Building Surveyor Kent

We will carry out independent building surveys in Kent We provide all types of property advice, with a building survey tailored to your individual property needs. Our building survey reports are far superior to the kind your would receive from your mortgage company. Our building surveys include photos and sketches to help explain property problems together with the solution and projected repair costs. Our structural surveyors give specific expert property advice on your property in an easy to understand format. Free phone 0800 298 5424 for an example of a structural survey. We are also more than happy to meet you at the property to explain any problem areas.

We carry out building surveys and give independent advice in Kent on:

Building Surveys, House Surveys, Property Defect Surveys, Commercial Building Surveys , Dilapidation Surveys, Schedule of Conditions

Read some testimonials from clients in Kent!

Home Surveyor in Kent

If you book a building survey in Kent with 1st Associated surveyors you will find that we take great pride in the quality of our building survey and produce a very detailed building survey report, whether it be for a residential property or a commercial property. We use plain English in our building surveys to explain any problems with the property to ensure that you understand the problems and how to resolve them.

1st Associated Building Surveyors cover the whole of the UK including all towns and villages in Kent for example in:

Acol, Ashford, Badlesmere, Benenden, Boughton, Boxley, Brasted, Bridge, Broadstairs, Canterbury, Chatham, Chelsfield, Chiddingstone, Chilham, Cranbrook, Dartford, Davington, Deal, Detling, Doddington, Dover, Dunkirk, Dymchurch, Eastling, Edenbridge, Egerton, Elham, Elmsted Court, Eynsford, Folkestone, Gillingham, Golden Green, Goodnestone, Goudhurst, Graveney, Gravesend, Great Chart, Great Mongeham, Greatstone, Greenstreet, Halstead, Hamstreet, Harrietsham, Hastingleigh, Hawkinge, Hayes, Herne Bay, Hernhill, Horsmonden, Hythe, Kings Hill, Kingsdown, Kingston, Knockholt, Lamberhurst , Langton Green, Leaveland, Leeds, Lenham, Lower Halstow, Luddenham, Lyminge, Lynsted, Maidstone, county town of Kent, Manston, Marden, Margate, Meopham, Minster, Molash, Newnham, Norton, Oare, Old Bexley, Ospringe, Otford, Otterden, Painters Forstal, Pembury, Penshurst, Pluckley, Ramsgate, Rochester, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Rusthall, Sandgate, Selling, Sevenoaks, Sheerness, Shottenden, Sissinghurst, Slade Green, Speldhurst, St Nicholas at Wade, Stalisfield, Staple, Staplehurst , Stelling Minnis, Sundridge, Sutton, Tenterden, Teynham, Throwley, Tonbridge, Toys Hill, Uplees, Warren Street, Wateringbury, West Farleigh, West Malling, Whitstable, Wichling, Wilmington, Wilmington, Wrotham Heath and Wye.

 

Building Surveyor Kent

Discover more about us and why an INDEPENDENT BUILDING SURVEY is so important

We are independent surveyors in Kent. We are independent of any lender or bank or mortgage company. When we are surveying a property we are working for you, not them. This means we are working towards your best interests. We want to ensure that your property investment is sound and that you are receiving value for money.

Residential Building Surveyors Kent

We are a building surveyors that operate throughout the UK. As building surveyors we are often asked to work on not only a building survey but also a boundary walls dispute survey, a schedule of condition survey and a specific defect survey.

Commercial Building Surveyor Kent

We are also a commercial building surveyors - still operating Kent, we can provide schedule of condition survey, dilapidations reports and a commercial building survey - our building surveyors have the skills and experience to save you money on your commercial building purchase.

Information on Kent and where to get a building survey

Kent, the Garden of England

Kent is known as The Garden of England due to the many products that grow plentifully in the area and being a very agricultural area with many apple orchards and being famous for top fields, with many Londoners coming on holiday to pick the hops which was very popular from the 1850's to 1950's.

It is particularly famous for the chalk White Cliffs of Dover, Dover Castle looking down over the Port of Dover, Leeds Castle , Dockyards at Rochester, Royal Tunbridge Wells (a place where we have had a number of surveys which borders onto East Sussex .

If you would like more information on the Kent area please scroll down and if you are looking for a survey in Kent use our free phone number 0800 298 5424.

