Introduction

“20 years’ experience.”

It sounds reassuring.

And when you’re choosing somebody to inspect a property worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, experience should absolutely matter.

But there is a problem.

Twenty years doing what?

A surveyor could have spent 20 years principally undertaking property valuations.

Another could have spent ten years undertaking residential Building Surveys, investigating defects, specifying repairs, administering construction projects and working with historic buildings.

Both legitimately have years of surveying experience.

They do not necessarily bring the same experience to your Building Survey.

So perhaps the better question isn’t:

“How many years’ experience does my surveyor have?”

It is:

“How relevant is their experience to the property and advice I am actually buying?”

That distinction matters considerably more than a headline number.

Speak to a member of the team

Is There a Minimum Number of Years a Home Surveyor Should Have?

There isn’t a simple rule that says a home surveyor needs five, ten or twenty years in practice before they are competent to undertake your survey.

RICS approaches the issue differently.

Its Rules of Conduct require members and firms to maintain professional competence and ensure that services are provided by competent individuals with the necessary expertise. You can read the RICS Rules of Conduct here.

The RICS Home Survey framework similarly requires an appropriately qualified professional to have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience for the service and property concerned.

That is actually a more useful way of looking at it.

Someone does not become automatically competent for every type of property when they reach an arbitrary anniversary.

And twenty years in the profession does not mean twenty years doing the particular work you need.

Experience needs to be relevant.

Years of Experience and Depth of Experience Are Different Things

Imagine two surveyors.

Surveyor A

Has worked in residential property for 18 years.

They principally undertake mortgage valuations and Level 2 Home Surveys of relatively conventional properties.

They are experienced.

Surveyor B

Has worked as a Chartered Building Surveyor for ten years.

Their work includes:

Level 2 and Level 3 Home Surveys;
building pathology;
defect investigations;
refurbishment projects;
repair specifications;
contract administration;
listed buildings;
planning and statutory issues; and
inspecting defective construction work.

They are also experienced.

If you are buying a conventional modern house, either surveyor may have entirely appropriate experience.

If you are buying an extensively altered Victorian property with cracking, damp, a converted basement and a failing roof, the second professional background may provide significantly more relevant insight.

That isn’t because one individual has accumulated more calendar years.

It is because the nature of their experience is different.

RICS itself illustrates how broad Building Surveying competence can be. Its Chartered Building Surveying pathway covers core areas including building pathology, construction technology, inspection, design and specification, contract administration and legal/regulatory compliance.

That breadth has practical consequences when advising somebody about an actual building.

Ask What Your Surveyor Has Actually Spent Their Career Doing

This is one of the simplest questions a purchaser can ask.

Not:

“How long have you been a surveyor?”

But:

“What sort of work have you actually undertaken during that time?”

Surveying is a very broad profession.

RICS describes valuation surveying, for example, as a discipline primarily concerned with determining property value and advising on markets, investment and related matters.

Building Surveying is different. RICS describes Building Surveyors as professionals concerned with how buildings are constructed, their defects, repair, maintenance, restoration and improvement.

Neither discipline is inherently superior.

They simply develop different professional experience.

That matters because the fact someone has been “a surveyor for 20 years” does not, by itself, tell you how much experience they have diagnosing defects or advising on repairs.

Experience Should Help Your Surveyor Interpret What They See

A Building Survey is not simply a defect-spotting exercise.

Most trained surveyors can identify:

staining;
cracking;
slipped roof tiles;
decayed timber;
defective pointing;
condensation;
corrosion; or
deterioration to external finishes.

The greater value often lies in deciding what those observations actually mean.

For example, spotting cracking is one thing.

Understanding whether the pattern is consistent with:

historic settlement;
differential movement;
thermal movement;
moisture-related movement;
inadequate support;
movement between an extension and original building;
drainage problems; or
something requiring structural investigation

requires judgement.

That judgement develops through experience.

The same is true of moisture.

It is comparatively easy to record a high moisture-meter reading.

