Residential
hOME bUYER sURVEYS
There are a number of steps involved in buying a new home, so choosing the right survey for you and your property is key. Here at Fourth Wall, we’re a multidisciplinary practice of chartered surveyors, so our building surveys and home buyers reports offer a holistic view from surveyors with experience in every aspect of owning a home, including architectural design, statutory consents, extensions and renovations, projects and retrofitting, party wall matters, and listed building surveys.
Below, you’ll find an overview of the home buyer surveys we offer, or you can reach out to our friendly team if you’re still unsure what you need.
Level 2 Home Survey
If you’re buying a newer home, a house in particularly good condition, or you’d like a report that summarises lengthy technical information, a RICS Level 2 home survey could be the right choice for you.
What Is A RICS Level 2 Survey?
This survey gives you a clear picture of the current condition of the property you’d like to buy. Also known as a ‘Homebuyers report’ or home buyer survey, you’ll also receive some advice on what should be considered before purchasing.
Not all home buyers reports are created equally. While there are minimum standards all RICS surveyors have to work to, we pride ourselves on providing a thorough report written by experienced chartered surveyors that give well grounded pragmatic advice that you can understand and action.
Is A Level 2 Home Survey Right For You?
We recommend a Level 2 survey for properties that meet the following criteria:
- A more modern house, flat, or bungalow
- Built from conventional materials
- In seemingly good condition
This option is popular, as it provides a second pair of eyes and a thorough overview of the property with basic advice on any defects and repairs, perfect where defects to the property are likely to be less frequent and complex.
If the property you’re buying doesn’t fit these guidelines, or you feel like you need as much advice as possible, you should consider a Level 3 home survey. This provides more detailed remedial advice, explanation of defects and their causes, repair options, budget costs and analysis to support your house buying decision.
However, ultimately the choice is yours depending on the level of advice you need and your budget.
Take a look at our helpful blog “Which Survey Do I Need?” for more information.
What Is The Process For A Level 2 Home Survey?
Professional chartered surveyors from Fourth Wall will complete this survey by inspecting visual aspects of the property. They’ll look for visible defects, as well as those that may be concealed.
Once the home buyers survey is complete, you’ll receive an electronic copy of the report, outlining:
- Description of the building and external areas including over 21 elements of the property, outbuildings and garages
- Any defects found as part of our inspection
- High level advice as to the scope of repairs and the timescale in which you’ll need to do them
- Clear signposting to next steps
- Information on compliance issues such as planning permission, building regulations and party wall considerations
- Additional information on the site, land contamination risks, hazardous materials, vermin, wildlife and protected species, invasive species such as Japanese knotweed and giant hogweed, broadband and mobile speeds and soundproofing
- Honest advice from our team about the property’s potential liabilities
You can find out more about what is included in a Level 2 home survey here, or click below to get an instant quote for your survey.
We also provide all our home buyers survey clients with a unique and comprehensive guide on what to do next and important issues to consider when purchasing a property.
Level 3 Home Survey
A RICS Level 3 survey is the most comprehensive home buyers survey of its kind, once again giving you a clear idea of the property’s current condition. This inspection is more thorough than a Level 2 survey, and is also known as a ‘Full Building Survey’.
What Is A Level 3 Home Survey?
When you request a Level 3 survey from Fourth Wall, you’ll be given more than an identification of defects. Using the expertise of our MRICS and AssocRICS surveyors, we provide:
- Comprehensive, but jargon free – in a language you understand
- Remedial options to action and risks of inaction
- Timescales to consider
- Repair costs involved and budget analysis to put costs into perspective
- Information on compliance issues such as: listed building consent, conservation area restrictions, planning permission, building regulations and party wall considerations
- Additional information on the site, land contamination risks, hazardous materials, vermin, wildlife and protected species, invasive species such a japanese knotweed and giant hogweed, broadband and mobile speeds and soundproofing
- Honest advice from our team about the property’s potential liabilities
We’ll set out clear comments and action points, all individually risk rated so you can see what’s important.
Is A Level 3 Home Survey Right For You?
The experts at Fourth Wall recommend a Level 3 home survey for properties that are one or more of the following:
- Older. Generally anything pre-1945
- Larger or complex
- Extensively altered or extended
- Obviously require some maintenance or have been neglected
- Grade Listed, within a national park or conservation area
If you’re looking to purchase a listed property, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide to help you along the way: “10 Questions To Ask When Buying A Listed Property”.