1stAssociated.co.uk have Surveyors who cover the whole of the UK including Ashford, and its Eurostar International Station and its mixture of old and new buildings we have surveyed over the years, Broadstairs, with its beautiful coastline, Canterbury, known for stunning cathedral, Chatham, with its historic Dockyard, Dartford, with its QEII bridge and crossing, Deal, one of the cinque ports, Dover, the gateway to England a delight to visit when surveying both residential and commercial buildings, Edenbridge, with Hever Castle, Folkestone, with its wide sweeping promenade where as Structural Engineers we have visited many times, Gillingham, one of the Medway towns, Herne Bay, with its colourful beach huts, Hythe, with its Royal Military Canal, Maidstone, with Leeds castle nearby, Margate, in the district of Thanet where we often survey properties, Ramsgate, with its Viking Ship, Rochester, known for its historic dockyard and castle, Royal Tunbridge Wells, famous for its Spa water and The Pantiles and as a valuer we often visit, Sevenoaks, with Knole Park and acres of deer park, Sheerness, on the Isle of Sheppey, Tenterden, with its Elizabethan, Georgian and Victorian buildings, Tonbridge, not to be confused with Tunbridge, Westerham, with Chartwell home to Sir Winston Churchill, Whitstable, where you must taste the fish caught daily and good to stop to take a bite to eat when surveying in the area, and Wye on the River Stour. We provide Building Surveys to make sure you are buying the right property and provide market Valuations to ensure that you are buying the property at the right price together with Specific Defects Reports if you have any problems in any particular area then contact us today for a free, no obligation quotation. We are more than happy to talk about what the Building Surveys involve, these are also sometimes known as Structural Surveys or Engineers Reports. For those not living in the area here is some general information on Kent.

Kent is known as The Garden of England due to the many products that grow plentifully in the area and being a very agricultural area with many apple orchards and being famous for top fields, with many Londoners coming on holiday to pick the hops which was very popular from the 1850's to 1950's.

How the chalk affects our surveys

Kent is particularly famous for The White Cliffs of Dover which are chalk and flint and are closely associated which are used in some of the local buildings. Chalk ensures that there is a well drained subsoil with the exception of the South West area which has some flat marshland and heatherland.

Victorian and Georgian Properties

We have surveyed a lot of properties in the area for years from the Victorian properties and Georgian properties that make up a lot of the town. It is the rolling countryside for example to Aylesford that make the area so nice.

Oast Houses

One of the unique features of this area has to be the hop farms and the unusual roofs of the Oast houses which really stand out as being something different about the countryside in the Kent area.

Industrial Units

Over the years we have also surveyed a fair number of industrial units within many industrial estates in the area from the modern crinkly tin profile metal units to the older asbestos units. We have dealt with a range of dilapidations cases both for the landlords and the tenants and in fact thinking about it we have represented a tenant with schedules of conditions at the outset of them moving onto a lease and an associated structural survey and also then helped negotiate the end of the lease as well both with and without schedules of conditions attended to the leases.

 

Travelling in Kent

When surveying in Kent the major roads include A2, A20, A26, A28, A228, A249, A253 and A299 together with the M2 and M20 leading you onto the M25.

M2/A2

M2/A2 in Kent the garden of England which goes to Bluewater via the B255 and also Dartford, Swanscombe and Green Hither, we are on the rolling road that makes up the M2 which travels from the M25 or towards it, it depends which way you are going, through the Kent countryside and ultimately it leads to Canterbury, Dover and the Channel tunnel. The A227 road leads off to Gravesend which if my memory serves me correctly literally was where the graves ended from the Plague of London and you can also get to Northfleet and Southfleet, Longfield and Wrotham. Gravesend is known as the Riverside Heritage town and there are also some services there if you fancy a break. Cobham and Shorne are the next turnings and the Shorne Wood Country Park is also advertised as you go up the gentle hill and also the Inn on the Lake hotel advertised too. On the A289 you have got Gillingham and Grain on the A228 also with Rochester Castle and Cathedral which is accessed by the A2 and this is where the A2 and the M2 split and we are going to continue on down the M2 where you find Stroud which is also down the A2. There is a mixture of open countryside and then tree lined and hedgerow countryside and also you can see at the right time of year the hay bales the A228 also goes to West Malling. The M2 now has Chatham signposted and you get a great view as you pass over the bridge down to the town and the estuary below. The M2 also now has Margate , Folkestone and Sheerness and Ramsgate signed posted. Maidstone is on the A229 and also Chatham and the Channel Tunnel is via the M20. Maidstone has also been mentioned on the A229 as we are now cutting along a hillside with the road on two separate levels, with either side tree lined and it is as if the road has been cut through a forest, but no doubt someone will be able to say which forest it is! The A289 is the Medway Tunnel and also they are advertising the ice skating and the Hempstead Shopping Precinct and Gillingham on the A278 and also Rainham. Travelling on past the Medway Service Station which is very well known you find Sittingbourne, Maidstone and Sheerness off on the A249, just after you go up a long gradual hill where you can see the arable farming hills either side. As you get nearer the sea with the Channel Tunnel and the Channel Ferries the road is quite flat in this area as it cuts through the rolling countryside. The A251 takes you to Ashford where we have carried out quite a number of surveys both residential and commercial and also you can go off to Faversham as well which is on the A251. Carrying on, on the M2 to Dover and Canterbury and the Channel Tunnel via the A2 it also takes you off to the beautifully named Sandwich . Ramsgate and Margate continue on the A299.

