Building Surveys and Defect Diagnosis
Condition surveys, technical due diligence and defect investigations for commercial and managed buildings, with the cause established before any money is spent.
Overview
Every decision about a building starts with knowing its condition. We survey and report on buildings before they are bought, let or repaired, and investigate defects such as damp, cracking and failing services so that the remedy matches the cause.
Why it matters
Money spent on a defect without a diagnosis is usually spent on the wrong thing. The same stain on a wall can have five different causes, each with a different remedy and a different bill. An investigation costs a fraction of the wrong repair and is the only thing that makes the right repair possible.
Condition Surveys
Element by element condition reports for owners, managing agents and portfolios, with drone roof and elevation inspection.
Technical Due Diligence
Pre-acquisition and pre-lease reports with traffic light risk ratings, so you know what you are taking on.
Defect Investigation
Damp, movement and services failures diagnosed from evidence, with recommendations matched to each cause.
What you receive
- A written report with an executive summary of the key risks and costs.
- Element by element findings with condition grades and priorities.
- Defects analysed individually, with the cause reasoned from the evidence.
- Recommendations and budget costs, ready to specify and tender.
- A photographic record, including drone imagery of roofs and high level elevations.
- Options appraisals and feasibility studies where a major decision is needed.
Who it is for
Buyers and tenants of commercial property, managing agents and residents’ management companies, freeholders, and property groups with portfolios to prioritise, across London, the South East and the East of England.
We do not offer high street homebuyer surveys. Our surveys are for commercial, managed and investment property.
The RICS standard
Technical due diligence of commercial property
RICS professional standard, 1st edition, effective globally from 1 April 2020
Appointment: RICS Technical Due Diligence Services, for pre-acquisition and pre-lease reports, under the RICS Short Form of Consultant’s Appointment for Designated Services. Condition surveys, defect investigations and measured surveys are appointed under the building and measured surveys section of Building Surveyor Services, using the RICS Standard or Short Form.
Technical due diligence is the RICS term for the inspection and report a buyer, tenant or lender commissions before committing to a commercial building. The standard covers offices, retail, industrial, hotels, healthcare, education and residential blocks, and sets out how the inspection is scoped, carried out and reported.
It expects the work to be done by surveyors with experience in the field, or properly supervised, and it expects clients not to restrict the scope in ways that would undermine the findings. RICS no longer uses the term structural survey; building survey, condition survey and pre-acquisition survey are the accepted names.
For condition surveys outside a transaction, the RICS guidance Surveying assets in the built environment sets out how the brief, the scope of the survey and the data collected are agreed with the client, and the joint position statement by RICS, Historic England and the Property Care Association, Investigation of moisture and its effect on traditional buildings governs damp investigations, taking a whole building approach to find the source.
“have experience in this field or are appropriately supervised”
RICS, Technical due diligence of commercial property
Key terms
- Technical due diligence (TDD)
- An inspection and report on the condition of a commercial property before acquisition, letting or lending.
- Vendor survey
- The same report commissioned by a seller, to present to prospective buyers.
- Traffic light ratings
- Our red, amber and green grading of each element, so risk and cost are visible at a glance.
- Remaining life
- How long an element can be expected to last before repair or replacement.
- Defect diagnosis
- Establishing the cause of a defect, not only its symptom, so the repair addresses the cause.
How this maps to your RICS appointment
Pre-acquisition surveys are appointed under RICS Technical Due Diligence Services; other building surveys and defect work under the building and measured surveys section of RICS Building Surveyor Services. The headings below follow 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.
Building surveys
The building inspected, specialist investigations arranged as agreed, and its condition reported.
Defect investigation
Specific problems investigated, tests monitored, and the cause of each defect established.
Rectification
Recommendations for repair, advice on who should carry it out, and the rectification work inspected.
Specialist investigations
Access by scaffold or other means, building services, drainage and other specialist testing where needed.
Measured surveys
Floor plans, sections, elevations, site layout and levels drawn as required.
Case studies
5 steps
Damp diagnosed, not guessed
A south London block where each moisture defect was traced to its cause, with the legal context for tenanted property set out.
1 decision
Feasibility for a failing heating system
A central London mansion block, with each option for renewal costed over its life so the committee could decide once.
74 properties
One framework for a whole portfolio
Condition and letting budgets for every property on a common basis, so the group knew where to spend first.
Our surveys run from a single block with a damp problem to a portfolio of seventy four properties. See all case studies
Avalon Surveyors Ltd is regulated by RICS and has been in continuous practice since 2000. Technical due diligence is carried out in line with the RICS professional standard, Technical due diligence of commercial property.
Discuss a survey
Tell us about the building and what you need to know about it, and we will come back to you within two business days.