Think this is the right survey for you? Take a look at what’s included here, or click below to get an instant quote.
What Our Clients Say.
We could tell you how great our team and services are, but that would be too easy. Why not take a look at what some of our previous clients have said?
Excellent customer Service & timely booking of the Survey and report
I wish Josh and his team all the best for the future and I offer Fourth Wall my full recommendation to anyone thinking of using their services!
Home Buyer Surveys With Fourth Wall
You and your property will be in great hands with Fourth Wall. We are driven by a desire to innovate, delivering high-quality information using cutting-edge methods. This includes a bespoke reporting format, plus the addition of pole cameras, drones, and 360-degree cameras when upgraded to one of our premium packages. All of our clients also benefit from access to our online portal, keeping essential documents within arms reach.
If you have any questions about which survey is right for you, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our friendly team.
Want to know even more about Home Buyer Surveys? Read our comprehensive blog — Building Surveys: Do You Need One & Are They Worth it? — to get the complete rundown.
Home Buyer Surveys FAQs
How Much Does A Home Buyer Survey Cost?
Each project is different, so we believe it would be unfair to have a set price for these services. We tailor our services, and prices, to your needs, making sure you don’t pay for anything unnecessary.
Our Home Buyers (RICS Level 2) surveys start from £350 plus depending on the size, location and complexity of the property.
You can contact our team for a no-obligation consultation, or use our house survey calculator for an instant quote.
How Long Does A Home Buyer Survey Take?
A Level 2 home survey can take between 90 minutes and four hours to complete, whereas the more detailed Level 3 survey can take between two and eight hours, for an average property. The size and condition of your property will affect how long your home survey will take, but you can be sure our chartered surveyors will thoroughly assess all elements.
Do I Need A Home Buyer Survey For A Listed Building?
Yes, listed buildings require a Level 3 home survey, sometimes referred to as a full building survey. They require a more in-depth survey than a Level 2 could offer, allowing us to take into account the complexities of the construction, maintenance requirements and longevity of the building fabric and services. It’s crucial that the surveyor you use to survey your listed building has the proper experience and knowledge to make sure you get the right advice.
How to Know Which Surveyor to Use?
Deciding on the right surveyor can be difficult. What drives many people is cost, and while affordability is obviously important, it’s important to understand that lower costs will often come at the expense of less expertise, less time to consider the advice given, or a combination of the two. Cheap advice will generally cost you later on in either time, stress, financially or all of the above.
Once you’ve decided on a budget for your RICS survey, the next thing to consider is experience. Does your surveyor have the right experience? This will be essential to ensure you get the right advice.
Any good surveyor will be happy to provide you with a professional CV or share some of their experience with you to demonstrate they have experience with the type of survey and property you’re asking them to support you on.
You can also check what level of qualification your surveyor has, this will generally be either AssocRICS, MRICS, FRICS:
- AssocRICS is the entry level membership of the RICS and can be an indication of your surveyors experience.
- MRICS stands for a fully chartered member of the RICS. This means they’ve been through additional qualification that an AssocRICS hasn’t and demonstrated competence across additional areas of practice. This means they can call themselves a chartered surveyor. This is the most common level of membership. All our surveyors at Fourth Wall are chartered building surveyors.
- FRICS Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. It’s an award given to members of the RICS who have made significant contributions to the profession. It’s a mark of distinction that shows a person’s expertise and experience in surveying, property, or construction.
Usually, if a firm’s website doesn’t give any detail about who they are, who’s on their team or what they’re experience specifically is, this means they don’t have great experience to shout about.
Finally, you want to check that they work in a way that’s going to help you. This can primarily be checked by seeing what information they have about their process, after survey support and critically, how they present their reports.
Always ask to see a sample report before appointing a home surveyor: check the level of detail they provide, whether they write in a way you can understand, whether they use mainly technical terms or plain language, do they include photographs, does their report include additional information about the site, the locality and do they include costs? It’s important you understand exactly what you’re paying for and that it’s going to provide you with valuable actionable insights into your property.
Local Knowledge
National Coverage.
We have surveyors based across England in our regional offices. With expert knowledge of their local areas, you know you’re in safe hands.
Fourth Wall // South East
Areas We Cover
London
Mayfair
Pimlico
Kensington
Westminster
Lambeth
Islington
Enfield
Camden
Barnet
Belsize Park
Hampstead Heath
Finsbury Park
