Why you need a Survey?

Builders

As a Chartered Building Surveyor, Chartered Engineer and a joiner by trade and having spent all of his life in the building industry and surveying industry, Jon Charters-Reid goes on to say: Almost 95% of the time it is because of human error that buildings go wrong, fail or malfunction. Progressively over the years buildings have a number of defects built in to them. As the construction industry reduces the amount of apprentices and skilled labour in the industry defects are becoming more and more prevalent in modern homes. A number of these defects are also brought about by ignorance of designers. If you look at a Georgian house, a Victorian house or even just a common semi-detached house you will see there are a number of quirks, twists and turns by the designer that have all been brought about when defects were taking place. So for example literally for the last two thousand years we have been building houses in the world with an overhang at the roofs.

This is for a particular reason. It shields the walls from getting completely wet as wet or moist walls emit heat. Furthermore the overhang serves to protect the lower part of the house that is in contact with the ground and it prevents rainwater from running directly straight down onto the damp proof course which through a number of issues can ultimately lead to bridging. Overhanging roofs also prevent a type of shading which have a cooling effect in the summer. You will also see on much older properties windows are recessed back by at least 100mm. Part of the reason used to be to protect the timber, but also we have found when carrying out sound tests that it has a more positive effect on noise transmission from the external environment to the internal. The early builders knew this. Like me, my Grandad was a time-served joiner and the pedigree of joiners and tradespersons in houses over the years are set to serve a particular purpose. Older buildings tend to last much longer because quite frankly there is more care and attention gone into them and they are much better built. Nowadays it is decided that buildings are constructed for monetary value and really developers work out how many units they can get on a site and often have little disregard for the occupants of the buildings or indeed how they would use it.

Double Glazing

Double-glazing has a number of particular defects apart from the obvious which is mist in between panes. There is a lack of opening windows at first floor level. We are finding that up t0 30% of properties that we look at do not have an opening window which prevents access and egress in the event of a life threatening fire. There are still quite a few windows fitted in the early 1980s with a PVCu frame and single-glazing. These are often misconstrued as being double-glazing; something else to watch out for. The list of defects with double-glazing continues to be endless. Dampness Dampness is one of the primary problems in buildings. It can actually lead to dry rot and wet rot of timbers. In our opinion almost all dampness and dry rot is caused by human error. If the conditions for wet rot and dry rot are correct it can occur very quickly in only a matter of months.

WHAT IS A SCHEDULE OF CONDITION?

A Schedule of Condition is a detailed and factual record of the condition of a property. The Schedule of Condition is usually prepared for contractual reasons to establish the condition of the property at a set date in time, usually the commencement of a lease agreement or in party wall agreements, this can be carried out on either residential or commercial premises.

A Schedule of Condition can be instructed by the following:

• Landlord
• Tenant
• Employer
• Contractor
• Neighbour

Having a Schedule of Condition completed by an independent expert provides greater gravitas to the record of condition in the event any party raises a claim or negotiation.

There is a big difference between how a Schedule of Condition is carried out and used, and a Condition Survey. The Schedule of Condition is a record of the condition of a building with descriptive annotations and photographs, usually appended to a legal document, whereas a Condition Survey is prepared to identify the condition of the building and also what works are required.