A229 takes you to Whitstable and Herne Bay , Margate and Ramsgate and you can also go off to see Farming World Faversham which is on the Staple St and Goodnestone Rd and we have also seen a car boot sale being held just off there. Then you have Fostall and also Yorkletts, Waterham and Dargate just before the services with Little Chef or McDonalds, not sure, which is run by Shell and BP from memory, one on each side of the road. You are getting very close to the coast with Canterbury on the A260 and Whitstable on the B2205. There is also Blean and Seasalter and Chestfield and then you carry onto Herne Bay , Ramsgate and Margate .

The A2990 just off the A229 and the amazing estuary view building the “timber box”.

Channel Tunnel

Ashford International is one of the rail links on the Channel Tunnel where we have carried out numerous surveys both residential and commercial and we have been particularly active on the commercial pension funds as this is seen as a good area to invest (we would always comment that even in ‘bad' areas there are good areas to invest).

Ports in Kent

Kent is also known for The Cinque Ports (in Kent and Sussex which includes the five ports of Hastings, Hythe, Dover – with associations with Deal and Ramsgate, Sandwich and New Romney – associated with Lydd), Brands Hatch, Bluewater and Lakeside (we once dealt with a claim against a restaurant company which was a very valid claim due to grease blocking the drains and we put into place a system to ensure this did not happen in that particular unit and also throughout the country, grease was a particular problem with this restaurant as there was a fire within the extract ductwork from the kitchen due to the fat, it went through all the buildings above so it is something always worth taking into consideration as fire matters and how they may affect you and the drainage and how this may also affect you when taking on a commercial property or indeed a residential property that is adjacent, above or next to a commercial property) Thurrock Shopping Centres (two of the super shopping centres), Canterbury Cathedral as well as its beautiful countryside. It is also famous for the Dartford Crossing which is the divide between Essex and Kent (which we were most surprised to go across free of charge the other day and have you ever tried asking for a receipt at the Dartford Crossing?) and although I have been in quite a few jams on the Dartford Crossing I still marvel at the QEII Bridge and I certainly would not like to go back to just having the Dartford Tunnel or nothing at all.

Ways to travel further afield than Kent

This area has Dover ferry crossings to France together with the Channel Tunnel which we have never been on and do not really fancy going on to be honest we are more than happy flying or travelling from Dover. You can fly from the following places in Kent - Lydd and Biggin Hill. Relatively speaking both Heathrow airport, Middlesex and Gatwick airport, Sussex are not that far away as well as London City airport, East London and Stansted airport, Suffolk .

It is also good access to the Excel Centre.