It is considerably more useful to understand the interaction between:

traditional solid-wall construction;
cementitious finishes;
ground levels;
ventilation;
drainage;
rainwater goods;
plumbing;
thermal bridging;
occupancy; and
previous alterations.

Experience turns observations into advice.

Has Your Surveyor Seen the Defect After the Wall Was Opened Up?

This is one of the areas we think buyers rarely consider.

There is a difference between repeatedly observing defects during pre-purchase surveys and also seeing what happens afterwards.

A surveyor involved in repair and project work may have seen:

roofs stripped back;
floors opened up;
defective lintels exposed;
damp walls stripped of finishes;
decayed timbers uncovered;
failed flashings dismantled;
drainage excavated;
inappropriate repairs removed; and
structural alterations investigated.

That creates a valuable feedback loop.

You see what the defect looked like from the finished surface.

You form an initial diagnosis.

Then, sometimes months later, you see what was actually behind it.

Over time, that experience refines professional judgement.

At Fourth Wall, our residential surveying sits alongside broader building surveying work including defect investigation, repair specification, refurbishment, contract administration and building conservation. Our Level 3 Building Survey service is consequently focused not simply on identifying defects but on explaining likely causes, repair approaches, priorities and financial implications.

For a purchaser, that wider practical experience can be particularly valuable on older or complicated buildings.

Can Your Surveyor Tell You How the Defect Should Actually Be Repaired?

This is another useful test.

Imagine your survey identifies defective pointing to an older solid masonry wall.

A generic recommendation might be:

Repoint areas of defective mortar.

That isn’t necessarily wrong.

But useful advice might need to consider:

the original masonry;
existing mortar composition;
hardness and permeability;
inappropriate previous cement pointing;
depth of joint preparation;
weather exposure;
whether masonry repairs are also necessary; and
the sequence in which repairs should be undertaken.

The difference comes from understanding repair, not simply inspection.

Similarly, identifying that a flat roof is defective is only part of the exercise.

The purchaser may need to know whether:

local repair is realistic;
wholesale renewal should be budgeted;
insulation upgrades are likely to be required;
falls are inadequate;
outlets need alteration;
parapet details are contributing to failure; or
replacement will interact with other parts of the building.

The more complicated the property, the more useful it becomes to have somebody who has experience specifying and seeing repairs undertaken, rather than only identifying that they are needed.

Standard Advice Can Be Correct Without Being the Best Advice

Modern surveying software and reporting systems can be extremely useful.

They improve consistency and make it easier to capture large amounts of information during an inspection.

They also contain libraries of standard clauses covering common building defects.

There is nothing inherently wrong with that.

An appropriate standard clause may provide perfectly competent advice.

But there can be a difference between selecting the most appropriate standard response and bringing years of practical building experience to the issue.

For example:

“Evidence of damp was identified. Obtain a specialist damp report prior to exchange.”

may be a safe and reasonable recommendation.

But it doesn’t necessarily tell the purchaser:

what is probably causing the moisture;
whether a chemical damp-proofing treatment is likely to be appropriate;
which external defects should be repaired first;
whether traditional materials are involved;
how significant the problem appears;
what an appropriate repair sequence looks like; or
what sort of budget should be anticipated.

Sometimes specialist investigation is genuinely necessary.

A good surveyor should know when they have reached the limit of what can reasonably be concluded during a non-invasive inspection.

But referral should not automatically become a substitute for professional judgement.

Where the available evidence allows a reasoned opinion to be given, an experienced surveyor should be able to provide useful insight rather than simply selecting the safest generic recommendation.

Does Your Surveyor Understand Construction Projects?

For a Level 3 Building Survey, this can be particularly valuable.

RICS’s Chartered Building Surveying pathway doesn’t stop at inspection and building pathology.

Its core competencies also include design and specification and contract administration.

Why is that relevant to somebody buying a house?

Because many significant survey findings ultimately result in construction work.

If your surveyor recommends:

reroofing;
masonry repairs;
structural alterations;
replacement windows;
basement waterproofing;
external render removal;
timber repairs; or
refurbishment,

experience of how those projects are actually designed, specified, procured and constructed can make the advice considerably more practical.

