.

No, you are simply believing the ludicrous marketing touted by surveyors
and their ilk, and convincing yourself that it was money well spent.

If the vendor were willing to accept £xxx off the asking price, they
would have accepted this regardless of the survey. If they were not, no
survey results in the world would make a difference.


--
Grunff

Andrew Mawson wrote:
Got sight today of the full structural survey commissioned by my
buyers on my house. Cost them just over £1000 plus VAT and he was on
site for 5.5 Hrs.

Apparently our genuine Edwardian fire place surrounds are cast
aluminium
Apparently our 9" x 6" galvanised iron airbricks are also cast
aluminium
It seems our two fir trees planted in the 1950's are leylandii (they'd
be twice as tall if they were !)
Apparently the baltic pine spindles on the first stair run are non
original and are a different pattern from the higher stair runs which
I never got round to having dipped and stripped unlike the other
(identical!) ones.
Sadly it seems that the emulsion painted plywood plumbing inspection
panel that has its grain showing is infact likely to be asbestos.
However it is good to hear that the boiler flue is in excellent
condition despite the fact that the top section joint has swiveled
over at 45 degrees (trivial problem easily fixed but not seen by the
blind surveyor)

Oh and the boiler that was installed in 1986 is apparently quite new !

OK it's not my money, and he has (correctly as there isn't anything
particularly to worry about) given the house a clean bill of health,
but where do they get these people from !!!!!

It really annoys me that the buyers have paid very significant money
for a document full of factual errors and yet covered in the usual
escape clauses regarding what he cannot see to the extent that it is a
worthless piece of paper.

AWEM


Reminds me of buying my first vehicle in 1969...wanted a bedford van or
'people carrier' conversion..went to see one..nice bench seats and
windows in the back..but it looked a bit tatty.and was a bit under
market value...my 'glasses guide' or whatever said 'the 1962 model
introduced screwed rather than welded rear seats'...and I glanced down,
and by golly they were welded 'what year is this one mate?' '1966 mate
came the cheery reply...'low mileage'

:-)

The message
from Stuart Noble contains these words:

When did you last see a surveyor up a ladder, or lifting a drain cover?
Bunch of parasites

Ours reckoned that the DPC was bridged somewhere, but wasn't clear as to
where. It wasn't.

He also reckoned that the roof was missing an important diagonal timber.
Since the roof's held up by concrete walls at each end about 5.5m apart
I reckon I'd have other problems on my plate if the roof started to go
slanty.

He missed the rot in one of the windowframes.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

wrote:
Ok - I'm going to be confrontational to the extent of saying of saying
that the construction sector is shot through with professional
parasites.

Surveyors, architects, strucural engineers - all will remove large
chunks of cash, not do very much and not take responsibility for their
actions.

You missed out council building advisors.

"Andrew Mawson" wrote in message
news
Got sight today of the full structural survey commissioned by my
buyers on my house. Cost them just over £1000 plus VAT and he was on
site for 5.5 Hrs.

Apparently our genuine Edwardian fire place surrounds are cast
aluminium
Apparently our 9" x 6" galvanised iron airbricks are also cast
aluminium

Apparently our house is next to a school, except it was turned into offices
five years ago and the house was built onthe old playing fields.
I suspect that surveyor never actually came to the house and looked at an
old map.

Failing to identify a 14 year old boiler as such - if he didn't know he
should say so.

20 year old boiler.... installed in 1986.

"Stuart Noble" wrote in message
...


When did you last see a surveyor up a ladder, or lifting a drain cover?
Bunch of parasites

June 2005 - I saw one lift a manhole/inspection chamber cover (sewers from
two houses joining on the shared drive) bend over to look in and his mobile
phone promptly slid out of his shirt pocket. It was such a shame he hadn't
got any protective clothing to cover his suit as he climbed in to recover
his phone.

Peter K

Owain wrote:

Conservation officers...

Oh yes, they really are bottom-feeders.

--
Grunff

In article .com,
wrote:
Ok - I'm going to be confrontational to the extent of saying of saying
that the construction sector is shot through with professional
parasites.

Surveyors, architects, strucural engineers - all will remove large
chunks of cash, not do very much and not take responsibility for their
actions.

I've not used a surveyor, but have used both architect and structural
engineer. The architect was excellent and found the builders needed for
the work involved. He attended regularly and help sort out the inevitable
problems and liaise with the BCO, etc. Structural engineer did exactly
what was needed of him.

It was far too big a job for (me) to DIY so my efforts were restricted to
the plumbing electrics and decoration.

At the completion of the job I was *very* satisfied with the end result
and thought the professional fees reasonable.

