A torch beam raking across roof timbers in a British loft during a pre-purchase walk-round

Buyer Risk Report · Launching · What it is not

Not yet taking bookings

What it is not.

The RICS line, in full, before the price. What a Level 2 or Level 3 survey gives you that we cannot, when you need one regardless, and where a walk-round fits alongside it.

RICS survey: Insured
Walk-round: Ranked
Valuation: Neither
Both: Often right

EXH 022 · Loft · roof timbers

The Line

Three things we will never claim.

Written down so that nobody, including us, can blur it later.

N.01

Not a RICS survey

A Level 2 or Level 3 survey is carried out by a RICS-regulated surveyor to a published standard, with professional indemnity behind every line. We are not RICS surveyors and do not present ourselves as such.

N.02

Not a valuation

We do not say what a property is worth, whether the price is fair, or what to offer. A lender's valuation and a surveyor's market valuation are the only opinions that count for that.

N.03

Not an instrument test

Nothing opened up, lifted, drilled or tested. No damp readings presented as a diagnosis, no drain camera, no electrical testing. Where those are needed, we say who does them.

Side by side

The honest comparison. The walk-round is cheaper because it is less, and it says so.

Who does it

RICS Level 2: A RICS-regulated surveyor
RICS Level 3: A RICS-regulated surveyor
Buyer risk walk-round: The Surveyor Co. Not RICS, and says so

Standard

RICS Level 2: RICS Home Survey Standard
RICS Level 3: RICS Home Survey Standard
Buyer risk walk-round: Our own format: three tiers and a limits box

Insurance behind it

RICS Level 2: Professional indemnity, mandatory
RICS Level 3: Professional indemnity, mandatory
Buyer risk walk-round: Professional indemnity, which is why this arm is not yet live

Typical cost

RICS Level 2: £400 to £700
RICS Level 3: £600 to £1,500
Buyer risk walk-round: £100 planned

Time on site

RICS Level 2: 1.5 to 3 hours
RICS Level 3: 3 to 6 hours
Buyer risk walk-round: About an hour, with you

What you get

RICS Level 2: Condition ratings per element and a written report
RICS Level 3: A detailed report with defects, causes, repair options and costs
Buyer risk walk-round: The verdict card: worry now, worth a look, not really

Valuation

RICS Level 2: Optional add-on
RICS Level 3: Optional add-on
Buyer risk walk-round: Never

Best for

RICS Level 2: Conventional houses in reasonable condition
RICS Level 3: Older, altered or visibly defective property
Buyer risk walk-round: Deciding what matters, before or after the survey

	RICS Level 2	RICS Level 3	Buyer risk walk-round
Who does it	A RICS-regulated surveyor	A RICS-regulated surveyor	The Surveyor Co. Not RICS, and says so
Standard	RICS Home Survey Standard	RICS Home Survey Standard	Our own format: three tiers and a limits box
Insurance behind it	Professional indemnity, mandatory	Professional indemnity, mandatory	Professional indemnity, which is why this arm is not yet live
Typical cost	£400 to £700	£600 to £1,500	£100 planned
Time on site	1.5 to 3 hours	3 to 6 hours	About an hour, with you
What you get	Condition ratings per element and a written report	A detailed report with defects, causes, repair options and costs	The verdict card: worry now, worth a look, not really
Valuation	Optional add-on	Optional add-on	Never
Best for	Conventional houses in reasonable condition	Older, altered or visibly defective property	Deciding what matters, before or after the survey

When you need the surveyor regardless

A walk-round does not replace a survey in any of these cases, and we will say so before you book.

Buying with a mortgage on a house older than the 1980s: a Level 2 is the sensible minimum
Pre-1900, extended, altered, converted, or visibly cracked: a Level 3, and worth the extra
Listed, thatched, timber-framed or otherwise non-standard construction
When you need a document a solicitor or a lender will act on
When you may renegotiate on defects: a surveyor's report carries weight with the seller, a walk-round does not
Read Level 2 vs Level 3 and what a survey costs before instructing either

Where the walk-round fits

Before the survey, to decide whether to proceed at all and which level to instruct, because a Level 3 on a house you then walk away from is money gone. After the survey, to turn a long report into three things to do and one specialist to call. On a house you already own, where there is no survey to be had and the only other opinion is from the person who wants the job.

Instead of a survey only when you are a cash buyer on a modern house, you understand the walk-round is an uninsured opinion, and even then we would tell you to get the Level 2 if there is any doubt. We would rather lose the fee than be the reason you missed something.

Why this arm is not yet live

Because an opinion you pay for should have professional indemnity insurance behind it, and ours does not yet. Everything else we do records what is there and offers no opinion, which is a different risk. Until the policy is on record, no walk-round is sold, no verdict card is issued, and the pages in this section exist so that you can register interest and read what the service will and will not be. When it goes live, nothing on this page changes.

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.

?What it is not · Questions

Asked & answered.

No. A survey is a formal, insured inspection by a RICS-regulated surveyor to a published standard. A buyer risk report is an hour's walk-round, ranked into three tiers, from someone who looks at property all week. It is cheaper because it is less.

No. Lenders act on their own valuation and, where they require one, a RICS survey. A walk-round is for you, not for them.

No. We can tell you which level we would instruct and why, and you instruct a RICS firm directly. We do not refer you to one by name and we do not take a fee from anyone for doing so.

Because it is an hour rather than half a day, it is not written to a published standard, and until this arm is live it carries no insured opinion. The price reflects what it is. The value is in the ranking and the plain words.

Not on its own. A seller and their agent will act on a surveyor's report or a specialist's quote, not on a walk-round. Use the card to decide which specialist to instruct; use their report to renegotiate.

Read Before You Register

Worth ten minutes.

All guides

Buying · 6 min

Level 2 vs Level 3 survey: which one does this house need?

A practical test based on the age, construction and condition of the property, rather than on your budget or the estate agent's suggestion.

Read

Buying · 7 min

House survey cost: what you pay, and what you actually get

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.

Read

Buying · 5 min

Snagging a new build: what it is, when to do it, what it costs

Why a new build still needs inspecting, the difference between snags and defects, and how the warranty period actually works.

Read

Register interest.

Now you know what it is not, tell us the property. One message when walk-rounds go live.

Owner's visit