It helps answer questions such as:

What will the contractor actually need to do?

What other work is likely to arise once they start?

What access might be required?

Which repairs need specialist design?

What should happen first?

What tends to go wrong?

Is the seller’s suggested £1,000 repair realistically a £10,000 project?

That is the difference between describing a building problem and understanding its practical consequences.

What About Planning, Building Regulations and Listed Building Consent?

A residential survey can also raise issues that extend beyond physical condition.

Alterations might have required:

planning permission;
Building Regulations approval;
Listed Building Consent;
party wall procedures;
structural design;
warranties; or
other statutory approvals.

Your conveyancer will investigate the legal documentation.

But the surveyor is often the person who first identifies the physical alteration that prompts the question.

A surveyor with broader building and project experience is therefore better placed to recognise when something warrants further investigation by your solicitor.

This is particularly important on older and listed buildings, where the interaction between physical defects, historic fabric and statutory control can become considerably more complicated.

If you’re buying a listed property, our Listed Building Survey service explains why relevant historic-building and conservation experience should form part of the selection process.

How Much Experience Is Enough for a Level 2 Survey?

There still isn’t a magic number.

For a relatively straightforward, conventionally constructed property in reasonable condition, an appropriately qualified surveyor with focused residential surveying experience may be entirely suitable.

RICS describes Level 2 as an intermediate service intended principally for conventional properties where a more detailed Level 3 investigation is not necessary.

The important questions remain:

Are they appropriately qualified?
Are they competent to provide the service?
Do they regularly inspect this type of property?
Do they understand the likely defects?
Is their work properly supervised or quality assured where appropriate?

For straightforward buildings, highly specialist experience may add relatively little.

The property should drive the level of expertise required.

How Much Experience Is Enough for a Level 3 Building Survey?

This is where I would look much more closely.

RICS Level 3 is its most comprehensive Home Survey service and requires considerably greater investigation and analysis than lower levels.

For a Level 3 survey, particularly of an older, significantly altered, unusual, listed or poorly maintained property, I would want evidence of more than simply being authorised to offer the service.

Ask:

How long have you personally undertaken Level 3 surveys?
How many properties like this have you inspected?
Do you understand this form of construction?
What experience do you have diagnosing building defects?
Do you undertake repair and project work?
Have you dealt with similar alterations?
Do you understand traditional materials if applicable?
What experience do you have of statutory approvals?
Can you provide a sample Level 3 report?

The more complicated the property, the more scrutiny I would apply.

Don’t Confuse Number of Surveys With Breadth of Experience

A surveyor might legitimately say:

“I’ve completed 2,000 Home Surveys.”

That demonstrates substantial inspection experience.

But it is still reasonable to ask what those properties were.

Two thousand relatively modern houses does not necessarily provide extensive experience of:

Georgian construction;
timber framing;
stone buildings;
listed properties;
historic roof structures;
basements;
non-standard construction;
extensive alterations; or
complex building pathology.

Likewise, somebody who has undertaken fewer pre-purchase surveys but spent years investigating defects and managing repair projects may bring considerable relevant expertise to a complicated Building Survey.

Numbers need context.

Beware of “Combined Experience”

This appeared in our previous article because it is worth repeating.

You will often see surveying firms advertise:

“Over 100 years’ combined experience.”

It sounds impressive.

But it does not necessarily tell you anything about the person inspecting your house.

If a business consists of four directors with 20 years’ experience each and several recently qualified surveyors, the total might be impressive while the individual allocated to your instruction has relatively limited experience.

The question is:

How much of that combined experience is actually being brought into my survey?

Does a senior surveyor inspect the property?

Do they technically review the report?

Are difficult defects discussed internally?

Is mentoring provided?

Or is “combined experience” principally a marketing number?

We discuss this further in Who Will Actually Survey Your House?.

Experience Should Be Current as Well as Historic

Years alone can also hide another issue.

Buildings, standards and regulation change.

