Buying a home: builder advice before you offer, and after the survey
The useful work starts at the viewing, not when the survey lands. Photograph the house, get a builder’s view on the listing and your photos if you want one before you offer, then book the right RICS survey and only then start costing and negotiating.
If you have just viewed a house and have not offered yet, start with the pre-offer viewing review or the builder’s viewing checklist.
Before you offer: look, then decide
A viewing is twenty minutes and a lot of nerves. Spend the first five minutes on the pavement looking at the roof, gutters and ground levels, photograph what you cannot judge in the room, and — if you want a builder’s eye on it — send the listing and those photos for a pre-offer viewing review. It is a head start, not a replacement for a RICS survey. Once you offer, do it subject to survey.
Read the report in this order
Condition Rating 3 items first: those are the surveyor’s actual concerns and the basis of any renegotiation. Then every instruction to obtain further investigation, written down as a list of jobs to commission before exchange. Then the caveats, which tell you how much of the building was never looked at. Only then the Condition Rating 2 list, which is ordinary maintenance that almost every house has.
"Further investigation is recommended" is a task, not a verdict
It means the surveyor could not see enough. An engineer’s report, a CCTV drain survey, an EICR or a damp inspection each cost a few hundred pounds and convert an open-ended risk into a number. Do them before exchange — afterwards you have no leverage and no way out.
Sellers respond to schedules, not to worry
What moves a price is a specific, evidenced, costed list of work that genuinely needs doing now, presented in one page through the agent. What does not move a price is a dated kitchen, single glazing or general decoration, because those were visible when you offered and the price already reflected them.
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Every guide on this topic
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Drain Survey Findings When Buying a House: What They Mean and Cost
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Category 3 in a Home Report: What It Means and What to Do Before You Offer
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Survey Red Flags: 15 Findings Ranked by Real Repair Cost
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Victorian House Survey in London: What the Findings Usually Cost
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Should You Send Your Survey to the Seller? What to Share and How
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After the Survey: Leasehold Flats, Fix or Reduce, and Timing to Exchange
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Condition Rating 3: What the Red Box in Your Survey Actually Means
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“Further Investigation Is Recommended”: What Each One Costs and Which You Actually Need
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No Building Regulations Sign-Off: Indemnity Policy or Regularisation?
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How Much Can You Negotiate Off a House Price After a RICS Survey? (UK 2026)
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Radon Gas in a RICS Survey: When It Matters and What to Do
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Your RICS Survey Flagged Problems But No Costs. Here's How to Price Them.
A RICS survey tells you what is wrong and almost never what it costs. Here is how to turn a list of defects into a costed schedule you can act on, negotiate with, or walk away from.
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Your RICS Survey Came Back. Here's What to Do, in Order.
The length of the list tells you how thorough the surveyor was, not how bad the house is. How to triage the findings, what the timeline to exchange really looks like, and when the right answer is to walk.
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