Building Surveys and Reports

James Douglas

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781444391084
• Edition: 4
• Topic: Technik & Maschinenbau
• Subtopic: Technik, Forschung & Kompetenzen

This book provides guidance on building survey work for typical residential, commercial and industrial buildings, with advice on how to diagnose a wide range of defects. It considers both modern and older construction methods, together with new and traditional materials. The particular problems of alteration and renovation work are discussed, with guidance on how to carry out measured surveys.

A separate chapter covers survey problems after flood and fire damage, and the legal section takes account of recent developments in case law relating to inspections and surveys of properties.

This new edition continues to provide a thorough treatment of all the key issues relating to surveying buildings, dealing with the problems that surveyors are likely to encounter when inspecting buildings.

Changes for the new edition include:

• Examples and references have been updated
• Evaluation of condition rating systems for domestic and commercial buildings
• A new section on the home condition reports
• More information on slate defects
• Bibliography revised and expanded, to make it more comprehensive
• Additional appendix showing the home condition report format

1 General Principles
and Responsibilities

1.1 What is a building survey?

1.1.1 Definitions

In 1997 the Construction Industry Council (CIC) published a leaflet entitled Definitions of Inspections and Surveys of Buildings (see Appendix I). Although the definitions specifically apply to England and Wales, they are also relevant to the rest of the UK. The CIC is the organisation representing the main professional bodies in construction and property, such as the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Chartered Institute of Building, the Association of Building Engineers, the Architecture and Surveying Institute, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Institution of Structural Engineers.

One of the most significant consequences of the CIC list of definitions was the scrapping of the term ‘structural survey’. Up until 1997 ‘structural survey’ was the commonly accepted term for a Scheme 3 survey – the full building survey (Staveley, 1998). Although surveyors and lawyers in the UK had been using the term ‘structural survey’ for decades, many professionals, particularly consulting engineers, felt that it was misleading. It implied that the survey focused on structural issues relating to the property being surveyed – in other words, that it would only deal with the loadbearing characteristics of the building. This of course was not the case, as ‘structural surveys’ assessed the property’s fabric and services as well as addressed its stability. Any major ‘structural’ findings were then referred to an engineer for more detailed analysis.

Nowadays, therefore, either ‘structural inspection’ or ‘structural assessment’ is the more accurate term to describe a building-related investigation undertaken by consulting engineers (IstructE, 1991). It is essentially a specialist investigation that often follows a condition/building survey, to assess in more detail a problem or requirement relating to the property’s loadbearing elements – such as foundations, walls, floors, beams and columns and roofs – and other structural problems such as subsidence.

See Appendix VIII for the definition of ‘building survey’ and other related terms.

1.1.2 Categories of property survey

As indicated in the CIC list, there is a wide range of property surveys. Table 1.1 categorises property surveys into five main groups and shows their relationship to one another.

Table 1.1 Types of property survey

Type of surveys	Examples(a)	Scheme
Acquisition surveys(b)	Mortgage valuation (1) HomeBuyer report (2) Home condition report (2)(c) Building survey (3)	1 2 2 3
Lease-related surveys(d)	Schedule of dilapidations survey (9) Schedule of condition survey (8)	2(e) 2(e, f)
Record surveys(g)	Schedule of condition survey (8) Measurement/dimensional survey (10) Inspection of building prior to alteration (5) Conservation plan inspection (5) Inspection of buildings under construction (11) Stock condition survey (7) Maintenance survey (7)	2(e) 2(e) 2(e) 3(e) 2(e) 2(e) 2(e)
Reinstatement surveys(h)	Fire damage survey (6) Flood damage survey (6) Other damage/insurance-related survey (e.g. following a burglary)(6)	2(e) 2(e) 2(e)
Specialist surveys(i)	Access audit (4) Defect assessment or diagnostic survey (4) Elemental investigation (4) Sanitary survey (4)(j) Housing health and safety risk assessment (4) Structural inspection/assessment (4) Post-occupancy evaluation (4)(k)	2 or 3(e) 2 or 3(e) 2 or 3(e) 2 or 3(e) 2 or 3(e) 2 or 3(e) 2 or 3(e)

Notes:

(a) The equivalent CIC type of survey number is shown in brackets.