A surveyor who qualified twenty years ago still needs to maintain current professional competence.

That is reflected in the RICS Rules of Conduct, which require members and firms to maintain professional competence and provide services through people with the necessary expertise.

Current experience matters particularly around areas such as:

Building Regulations;
fire safety;
energy efficiency;
retrofit;
modern materials;
building safety;
changes in professional standards; and
evolving approaches to historic-building conservation.

A long career is valuable.

A long career combined with continued learning and active practice is more valuable still.

The Fourth Wall Experience Depth Test

Rather than asking only how many years somebody has been a surveyor, we suggest considering six areas.

1. Professional Qualification

What level of independently assessed professional qualification have they achieved?

Qualification is the starting point because it is one of the few claims of professional competence a member of the public can independently verify.

You can read more in our guide: Does My Home Surveyor Need to Be Chartered?.

2. Relevant Survey Experience

How regularly do they undertake the particular service you need?

Someone undertaking Level 3 Building Surveys every week may be better positioned than somebody who only occasionally provides them.

3. Property Experience

Have they worked with buildings like yours?

Think about:

age;
construction;
listed status;
alterations;
condition;
size; and
unusual features.

HomeOwners Alliance similarly recommends asking whether the surveyor has worked with comparable properties and what problems they have previously encountered. See its guidance on choosing a surveyor here.

4. Defect and Building Pathology Experience

Can they move from observing a symptom to diagnosing the probable cause?

RICS describes building pathology as a core part of Building Surveying practice.

That experience becomes increasingly important as the property becomes more complicated.

5. Repair and Project Experience

Have they actually specified, managed or inspected the repairs they recommend?

This provides the practical feedback loop between:

survey → diagnosis → repair → outcome.

We believe this is one of the most valuable forms of experience a Building Surveyor can bring to a detailed residential survey.

6. Statutory and Regulatory Experience

Can they recognise when physical alterations raise questions about planning, Building Regulations, Listed Building Consent or other approvals?

Your solicitor investigates the paperwork.

Your surveyor needs enough knowledge to recognise when the physical building gives them something to investigate.

A Simple Experience Matrix

When comparing surveyors, you could use something like this:

Experience to check	Why it matters	Ask
Professional qualification	Independently verifiable baseline,	What qualification do you hold? When did you qualify?
Level 2/3 experience	Familiarity with the service	How regularly do you undertake this survey level?
Similar properties	Property-specific risks	How many buildings like mine have you inspected?
Building pathology	Defect diagnosis	What experience do you have diagnosing defects?
Repairs/projects	Practical repair insight	Do you specify or manage building repairs?
Statutory matters	Alterations and approvals	Do you regularly advise on planning/Building Regulations/LBC issues?
Historic buildings	Traditional materials/construction	Do you work with older or listed buildings?
Current practice	Up-to-date knowledge	What related work do you currently undertake?

Suggested website feature: turn this into a downloadable “Surveyor Experience Checker” or interactive questionnaire.

A buyer could answer yes/no/unclear against each question for two or three prospective surveyors.

The output should not attempt to declare one surveyor “better”.

Instead it could say:

You have verified 7 of 8 experience areas for Surveyor A and 4 of 8 for Surveyor B. Consider clarifying the unanswered points before instructing.

That gives the article genuinely useful proprietary content rather than another generic “choose an experienced surveyor” recommendation.

What Experience Do We Think Matters Most?

At Fourth Wall, we don’t believe residential surveying should exist in isolation from the wider practice of understanding and repairing buildings.

Our Building Surveyors work across areas including:

residential Building Surveys;
building pathology;
specific defect investigations;
commercial building surveying;
repair specification;
refurbishment;
contract administration;
project management; and
building conservation.

Our team and professional backgrounds can be viewed on our About Fourth Wall page.

That wider experience is deliberately reflected in the way we approach residential surveys.

We aim to explain not only:

what the defect is,

but:

why it has occurred;

how significant it is;

how we would realistically repair it;

what other work may arise;

and, particularly within our Level 3 service,

what you should broadly budget for it.

