Building Surveyor Services
The RICS Building Surveyor Services appointment for smaller projects and specific defect repairs: one surveyor from inspection and diagnosis through specification, approvals and tender to contract administration, completion and the end of the defects period.
Overview
Building Surveyor Services is the RICS appointment for a building surveyor to take a project from start to finish. One surveyor inspects the building and finds the cause of the problem, specifies the remedy, deals with the approvals, tenders the work, administers the building contract on site, certifies completion, and sees the defects period through to the final account.
It suits smaller projects and specific defect rectification works, such as roof and rainwater repairs, structural or damp related repairs, window and external repairs, and alterations and refurbishments, where a full team of separate consultants would be out of proportion to the work.
Why it matters
A repair that starts without a diagnosis is often a repair to the wrong thing. When the surveyor who found the cause also writes the specification and runs the contract, the remedy stays tied to the defect, and anything that opening up reveals is dealt with by someone who knows why the work was specified.
On a smaller job, a full team of separate consultants can cost more than it saves. One appointment keeps the decisions in one place, with a clear record from the first inspection to the final account.
Diagnosis Before Remedy
The cause of the defect found and reported in writing before any money is spent on the repair.
Specified and Tendered
A specification or schedule of works written to be priced, and competitive tenders compared on the same basis.
Seen Through to the End
The contract administered on site, completion certified, and defects followed up until the final account is agreed.
What you receive
- An inspection of the building and a written report on the cause of the defect, with the remedial work recommended.
- Advice on any further investigation, opening up or specialist input needed, and on the approvals the work requires.
- A specification or schedule of works, with drawings where needed, written for contractors to price and build from.
- Building Regulations, planning or listed building consent applications prepared and submitted where the work needs them.
- A competitive tender, the returns checked and compared, and a reasoned recommendation.
- The contract prepared on the appropriate JCT form, usually Minor Works, or Intermediate where the work needs fuller provisions.
- Site inspections and meetings, interim valuations, and each variation costed and reported before it is instructed.
- Practical completion certified, defects listed and followed up through the rectification period, and the final account agreed.
- Principal Designer under CDM 2015 within the same appointment where the project needs one.
Who it is for
Managing agents and residents’ management companies, freeholders and landlords, commercial occupiers, and owners of period and listed homes with a defined repair or a contained project to carry out. We work from Braintree, Essex, across London, the South East and the East of England.
For larger leasehold programmes with Section 20 consultation, see Major Works, Managed. Where someone else has designed the work and you need the contract run on site, see Contract Administration.
The standards
Design and specification
RICS best practice guidance, 1st edition, published June 2013
Appointment: the RICS Building Surveyor Services schedule, under the RICS Standard or Short Form of Consultant’s Appointment.
Design and specification is the RICS guidance on designing and specifying small to medium sized projects, from the brief and outline design through detailed design and production information to handover.
Running the contract follows the RICS Black Book, including Interim valuations and payment, Valuing change, Defining completion on construction works, Defects and rectifications and Final account procedures. Smaller works are usually let on the JCT Minor Works Building Contract, or on the JCT Intermediate Building Contract where the work needs fuller provisions.
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 apply to all construction work, repairs included; see CDM and Principal Designer. Many repairs also need Building Regulations approval, for example replacing roof coverings, windows or doors. Where leaseholders pay through the service charge, the consultation requirements of Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 apply to qualifying works; see Major Works, Managed.
“designed for smaller, basic construction projects where the work is of a simple nature”
JCT, on the Minor Works Building Contract
Key terms
- Defect diagnosis
- Finding the cause of a defect, rather than treating its symptom, before the remedy is specified. In the Building Surveyor Services schedule this is section 2.3, where the surveyor determines the cause of defects and recommends the remedial work in a written report.
- Specification
- The written description of the materials, workmanship and standards the work must meet, read with the drawings to define its quality. RICS Design and specification covers how it is prepared.
- Schedule of works
- An itemised list of the work to be done, which each tenderer prices line by line. Returns can then be compared on the same basis, and the rates help value any change later.
- Tender
- Prices invited from selected contractors on the same documents. The returns are checked for errors, omissions and qualifications before a contractor is recommended.
- JCT Minor Works
- The JCT Minor Works Building Contract (MW 2024), for smaller, simple work let the traditional way, with a lump sum price and monthly interim payments. The employer provides drawings, a specification or work schedules to define the quantity and quality of the work.
- Contract administrator
- The person named in the building contract to run it for the client, issuing instructions, valuing the work and certifying payment and completion. JCT notes that its Minor Works contracts are normally administered by the architect or a contract administrator. On this service, Avalon takes that role.