So there. ;-)

--
*How much deeper would the oceans be without sponges? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Gordon Hudson wrote:
"Andrew Mawson" wrote in message
news
Got sight today of the full structural survey commissioned by my
buyers on my house. Cost them just over £1000 plus VAT and he was on
site for 5.5 Hrs.

Apparently our genuine Edwardian fire place surrounds are cast
aluminium
Apparently our 9" x 6" galvanised iron airbricks are also cast
aluminium


Apparently our house is next to a school, except it was turned into offices
five years ago and the house was built onthe old playing fields.
I suspect that surveyor never actually came to the house and looked at an
old map.




My Parents house, the surveyor said the chimney was in need of repair.
Only when they moved in and looked for it, did they realise, there was
no chimney in the house.

If they advertised as psychics and did things like this, they would be
arrested and charged with fraud.

The message
from "Alan" contains these words:

20 year old boiler.... installed in 1986.

You mean it was already twenty years old when it was installed in 1986?

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Gordon Hudson wrote:
"Andrew Mawson" wrote in message
news
Got sight today of the full structural survey commissioned by my
buyers on my house. Cost them just over £1000 plus VAT and he was on
site for 5.5 Hrs.

Apparently our genuine Edwardian fire place surrounds are cast
aluminium
Apparently our 9" x 6" galvanised iron airbricks are also cast
aluminium


Apparently our house is next to a school, except it was turned into offices
five years ago and the house was built onthe old playing fields.
I suspect that surveyor never actually came to the house and looked at an
old map.



As I've mentioned before on this NG (cf. postings about damp meters) the
poor buyer who had our last house surveyed probably payed out £250+VAT
(the going rate) for an 8-minute survey. Thats £1875 per hour folks !
I know because I was in at the time.

Zoinks.

Grunff wrote:
Owain wrote:

Conservation officers...

Oh yes, they really are bottom-feeders.

But whose bottom?

Andrew Mawson wrote:
Got sight today of the full structural survey commissioned by my
buyers on my house. Cost them just over £1000 plus VAT and he was on
site for 5.5 Hrs

I've had 3 surveyors ask if we have planning permission for the kitchen
extension. We don't have one. Every single house on our estate has a
kitchen which is part single story - the house were all built that way in
1954.

When this is pointed out - and you can see several others from the garden -
they agree. When the report arrives it still asks about planning
permission. In one ear....

--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

Grunff wrote:
Hzatph wrote:

Just to put the opposite point of view, we have had excellent value
from the survey of our Victorian House. I did shop around for a
surveyor based on experience and he did a good job despite the usual
caveats. It enabled us to reduce the price by many multiples of his
fee, probably over 20. Good value.

No, you are simply believing the ludicrous marketing touted by surveyors
and their ilk, and convincing yourself that it was money well spent.

If the vendor were willing to accept £xxx off the asking price, they
would have accepted this regardless of the survey. If they were not, no
survey results in the world would make a difference.

Well, yes and no... if a vendor is faced with a buyer who says 'Sorry,
I'm having to drop my asking price by X grand because this itemised list
of repairs needs doing, which I was unaware of when I made my offer',
the vendor is more likely to agree to it than when faced with a buyer
who says 'I'm reducing my original offer by X grand, just because I feel
like it'.

The survey report can provide ammunition for the buyer, and the vendor
may well feel obliged to take the hit, particularly if they feel that if
the sale falls through, the same problem may occur with a future buyer
in 6 weeks' time.

Not that I'm in any way a surveyor fan, mind you!

David

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article .com,
wrote:

Ok - I'm going to be confrontational to the extent of saying of saying
that the construction sector is shot through with professional
parasites.

Surveyors, architects, strucural engineers - all will remove large
chunks of cash, not do very much and not take responsibility for their
actions.

I've not used a surveyor, but have used both architect and structural
engineer. The architect was excellent and found the builders needed for
the work involved. He attended regularly and help sort out the inevitable
problems and liaise with the BCO, etc. Structural engineer did exactly
what was needed of him.

I also have no problem with structural engineers but I'm definitely with
the OP on architects! Have had dealings with two of them; the first one
'helped' with finding a builder, who subsequently ran out of money when
building our extension; and my subsequent enquiries around town left me
in no doubt that backhanders had been involved in the builder originally
securing the work.

The second architect, who I used some years later, I am similarly
convinced had an extremely unhealthy relationship with the local
Planning Department - too long a story to go into here. Suffice it to
say that in neither instance did I have any proof of my suspicions, but
I now regard these buggers as the lowest of the low.