That level of advice requires more than repeatedly identifying defects.

It requires experience of buildings beyond the inspection itself.

Should You Always Choose the Most Experienced Surveyor?

No.

The goal isn’t to find the person with the longest CV.

It is to find somebody with sufficient and relevant experience for the property you’re buying.

For a straightforward modern house, you may gain relatively little by appointing somebody with decades of historic-building conservation experience.

For an extensively altered listed property, that same experience could be extremely valuable.

This is another reason price comparison without understanding the service can be misleading.

Our guide Should You Choose the Cheapest Building Survey Quote? looks at how professional experience, time and scope interact with survey fees.

What Questions Should You Ask an Experienced Surveyor?

Rather than asking simply:

“How many years have you been surveying?”

try:

What professional qualification do you hold?
How long have you personally undertaken Home Surveys?
How regularly do you undertake Level 3 Building Surveys?
What experience do you have of properties of this age and construction?
What similar defects have you dealt with before?
Do you undertake building defect investigation outside pre-purchase surveys?
Do you specify or manage repair projects?
Have you seen the types of repairs you recommend opened up and completed in practice?
What experience do you have of planning, Building Regulations and Listed Building Consent?
Can I see a sample of one of your reports?
Will you personally undertake my inspection and form the advice?
Can I speak to you after the report is issued?

The answers should tell you substantially more than a headline number of years.

So, How Experienced Should Your Home Surveyor Be?

Experienced enough for your property.

There is no magic number.

Five years of highly relevant Building Surveying, defect and project experience can potentially be more useful for a particular instruction than twenty years spent predominantly elsewhere within the property profession.

Equally, decades of genuinely relevant experience can provide an enormous depth of judgement that cannot be accelerated simply by completing more surveys quickly.

Start with professional qualification.

Then establish:

What have they spent their career doing?

How similar were those buildings to mine?

Can they diagnose the defects they identify?

Do they understand how those defects should actually be repaired?

Have they seen those repairs undertaken in practice?

Do they understand the regulatory context around the building?

Ultimately, you are not purchasing somebody’s years.

You are purchasing the judgement those years have developed.

And that is what you should investigate before instructing them.

Get Advice From an Experienced Chartered Building Surveyor

If you are buying a property, you can use our House Survey Cost Calculator to obtain an initial indication of the likely fee. We then consider the property and requirements before confirming the appropriate survey service.

You can also explore:

Why Fourth Wall Recommends Level 2 or Level 3 Home buyer reports

Our firm of only chartered surveyors offer tailored, jargon‑free reports with exceptional local precision. We go beyond traffic‑light ratings, laying out repair timelines, estimated costs, and practical advice. That clarity and care make the moderate extra fee well worth it.

Calculate your house survey cost

Speak to a member of the team

Seven Questions to Ask Before You Instruct

Before appointing a surveying firm, ask:

1. Who will personally inspect my property?

Get a name.

2. What professional qualification do they hold?

Check it independently.

3. When did they qualify and through which route?

The same membership designation can sit alongside very different career histories.

4. What experience do they have of this particular type of building?

Ask for specifics rather than “we survey properties like this all the time”.

5. What else do they do professionally?

Project and repair experience can add considerable insight to Building Survey advice.

6. Will the same surveyor form the conclusions and remain responsible for the report?

Understand how inspection, drafting and QA interact.

7. Can I speak directly to them afterwards?

If significant defects are identified, you may want to discuss those findings with the person who actually saw them.

A good firm should be able to answer those questions without difficulty.

Red Flags When You Ask Who Your Surveyor Will Be

I would be cautious where:

the firm will not tell you who is likely to attend;
it cannot confirm their professional qualification;
the individual cannot be found on the relevant professional register;
you are repeatedly directed back to the company’s collective experience;
impressive senior credentials are heavily marketed but it is unclear how those people contribute to your instruction;
nobody can explain the surveyor’s experience of your property type;
the person inspecting is not available to discuss findings afterwards; or
it is unclear who has taken professional responsibility for the report.

None of those things automatically proves the service will be poor.

