Home survey · Follow-up tests
Survey repairs in London start with the tests.
Your surveyor has recommended further checks on the electrics, the gas, the drains or the damp. We carry out those tests, send you the reports and quote in writing for whatever they show.
The checks a survey report asks you to arrange.
Surveyors flag what they cannot rule out. Each of these turns a recommendation into a clear answer.
Surveyors do not test electrics. They note an old consumer unit, older cable or missing earthing and recommend an Electrical Installation Condition Report by a registered electrician. We carry it out and issue the report the same day.
A boiler of uncertain age, no service history or a flue the surveyor could not follow will be referred to a Gas Safe registered engineer. The engineer checks every gas appliance and the pipework and records the result.
Where the surveyor lifted a cover and saw standing water, roots or a broken channel, a camera survey shows the condition of the pipe run and where any damage sits.
A high meter reading in a survey is a reason to look, not a diagnosis. The inspection traces the source of the moisture before anyone proposes a treatment.
Artex and similar ceiling finishes in older properties are sampled and tested for asbestos before anyone sands, scrapes or drills them.
Where the surveyor could only see the roof from the ground, a closer look at the coverings, flashings and stack settles what the binoculars could not.
If there is no valid Energy Performance Certificate, or the rating affects a letting plan, a new assessment gives you a current rating and the recommended improvements.
Where a report mentions movement, a removed chimney breast or a lintel, we tell you whether a structural engineer is needed before any work is priced.
From survey report to test results.
Send the report
Email the survey or the pages that worry you, with the address and your exchange date.
We match tests to items
Each recommendation in the report is matched to the test or inspection that answers it.
Visits booked together
Where the seller allows access, the tests are arranged on as few visits as possible.
Results and a written quote
You receive the reports and certificates, and a fixed written quote for any repairs they show.
What the surveyor could not test.
A Level 2 or Level 3 survey is a visual inspection. The surveyor looks at the consumer unit, the visible wiring, the boiler and the flue, but does not test any of them. That is why so many reports end the services section with the same advice: have the installation checked by a qualified person before you commit.
Electrics
An EICR tests every circuit and gives each defect a code. C1 means danger present, C2 means potentially dangerous, and FI means further investigation is needed. Those codes tell you, in a form a seller and a lender understand, whether the house needs a few repairs or a rewire.
Gas and boilers
A gas safety check confirms whether the boiler, hob and fire are safe to use and whether the flue is correctly installed. If the boiler is near the end of its life, the engineer will say so, which is worth knowing before you agree a price.
Older London conversions often have a boiler serving one flat with pipework running through another, or a flue that passes through a neighbour's loft. Those arrangements are exactly what a visual survey cannot follow, and a gas safety check will record them.
Drains, damp and textured coatings.
Drains
Many London houses have clay drains that are a century old and shared with neighbours. A CCTV drain survey records the full run on video, so you can see whether the problem is a simple blockage, root ingress or a collapsed section. Where the drain is shared, the survey also shows which part is your responsibility and which belongs to the water company.
Damp readings and textured ceilings follow the same rule. Find out what is really there before anyone proposes a cure. A damp inspection looks for the source, such as a leaking gutter, bridged damp course or condensation. An asbestos test on an artex ceiling tells you whether it can be skimmed over or needs specialist removal.
Before you exchange, or after you complete.
Tests carried out before exchange give you facts while you can still negotiate or walk away. Tests after completion are about planning the work. If your exchange date is close, tell us when you send the report, and we will put the items most likely to affect the price first.
Leasehold flats need one extra step. Some tests, such as the drains or the roof, cover parts of the building that belong to the freeholder. In that case the result is still useful, because it tells you whether to ask the managing agent about planned works or a service charge reserve before you buy.
Lender retentions and what releases them.
Sometimes the lender's valuer holds back part of the mortgage until a specific item has been dealt with, often electrics, a chimney or damp. The retention is released on evidence: usually a certificate, a report or an invoice that matches the wording of the valuation. We make sure the paperwork you receive refers to the same item, in the same terms, so the release is not delayed by a mismatch.
If the retention covers repair work rather than a test, the same applies. We quote against the valuer's wording, carry out the work after completion, and supply the completion paperwork your lender asks for.
Answered
plainly.
Yes. Before exchange the property belongs to the seller, so access goes through the estate agent. Most sellers agree to non-invasive tests such as an EICR, a gas safety check or a drain camera survey.
An EICR and a gas safety check on a typical London house can usually be done on the same visit. A drain camera survey takes an hour or two. Asbestos results depend on the laboratory turnaround.
They often do. A seller can argue with a surveyor's recommendation. It is harder to argue with an electrical report listing coded defects or a camera survey showing a cracked pipe, especially with a written quote for the repair.
Then you have evidence that the concern has been checked, which is useful for your lender, your insurer and when you sell.
Yes. Any remedial work the tests show is quoted in writing, and we coordinate every trade involved, so you have one point of contact.
Not always. Some recommendations are routine for a property of that age. We will read the report with you and say which tests answer a real question about this property and which can wait until after you move in.
We send the reports and certificates to you, and copy anyone you name, such as your solicitor, your lender or the estate agent. That keeps everyone working from the same documents in the run up to exchange.
Yes. Many owners use the same checks after moving in, to work through the items their survey flagged and plan the repairs in a sensible order.
All 32 London boroughs, with a focus on west and south-west London.
Send the report
and your exchange date.
We will tell you which tests the report calls for and book them. London-wide.
Often needed
alongside this.
Areas we cover.
We take survey follow-up tests across all 32 London boroughs. Most of our work is in west London, in Shepherd's Bush, Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington, Chiswick and White City, and in south west London, in Putney, Wandsworth and Wimbledon. We also work in south east London, in Greenwich, Blackheath and Lewisham.
If your property is outside these areas, call us anyway. We travel across London and will tell you honestly if a job is too far to price properly.