 

When surveying in Kent we have visited the delightful villages of Acol, Badlesmere, Benenden, Boughton; the main road between London and Canterbury used to pass through this little village Boxley, Brasted, Bridge, Chelsfield, Chiddingstone, Chilham, Cranbrook, Davington, Detling, Doddington, Dunkirk, Dymchurch, Eastling, near the Kent Downs designated an area of natural beauty, Egerton, Elham, Elmsted Court, Eynsford, Golden Green, Goodnestone, Goudhurst, Graveney, Great Chart, Great Mongeham, Greatstone, Greenstreet, Halstead, Hamstreet, Harrietsham, Hastingleigh, Hawkinge, Hayes, Hernhill, Horsmonden, Kings Hill, Kingsdown, Kingston, Knockholt, Lamberhurst, Langton Green, Leaveland, Leeds, known for its famous castle , but also as it is in the beautiful north Downs of Kent, Lenham, Lower Halstow, Luddenham, Lyminge, Lynsted, Manston, Marden, Meopham, Minster, Molash, Newnham, Norton, Oare, Old Bexley, Ospringe, Otford, Otterden, Painters Forstal, Pembury, Penshurst, Pluckley, Rusthall, Sandgate, Selling, Shottenden, Sissinghurst, Slade Green, Speldhurst , St Nicholas at Wade, Stalisfield, Staple, Staplehurst, Stelling Minnis, Sundridge, Sutton , Teynham, Throwley, Toys Hill, interesting name probably named after Robert Toys a local from years gone by, Uplees, Warren Street, Wateringbury, West Farleigh, West Malling, Wichling, Wilmington, Wilmington, Wrotham Heath and Wye.

 

General information about Kent

Kent is said to be divided by the River Medway and those born to the West being Kentish men or Kentish Maids and those to the East/South Men of Kent or Maids of Kent.

It has close connections with Europe with the Dover to Calais crossing being 23 miles away across The English Channel.

The hop growing industry growing was the most thriving area for hop growing in Britain with its fertile, well drained soil and good climate the area produced an abundance of hops giving employment to locals as well as Londoners wishing to enjoy the countryside whilst earning a living.

 

Contact 1stAssociated.co.uk for help and advice if you have property issues with your existing property or indeed if you require a valuation or building survey on a property you are purchasing in Kent on 0800 298 5424 .

 

References:

Whilst a lot of this is written from general knowledge and local knowledge of the area and here are some websites that we think will be of interest to you in the Kent area some of which we have used for information and we would like to give them credit for this.

 

Lakeside Development, Thurrock Essex section

What did we survey in Hythe? And What did we survey in Dungeness?

HoppingDowninKent.org.uk, Camelotintel.com/heritage/counties/England

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council Buildings Page for more information – they have a free downloadable Listed Buildings a guide for owners leaflet, WhiteCliffCountry.org, EnglishHeritage.org, TheHeritageTrail.co.uk, WCCTA.org.uk, VisitThanet.co.uk, CinquePorts.org, OpenSandwich.co.uk, EnglishHeritage.co.uk, SeeWhitstable.com, Oysta.fsnet.co.uk, WhitstableOysterFestival.com, Canterbury.co.uk, CanterburyCathedral.org, CanterburyTales.org, Bluewater.co.uk, Lakeside.co.uk, TourMaidstone.com, Museum.Maidstone.com, ThisIsAshford.co.uk and LyddAirport.co.uk; MedwayPark.org.uk, TheIcebowl.co.uk, VisitMedway.org, Re-Museum.co.uk, AshfordDesignerOutlet.com, NationalRail.co.uk, BannatyneSpa.com, Northforeland.co.uk, Kent.Gov.uk, Fortamherst.com, TheDockyard.co.uk, DartfordGolfClub.co.uk, Dartford.gov.uk, TheKentandSurreyGolf.com, Evmt.org.uk, Kbobm.org, UCF.ac.uk, GillinghamGolfClub.co.uk, GillinghamFootballClub.com, HerneBayGolfClub.co.uk, WildwoodTrust.org, ParkHolidaysuk.com, ThemeParkReview.com, NHS.uk, WaysideCaravanPark.co.uk, ManstonAirport.com, RochesterCathedral.org, RochesterandCobhamgc.co.uk, KnoleParkGolfClub.co.uk, KentWildlifeTrust.org.uk, SheernesGolfClub.co.uk, RNLI.org.uk, TenterdenGolfClub.co.uk, TenterdenLeisure.com, TonbridgePool.co.uk, Tonbridge-School.co.uk/club, Hythe-Kent.com, StLeonardsChurchHytheKent.org, VisitMaidstone.com, DreamlandMargate.com, ShellGrotto.co.uk, LandmarkTrust.org.uk, RochesterCathedral.org, CometoRochester.co.uk, RestorationHouse.co.uk, VisitTunbridgewells.com, Tenterdentown.co.uk and OastTheatre.com