They simply justify another question before you commit.

What Should Good Transparency Look Like?

We think the process should be relatively simple.

Before instruction, you should be able to understand:

who is likely to survey your property;

their professional qualification;

their relevant experience;

the survey level and scope;

how the report is produced and checked;

and

whether you will have direct access to the surveyor afterwards.

That principle already forms part of our broader guide to what a Home Survey quote should tell you.

RICS’s own guidance similarly says firms should consider whether they have the appropriate qualifications and experience for an instruction and should not accept work where they are not suitably experienced.

That is a professional obligation.

For the consumer, it should also be a purchasing question.

How Fourth Wall Approaches It

Our residential surveying model is deliberately built around experienced professional surveyors rather than separating the sales proposition from the person providing the technical advice.

We publish our surveying team and professional qualifications so clients can see the people behind the practice.

Our wider approach also matters.

The team works across residential surveys, defect diagnosis, building repairs, refurbishment projects, contract administration and building conservation. That wider practical experience feeds into the advice provided to residential purchasers.

Our reports identify the inspecting surveyor and the person responsible for preparing the report, and they are subject to our quality-assurance process. This can also be seen in our sample Level 3 Building Survey.

We deliberately want clients to know whose professional judgement they are buying.

Because ultimately the survey isn’t the template.

It isn’t the software.

It isn’t the logo.

It’s the quality of the professional judgement applied to your building.

So, Does It Matter Who Actually Surveys Your House?

Yes.

The firm matters.

Regulation matters.

Insurance matters.

Quality assurance matters.

But none of them makes the identity and experience of the inspecting surveyor irrelevant.

A Home Survey is built around an individual’s observations and professional judgement.

For a relatively straightforward property, there may be many appropriately qualified and experienced surveyors capable of providing excellent advice.

As buildings become older, more altered, unusual or technically complicated, the importance of selecting the right individual increases.

So before you instruct a surveying company, ask one additional question:

“Who exactly am I instructing to inspect my house?”

Then verify their qualification and find out what experience sits behind it.

The firm tells you where the invoice comes from.

The surveyor tells you what you’re actually buying.

For a purchase worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, we think that’s a sensible place to invest.

Unique Insight: Treat Your Survey as an Investment

While first-time buyers often focus on keeping costs low, cutting corners on surveys can backfire. For example, in 2024 a Rugby buyer ignored a £500 recommended Level 3 survey on a £325,000 period home. Six months later, hidden damp repairs cost £8,000 far exceeding the original survey fee.

In short: the cost of a survey is minor compared to the cost of missed defects. Think of it as an insurance policy that pays for itself if even one issue is uncovered.

Calculate your house survey cost

Get a Home Survey Quote

If you are buying a property, you can use our House Survey Cost Calculator to receive an initial indication of the appropriate survey and likely fee.

We review the property and requirements before confirming the instruction, rather than treating every house of a particular value or bedroom count as the same surveying exercise.

You can also read:

Frequently Asked Questions

Written by Joshua Weston BSc (Hons) MRICS IHBC, Chartered Building Surveyor and Lead Director of Fourth Wall Building Consultancy.

How many years’ experience should a Building Surveyor have?

There is no fixed number of years that automatically makes somebody competent to undertake a Home Survey.
RICS focuses instead on whether the surveyor has the necessary professional competence and expertise for the service being provided.
For consumers, the more useful question is therefore how much relevant experience the individual has of the survey level, building type, construction and defects involved.

Is ten years’ surveying experience enough?

Potentially, but the number alone tells you relatively little.
Ten years spent undertaking detailed Building Surveys, investigating defects and advising on repairs may provide considerable relevant experience.
Ten years in an unrelated surveying specialism may provide significantly less experience for that particular instruction.
Ask what the individual has actually been doing during those ten years.

Does an MRICS Chartered Surveyor have more experience?

MRICS represents Chartered professional status and a broader independently assessed professional qualification, but it does not tell you precisely how many years of residential surveying experience somebody has.
We recommend using professional qualification as the independently verifiable starting point and then investigating the individual’s relevant experience separately.
Read our guide: Does My Home Surveyor Need to Be Chartered?.

