Beautifully naïve thoughts - full version

Originally the company was set up with some beautifully naive aims - these being that if we offered the best surveys we would make a good honest living. (to view our first website...click here)

Big Business

However we soon discovered that all is not as it seems in the property world - property is very big business and the lending of money to finance the property is equally big business - this has lead some of the biggest companies, shall we say 'protecting their interests' (we have to be careful what we say because one of the very big companies have tried to take us to court for our comments previously - maybe they don't like people to know)

We have the "interesting" situation that the Estate Agent can be owned or own the Chartered Surveyors and in turn all be owned by the Lenders - we are probably safer (from the being sued point of view) to say they have close links with them.

So this means the Estate Agent can recommend the Chartered Surveyors and Mortgage lenders - all owned ultimately by the same company

Sometimes the Lender may give you the "choice" of companies on their panel - these companies usually/often has reciprocal agreements with the recommending company - they make it very difficult to use anyone out side this group - just try asking. (Try our 'match the estate agent card game' - click here)

Too important to leave to a production line

Buying a house has to be one of the biggest investments most people make, we feel it's important to you, to get good advice. That's why we treat every house we survey as if it was the house we where buying -

All Surveyors are not the same

We often see survey reports that are not worth the paper they are written, we recently carried out a survey where the owns where so impressed with what we did they asked us to carry out a survey for them - the amazing thing was that they had just had a survey carried out by an other Chartered Surveyors and could not understand it! Having read it we could see why - it did not give an opinion at all - it used technical language - and had no heart and soul to it.

Have a look at our contest for the worst Survey report in the 'Not worth the paper they are written on' section - available here

It maybe easy but is it sensible

We know from talking to you that many of you have had surveys that you feel are almost worthless - have a look at the copies of our surveys on this web site - compare them with what you have had in the passed, or what you have seen else where - down load them have a good look, an house is an expensive purchase - make you have the right survey - All Surveys are not the same

So it maybe easy but is it sensible to use the Estate Agent/Financial Adviser/Lenders "recommended" Chartered Surveyor - you can compare surveys carried out by these type of surveyors with surveys that we have done by clicking here.

An Independent voice

We act just for you - we offer a personal service tailored to your needs and we are truly independent.

You can ask us to look at potential for an extension (we draw extensions to) or that crack you saw - is it a problem or not - in fact we encourage you to contact us both before and after the survey for a chat - or meet us at the property we will be pleased to see you (try asking other Chartered Surveyors this)

You can view the ISA Charter by clicking here.

Course not Effect

We find time and time again that owners, builders and surveyors alike treat the effect of a problem without establishing the course, its often relatively easy to see the problem and effect and hard to see the course

We always try and find the cause of the problem and would start by sending you a questionnaire to complete before the survey is carried out - you can view the questionnaire by clicking here.

A safety net - peace of mind

And finally a survey should give you a safety net - we take great pride in what we do - we will try and be conclusive in what we say ( not always possible) but on the building surveys for example if we thing something needs opening up - a floor for example we will do our best to get it open ( present owners permission required of course)

if you feel we have missed something we are happy to return free of charge, we will talk and talk with you until you are happy to make a decision. Ultimately the decisions yours of course - we advise you decide.

Beautifully naïve thoughts

We still have Beautifully naïve thoughts but now many years on we under stand the property game - we have built up a fantastic client base on word of month recommendations from people who have discovered us one way or another.

Yes, sometimes you may have to wait a bit longer than you may want in an ideal world, but we do work as fast as we can whilst offering the very best we can.

Life of a surveyor - Journal entries from one of our Surveyors.