- Interim valuation
- The assessment of the work properly carried out to date, on which each interim payment is certified. RICS sets out the process in Interim valuations and payment.
- Practical completion
- The point at which the contract administrator certifies the works complete. The client takes the building back, delay damages stop running and the rectification period begins, as RICS explains in Defining completion on construction works.
- Rectification period (defects period)
- The period after practical completion, set in the contract, during which defects that appear are listed and the contractor returns to put them right. At its end the making good of defects is certified. RICS covers it in Defects and rectifications.
- Final account
- The final adjustment to the contract price once every variation has been valued and agreed, leading to the final certificate. RICS sets out the process in Final account procedures.
How this maps to your RICS appointment
The cards below follow Avalon’s four phases of the building lifecycle, as on our Services page, and the review that leads back to the start. Under each phase we name the matching sections of the RICS Building Surveyor Services schedule, used with the RICS Standard or Short Form of Consultant’s Appointment, so the services you see here are the services you tick in your appointment. RICS intends the Short Form for smaller, less complex projects, which is where most of this work sits.
1 Assess and plan
We inspect the building, find the cause of the defect and set out the options for dealing with it, so you can decide whether a project is needed and what it should be.
Your brief, budget and programme agreed, with any further surveys, opening up or investigations arranged. If the work needs a structural engineer or another specialist, we advise on the appointment.
RICS schedule: 1.1 General, 1.2 Preparation, 1.6 Appointing the Professional Team, 2.3 Building surveys and building defects management
2 Design and consent
Outline proposals for the repair or alteration, with a likely cost and the consents and approvals it will need. On smaller works this step is often combined with the next.
The proposals developed with any engineer’s input, and planning or listed building consent applied for where the work needs it.
The specification or schedule of works written for contractors to price and build from, with Building Regulations approval and the CDM 2015 arrangements in place. The work is then tendered, the returns checked and a contractor recommended.
RICS schedule: 1.2 Preparation, 1.3 Tendering and procurement, 1.5 Health and safety, 1.9 Technical services
3 Build and hand over
The contract let and administered on site, with regular inspections and meetings, interim valuations, and each variation costed before it is instructed. Any extension of time or other claim is assessed under the contract.
Practical completion certified, the building handed back with its records, defects put right in the rectification period and the final account agreed. Where the project has a principal designer, the health and safety file is handed over too.
RICS schedule: 1.5 Health and safety, 1.7 Executing the Project, 1.8 Contractual services, 1.9 Technical services
4 Use and maintain
Advice on looking after the building once it is back in use, including a planned preventative maintenance plan, so future repairs are budgeted for rather than discovered.
RICS schedule: Part 3 Asset management, 3.3 Programmed maintenance
Review
The condition of the building and how the work has performed inform the next decision: to retain and maintain, repair or refurbish, convert or extend, redevelop, demolish and rebuild, or sell. Whichever you choose, the cycle starts again at phase 1, Assess and plan.
On small or urgent repairs several of these phases run together. RICS describes the real estate lifecycle in three phases: planning and acquisition, development, and operation. This service sits in the development and operational phases, where repairs, alterations and maintenance arise. Where you need only the inspection and report at phase 1 (Assess and plan), see Building Surveys and Defect Diagnosis.
Case studies
£117,000
A listed terrace, inspection to final certificate
Two Grade II listed stucco houses in the City of Westminster, inspected, specified, tendered and let under JCT Minor Works at around £117,000, with practical completion certified, the rectification period run and the retention released in full.
£33,000
Structural repairs to an occupied house
A period house in north west London, specified, tendered and let at around £33,000, where each repair the opened structure revealed was valued and approved before it was carried out, closing at a final account of around £51,000 with no dispute.
Where the first question is what is causing the problem, read how a damp investigation was approached in a south London block, or see all case studies.
Building Surveyor Services are appointed on the RICS Standard or Short Form of Consultant’s Appointment, with the services you need selected from the RICS schedule.
- Regulated by RICS (firm 030895)
- In practice since 2000
- RICS DPB licence (GIDA)
- Independent redress through CEDR
Guidance and briefings
The 2025 RICS Consultant Appointments: What You Are Signing
For clients, the forms are worth understanding, because they decide exactly what a surveyor has agreed to do.
Read the briefingJCT 2024: What Changes for Smaller Building Contracts
For most of the external repairs, refurbishments and insurance reinstatements we administer, the important release was the Minor Works family.
Read the briefingCondensation and Mould in Flats: Diagnose Before You Treat
The quick answer is to blame condensation and tell residents to open a window.
Read the briefingRelated services
Discuss a repair or a smaller project
Tell us about the building, the problem or the work planned, and we will come back to you within two business days.