THE GUIDES / STRAIGHT ANSWERS
Read first.
Book second.
Plain-English guidance for UK homebuyers — written to answer the question before you choose a survey. Start with the question on your mind.
Already know what you need? Get the price →START WHERE YOU ARE / FOUR READING ROUTES
A useful first answer.
Pick the route that matches the property or decision in front of you. Each one leads to the detail, then to a transparent price when you are ready.
For a conventional home in reasonable condition—understand its scope before you price it.
→02OLDER OR ALTEREDStart with Level 3For a period, extended, unusual or visibly tired property—begin with the deeper option.
→03PRICE FIRSTUnderstand the costSee the public fee logic and the independent market context before sharing contact details.
→04A CONCERN ALREADYRead the red flagsSeparate symptoms, evidence and the next action before a finding becomes a decision.
→THE READING ORDER / TWENTY-TWO GUIDES
Which of the two survey depths your house actually needs — the two-minute answer and the full reasoning.
All six things called a survey during a purchase — and which of them is actually yours.
What the standard survey includes, what it deliberately leaves out, and the six upgrade triggers.
The most thorough survey you can buy — cause, urgency and repair options, not just ratings.
Real 2026 price ranges, what moves the fee, and the two ways buyers waste money on surveys.
The honest answer, the mortgage-valuation myth, and the rare cases where skipping is defensible.
Every element a Level 2 inspection covers, group by group, in the order the surveyor works.
What genuinely deserves the word serious, what just looks scary, and how findings become leverage.
Condensation, penetrating or rising — three problems, three fixes, and the quote you should never accept first.
Two inspections, only one of them yours — who each protects, and the expensive sentence that skips the survey.
You do — not the agent, the seller or the lender. The order of events, and when to book.
What verified RICS membership means, the five checks before you instruct anyone, and where to look.
A walk-through of inspection day, report preparation, typical timing and the conversation that follows.
Hours on site, days for the report, weeks to completion — three timings people ask as one.
What a new-build snagging inspection checks, what changes the fee and how it differs from a home survey.
What a normal report looks like, what genuinely threatens a sale, and what to do meanwhile.
What actually moves a seller, what doesn't, and where negotiation isn't the right tool.
How a surveyor reads movement, what staged investigation costs represent and when an engineer is needed.
Historic construction, consent questions and the complexity that determines the right survey scope and fee.
What the survey covers, what the lease and management pack answer instead, and where gaps hide.
What it actually does to a building, why lenders care, and what a management plan needs to show.
Visible condition, not live testing — where the boundary sits and why it's there on purpose.
WHERE THEY LEAD
Every guide ends at the same place: the right survey, priced.
The guides link into the 20-second checker, the example report and the published price register — so when you book, you already know what you are buying and what it costs.