Buyer Risk Report · Launching · Owner's visit
Not yet taking bookingsYou own it, something is bothering you, and the person who quoted to fix it is also the person who diagnosed it. An hour with someone who has nothing to sell.
Why People Book It
Most of them start with a photograph on WhatsApp and the words 'should I be worried'.
O.01
It appeared, or you just noticed it. Is it the plaster, the season, or the ground? We say which we think, what would tell you for certain, and whether to be worried this month or this decade.
O.02
A patch on the ceiling, a tide mark on the chimney breast, black in the corner of the bedroom. We say where we think it comes from and who should look next. If it is damp or mould, that is a diagnostic visit for our sister company, and we will say so.
O.03
Someone has quoted four figures for something you cannot see. We look at what they say is wrong, say whether we would do it, do less, or get another opinion, and name the kind of trade who should be quoting.
The Verdict Card · Three Tiers
Worry now, worth a look later, not really. The tiers do not change because you own it; the urgency does, because you are not racing an exchange date.
Tier
Something we would want a specialist to look at before exchange, or before it gets worse. Named, photographed, and matched to the kind of specialist who deals with it.
Tier
Not a deal-breaker, but a cost or a job in the next few years. Ranked so you can budget rather than panic.
Tier
The things people worry about that we would not. Said plainly, so you can stop worrying about them.
The limits box · owner's visit
Not a survey, not a structural report, not a quote. Nothing opened up, lifted or tested. We do not carry out the work from this visit and we do not recommend a contractor by name. Where a specialist is needed we name the kind of specialist, and we cannot tell you how bad it is until they have looked.
The reason a second opinion is worth paying for is that it comes from someone with no stake in the answer. So the verdict card never contains a price for works and never names a contractor. Our parent company does building work; if you later want them to quote, that is a separate conversation, and on the day we will tell you to get two other quotes as well. The point of this visit is the diagnosis, and a diagnosis from the person who wants the job is not one.
Most owner's visits are one of these. The answer is usually less dramatic than the photograph suggested, and occasionally more.
The verdict card by the next day: the three tiers, each item photographed and explained, the kind of specialist to call for anything in the top tier, how urgently, and the limits box. Then a call once the specialist has reported, to help you read what they said and whether the quote that follows is for the problem they found or for something else.
Some things should not wait for a walk-round, and some are not what a walk-round is for.
Not yet live. No walk-rounds are sold until it is.
This is the one thing we do that is an opinion rather than a record, and an opinion needs the right professional cover behind it before it is worth your money. We will not sell a visit until that is in place. Register interest and you get one message on launch day. If you are buying now, a RICS Level 2 or Level 3 survey is the insured route, our guide to which level you need is free, and so is the viewing checklist.
Not yet. This arm launches once the right professional cover is in place for giving advice. Register interest and you get one message when it goes live. If it is damp or mould, The Damp & Mould Man can visit now.
No. The visit is the opinion, and the opinion is worth having because the person giving it is not selling the fix. If you want our parent company to quote afterwards, ask them directly and get two other quotes; we will say the same on the day.
The kind of trade, not a name. A structural engineer, a roofer, a drainage contractor, an electrician. Naming firms is how a second opinion stops being one.
No. If a crack or movement needs a structural opinion, that is a structural engineer's report, and we will say so and put it in the worry-now tier. What we give you is the ranking and the plain explanation.
We say so, and we say which kind we think it is. Diagnosing it properly needs instruments and a separate visit, which The Damp & Mould Man does today. We do not charge you twice for the same hour; the walk-round fee is the walk-round fee.
Read Before You Register
Typical prices for RICS Level 1, 2 and 3 reports, why a mortgage valuation is not a survey, and how to decide which one a property needs.
ReadA practical test based on the age, construction and condition of the property, rather than on your budget or the estate agent's suggestion.
ReadThe things worth twenty minutes of a second viewing, in the order a professional would look at them, and the ones that genuinely do not matter.
ReadTell us what is bothering you and send a photograph if you have one. One message when owner's visits go live.
Register Interest