(b) These are surveys required as a result of the intended purchase of a property and account for the majority of such commissions.

(c) This forms part of the home information pack. The Single Survey is the Scottish equivalent to the HCR.

(d) These surveys are usually required under the terms of a property lease.

(e) The level of detail of these surveys is approximate to the Scheme indicated, even though they are not officially classed as such.

(f) A Schedule of Condition can be undertaken outwith the context or requirements of a lease (e.g. before adaptation works or demolition of an adjacent/nearby building).

(g) This type of survey is usually related to adaptation, conservation or maintenance work.

(h) Insurance claims usually prompt this kind of survey.

(i) This type of survey sometimes follows as a result of a Scheme 1 or 2 survey.

(j) The test and examination of the drainage system is the most important single item in this type of survey (Moseley & Curtis, 1973).

(k) This type of survey aims to assess a building’s performance and is usually undertaken at least six months after it has been built or adapted (Preiser, 1989).

1.1.3 Synchronic and diachronic surveys

Another way of categorising property surveys is to consider them either synchronically or diachronically (Brand, 1994). A synchronic survey is a snapshot assessment of a building and the way it all fits together at a particular moment in time. This usually means the present, but buildings can be studied as regards how they worked at one time in the past. In other words, it is about studying buildings in terms of immediacy and is the preference of building surveyors as well as ‘city planners and architects looking for design ideas’ (Brand, 1994). Building surveys, condition surveys and dilapidation surveys are typical examples of this kind of appraisal.

A diachronic survey, on the other hand, is a way of studying buildings in terms of how they change or evolve over time. This is the way architectural historians (and building maintenance surveyors) appraise buildings (Brand, 1994). Maintenance surveys as well as conservation plan inspections and other record surveys of older properties are typical methods of studying buildings diachronically (Douglas, 2006).

1.1.4 Stock condition surveys

These are surveys that are undertaken on a large number of properties one after the other, or simultaneously if more than one surveyor is being used. They are most common for determining the state of repair of housing. However, the same approach can be used when assessing the condition of other large property stock such as warehouses and other industrial or commercial buildings.

The reader is referred to the relevant RICS guidance note on these types of surveys (RICS, 1995). They are usually carried on a regular (e.g. quinquennial) basis on ecclesiastical buildings as well as housing stocks. Data on the most recent English and Scottish house condition surveys undertaken between 2008/2009 can be obtained from Communities and Local Government (2010) and the Scottish House Condition Survey Team (2009) respectively.

1.2 Housing quality initiatives

1.2.1 Home information packs

The Housing Act 2004, which applies to England and Wales, required sellers of dwellings to supply a standard set of information referred to as a ‘Home Information Pack’ (HIP). This was required before marketing a property for sale and made available to prospective purchasers (Melville & Gordon, 2004).

HIPs were introduced in August 2007 to provide more information about a property at the start of the buying and selling process. However, the UK’s new coalition government suspended the need for HIPs soon after it took power in May 2010. Home sellers, though, still need to provide an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).

1.2.2 Home condition reports

A HIP, to be complete, required a condition report based on a professional survey of domestic properties, including an assessment of their energy efficiency (ODPM, 2003a). This comes in the form of a Home Condition Report (HCR). Its statutory basis is Section 134 of the Housing Act 2004. Initially the HCR was meant to be mandatory but the UK government in 2006 reversed its decision to facilitate the scheme’s launch in June 2007. HCRs were optional.

A similar scheme to the HIP was implemented in Scotland in December 2008. It is called the Home Report (HR), and comprises three elements: a single survey (SS), an energy report, and a property questionnaire. With the demise of the ill-fated HIPs in England and Wales, however, the future of HCRs/SSs remains uncertain.

The HCR is analogous to a ‘home sellers’ report. Some of the HCR’s features have been incorporated into the RICS’s HomeBuyer Report (HBR) (see Parnham, 2009). The differences between these types of surveys are summarised in Table 1.2.

Table 1.2 Comparison between HBR and HCR (adapted from Callaghan, 2006)

RICS HomeBuyer Report (HBR)	Home c ondition r eport (HCR)
Surveys are optional	Optional – sellers are only advised to have an HCR prepared. (Originally the intention was to make the HCR mandatory, but this was r...