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When commissioning a RICS regulated Chartered Surveyor to survey your property, you are able to feel confident that the results will be appropriate and reliable for the property surveyed.
We recommend that before deciding upon your Surveyor, you ensure that your chosen Surveyor is suitably qualified with good experience relevant to your specific property needs and has full indemnity insurance. Please feel free to call our office to discuss your specific requirements with a qualified member of staff prior to commissioning your survey. Valuations can be added to building survey for a nominal fee.

A Building Survey/ Structural Survey
A structural survey is often referred to as a building survey, which therefore leads to confusion between the two.
– Most people buying a residential property require a building survey as this looks not only at the structure but all of the building elements, i.e. roof, windows, decoration, fixtures, fittings, etc.
– A specific structural survey is normally only commissioned to address specific defects in the building’s fabric, i.e. cracks, settlement, subsidence, etc. These elements are covered within the building survey.

Further Explained
A building survey is an extremely thorough survey that describes each element of the property – roofs, walls etc.
Your chartered surveyor will also note anything that could not be inspected in the course of the survey. Should you have any particular concerns over a specific part of your property, then these direct queries can also be covered in the survey.
A building survey does not include a valuation. This should be requested separately if required. Dawson & Associates can also provide specialist inspections to cover asbestos, the disability discrimination act, the rights of light and party wall legislation.
Dawson & Associates’ surveys are always carried out by a professional RICS certified chartered surveyor (the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors). RICS is the world’s leading professional body for qualifications and standards in land, property and construction. Please note, this is not always the case with building surveys given by other providers.

Home Buyer Survey – Further Explained
A home buyer survey is a more general report that provides a professional opinion on the current state of a property. The aim of this report is to provide potential buyers with enough information to be able to make an informed decision as to whether to continue with the purchase. Any items that are viewed to require particularly urgent or major attention within the property are noted so that the potential buyer can discuss these matters with the vendor before a final purchase price is agreed. Please note that the home buyer survey deals only with the aspects of the property that are visible. An intrusive inspection into the property is not permitted. Dawson & Associates’ home buyer surveys are always carried out by a professional RICS certified chartered surveyor (the Royal Institute of Chartered
Surveyors). RICS is the world’s leading professional body for qualifications and standards in land, property and construction. Please note, this is not always the case with building surveys given by other providers.

Listed/ Period Building Survey – Further Explained
A listed building survey not only includes all of the items from a standard building survey but also the specialised requirements of listed building controls and compliance.

How do I choose a Surveyor?
Before contracting a building/ structural survey or home buyer report for your property, it is important to be aware of the experience and qualifications of the instructed surveyor. This documentation is extremely valuable in terms of making the correct property decisions so we urge all property owners or buyers to work only with RICS qualified surveyors. Dawson & Associates is an independent chartered surveyor and we make sure that you understand the true situation of your building and we don’t confuse matters with lots of technical terms and industry lingo. Our senior personnel are members of the following institutions:

• RICS
• ASI
• CIOB
• RIBA
• I of C Mgrs
• FPWS
• CIBSE.

Dawson & Associates are able to assist you with all of your design, permitting and planning needs.