How can I check a surveyor’s experience?

Ask them directly.
Useful questions include how long they have personally undertaken Home Surveys, how regularly they provide Level 3 services, how many similar properties they have inspected and what other Building Surveying work they undertake.
You can independently verify RICS professional membership, but claims about particular experience generally require further investigation.

How much experience should a Level 3 Building Surveyor have?

There is no prescribed number of years.
However, because Level 3 is the most comprehensive RICS Home Survey service, we would scrutinise experience considerably more closely for complicated properties.
Ask about Level 3 inspection experience, building pathology, similar buildings, defect diagnosis, repairs and any specialist issues associated with the property.

Is carrying out lots of Home Surveys the same as being highly experienced?

It demonstrates experience of carrying out Home Surveys, which is valuable.
But volume alone does not necessarily demonstrate breadth.
A surveyor who has completed thousands of relatively conventional properties may have less experience of historic or unusual construction than somebody who has undertaken fewer surveys but works extensively with those building types.
Consider both volume and relevance.

Does construction or project experience matter for a Building Survey?

It can add considerable value.
A Building Surveyor who specifies and manages repairs may have seen defects opened up, investigated and repaired in practice.
That can help inform their diagnosis, recommended repair approach, likely project implications and assessment of cost.
RICS’s Chartered Building Surveying pathway itself includes design/specification and contract administration alongside inspection and building pathology.

Does experience with listed buildings matter for an old house?

It can be particularly valuable for listed and historic properties.
Traditional buildings may behave differently from modern construction and can require different approaches to moisture, ventilation, masonry, timber and repair materials.
Listed buildings also introduce additional statutory considerations.
For significant historic properties, look for somebody with demonstrable historic-building and conservation experience rather than relying solely on general residential surveying experience.

Should a surveyor be able to advise on repairs?

For a detailed Level 3 service, useful repair advice is an important part of helping the purchaser understand the implications of defects.
The depth of advice will depend on the instruction and available evidence, and specialist input may sometimes be required.
However, a Building Surveyor with practical repair and project experience may be able to give considerably more useful advice than simply identifying a defect and referring every issue elsewhere.

Should I ask a surveyor for a CV before instructing?

For a complicated, unusual or high-value property, there is nothing unreasonable about asking for more information about the individual surveyor’s professional background before you appoint them.
A short biography, professional CV, project examples or sample reports can help establish whether their experience is genuinely relevant to the property and the level of survey you are buying.
At Fourth Wall, we aim to be transparent about the people undertaking our surveys. You can view an overview of our surveyors, qualifications and professional experience on our Meet the Team / About Us page.
If you want to understand a particular surveyor’s experience in more detail, simply ask.
We can provide further information on relevant project experience, professional CVs and sample reports so you can see both the background of the person undertaking your survey and the standard of advice you can expect to receive.
For a straightforward property, that level of investigation may not always be necessary. But for an older, listed, altered or technically complicated building, we think it is entirely reasonable to want to know more about the professional whose judgement you are paying for.
A good surveying firm should be comfortable being transparent about the qualifications, experience and work of the person it is asking you to trust.

About the Author

Joshua Weston BSc (Hons) MRICS IHBC is a Chartered Building Surveyor and Director of Fourth Wall Building Consultancy.

Joshua advises residential and commercial property owners on building condition, defects, repairs and refurbishment, with experience extending well beyond undertaking Home Surveys. His work includes diagnosing building defects, specifying and managing repair projects, contract administration, building conservation, listed buildings and reviewing defective construction work.

This practical involvement in buildings before, during and after repair informs Fourth Wall’s approach to residential surveys: identifying a defect is only part of the job. The advice should also explain why it has occurred, how significant it is, how it should realistically be repaired and what the implications are for the purchaser.

Joshua is a member of the RICS Building Surveying & Building Control Professional Group Panel, a member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC), and was named RICS Building Surveyor of the Year in 2022.