David

On Tue, 25 Apr 2006 01:54:19 +0100, Andrew Mawson wrote:

It really annoys me that the buyers have paid very significant money
for a document full of factual errors and yet covered in the usual
escape clauses regarding what he cannot see to the extent that it is a
worthless piece of paper.

Oh thats okay, mine had pictures in the back of the problems, some of the
pictures were not my house, and quite how plastic soffit and fascia boards
get slightly rotten is beyond me.

Steve

"Lobster" wrote in message
...
Grunff wrote:
Hzatph wrote:

Just to put the opposite point of view, we have had excellent value from
the survey of our Victorian House. I did shop around for a surveyor
based on experience and he did a good job despite the usual caveats. It
enabled us to reduce the price by many multiples of his fee, probably
over 20. Good value.

No, you are simply believing the ludicrous marketing touted by surveyors
and their ilk, and convincing yourself that it was money well spent.

If the vendor were willing to accept £xxx off the asking price, they
would have accepted this regardless of the survey. If they were not, no
survey results in the world would make a difference.

Well, yes and no... if a vendor is faced with a buyer who says 'Sorry, I'm
having to drop my asking price by X grand because this itemised list of
repairs needs doing, which I was unaware of when I made my offer', the
vendor is more likely to agree to it than when faced with a buyer who says
'I'm reducing my original offer by X grand, just because I feel like it'.

The survey report can provide ammunition for the buyer, and the vendor may
well feel obliged to take the hit, particularly if they feel that if the
sale falls through, the same problem may occur with a future buyer in 6
weeks' time.

Not that I'm in any way a surveyor fan, mind you!

David




Lobster is dead right. We saved a lot of money this way but the only way we
could do so was by evidencing the outcomes of the survey to detail the work
that had to be done. There is no question that our final offer would not
have been accepted without the survey report. For our property it was a good
investment which paid handsome dividends.

By the way we were careful to employ a different surveyor from the one who
did the mortgage valuation so our lender did not see the full survey report.

Zoinks wrote:

As I've mentioned before on this NG (cf. postings about damp meters) the
poor buyer who had our last house surveyed probably payed out £250+VAT
(the going rate) for an 8-minute survey. Thats £1875 per hour folks !
I know because I was in at the time.

That's nothing...

As it happens I'm in the process of selling a property. We originally
accepted an offer about a month ago, surveyor came round and did his
stuff, but a while later the buyer pulled out. We've now accepted a
second (better! hah!) offer, and the estate agent rang me today to tell
me the new buyer's survey's just been done.

Only it hasn't. As it happened, the new lender appointed the same
surveyor as before, who I gather from our estate agent simply collected
the keys, walked round the block and returned them, without even
visiting the property.

Nice work if you can get it, eh?

David

In message , Googlebot
writes
Gordon Hudson wrote:
"Andrew Mawson" wrote in
message news
Got sight today of the full structural survey commissioned by my
buyers on my house. Cost them just over £1000 plus VAT and he was on
site for 5.5 Hrs.

Apparently our genuine Edwardian fire place surrounds are cast
aluminium
Apparently our 9" x 6" galvanised iron airbricks are also cast
aluminium
Apparently our house is next to a school, except it was turned into
offices five years ago and the house was built onthe old playing
fields.
I suspect that surveyor never actually came to the house and looked
at an old map.


My Parents house, the surveyor said the chimney was in need of repair.
Only when they moved in and looked for it, did they realise, there was
no chimney in the house.

If they advertised as psychics and did things like this, they would be
arrested and charged with fraud.

No they wouldnt... they would get their own TV show g


--
Richard Faulkner

On Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:34:00 GMT, Googlebot wrote:

My Parents house, the surveyor said the chimney was in need of repair.
Only when they moved in and looked for it, did they realise, there was
no chimney in the house.

The survey on my brother's house said the chimney breast had been
removed in the living room and there was no visible evidence of support
for the remainder of it.

Elsewhere in the same report, it also mentioned the presence of a back
boiler in this apparently non-existent chimney.
--
Chris Cowley

On Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:03:31 +0100, a particular chimpanzee named
"PeterK" randomly hit the keyboard and
produced:

June 2005 - I saw one lift a manhole/inspection chamber cover (sewers from
two houses joining on the shared drive) bend over to look in and his mobile
phone promptly slid out of his shirt pocket. It was such a shame he hadn't
got any protective clothing to cover his suit as he climbed in to recover
his phone.

D'oh! Been there, done that! Although mine went straight down the
sewer. It happened totally accidently just after I'd asked my boss
for an upgrade.
--
Hugo Nebula
"If no-one on the internet wants a piece of this,
just how far from the pack have you strayed?"