A report has landed and it has found something. The first thing worth saying is that this is a normal outcome rather than a disaster, and the second is that what happens next depends far more on what kind of finding it is than on the fact there is one.
Findings come in three kinds
- Historic and stable - something moved, it finished, and the building is sound. This is the most common finding on older property and it needs no work at all. What it needs is the written confirmation, which is what makes it usable by a lender or a buyer.
- A defined defect - a failed lintel, an unsupported chimney breast removal, corroded wall ties, a decayed joist end. Specific, understood, and costable. This is what most reports find when they find something.
- An open question - the evidence is not conclusive and something further is needed: monitoring across the seasons, a drainage test, a trial pit. Frustrating if you are working to a date, but far better than a guess dressed as a conclusion.
If you are not sure which kind you have, that is a fair question to put back to the engineer who wrote it. A report that cannot be summarised in a sentence has not finished its job.
If you are buying
You have four options and they are all legitimate.
- Proceed as agreed, because the finding is minor or historic
- Renegotiate the price on the basis of the costed work
- Ask for a retention, where a sum is held back until the work is done
- Walk away, which is occasionally the right answer and much cheaper before exchange than after
A specific engineering finding is a far stronger negotiating position than a survey caveat, because it says what the work is rather than that somebody should look into it. Get the remedial work priced by a contractor before you name a figure - an engineer's report tells you what needs doing, not what a local builder will charge for it.
If the lender referred the valuation, send them the report. That is usually what releases the offer, and it is worth doing immediately rather than waiting for the negotiation to settle.
If you are selling
An unanswered structural question costs a seller far more than a report does. Buyers price the worst case they can imagine, and the imagination is usually more expensive than the reality.
Two routes work. Either fix the defect, get it signed off, and market with the paperwork - which removes the issue entirely. Or commission the report yourself, disclose it, and price accordingly, which at least means the discussion is about a known number. What does not work is hoping the next buyer's surveyor misses it.
If you own the property and are staying
Deal with the defined defects on their own merits, in the order the report suggests. Most structural repair is not urgent in the sense of this week, and a report that recommends monitoring is not a report that recommends panic.
If subsidence has been identified and you have a buildings policy in force, notify your insurer - subsidence damage is normally an insured peril, and the insurer will typically appoint their own engineer. If mining is a realistic cause, the statutory compensation scheme for coal mining subsidence is a separate route from ordinary insurance and changes who investigates and who pays.
Getting the work done
- Ask whether the repair needs designing. Some do - a beam, a support for an earlier alteration, a foundation repair - and some are straightforward builder's work.
- Ask whether it is notifiable. Structural repair frequently needs Building Control involvement, and the completion certificate is what stops the issue reappearing at the next sale.
- Get more than one price, and give each contractor the same report so you are comparing the same scope.
- Be wary where the firm diagnosing the problem is the firm selling the cure. That is not automatically wrong, but it is worth an independent view when the specification is large.
- Keep everything - the report, the design, the invoices, the certificate. It is the file that answers the question next time.
When it is worth a second opinion
Where the recommended work is expensive, where the diagnosis came from a contractor who would carry it out, or where underpinning has been proposed. Underpinning is disruptive, costly and permanently disclosable on a property, and it is the right answer for genuinely progressive foundation failure and the wrong answer for a great deal else.
We do not carry out repairs and take no commission from anyone who does, which is why reviewing somebody else's recommendation is a normal instruction for us rather than an awkward one.
Frequently asked questions
Can I renegotiate the price after a structural report?
Yes, and a specific engineering finding is a much stronger basis for it than a survey caveat, because it states what the work is rather than recommending further investigation. Get the remedial work priced by a contractor first - the report says what needs doing, not what it will cost locally.
Will my mortgage offer be withdrawn?
Not usually because a report exists. Lenders react badly to uncertainty rather than to known, costed defects. Where a valuation was referred, sending the report is normally what releases the offer, and it is worth doing straight away rather than waiting for the negotiation to conclude.
The report says it needs monitoring. Can I not just get an answer now?
Not honestly. Monitoring exists because ground and building movement varies through the year, so a record spanning an autumn and a spring distinguishes progressive movement from seasonal movement in a way a single visit cannot. An engineer offering certainty on a live case from one summer inspection is guessing.
Do I have to tell a buyer about the report?
Property information forms ask direct questions about structural problems, claims and works, and answering them inaccurately creates a problem considerably worse than the defect. In practice disclosure with a costed report attached is also the stronger commercial position, because it moves the conversation onto a known number.
Should I get a second opinion?
It is worth it where the proposed work is expensive, where underpinning has been recommended, or where the diagnosis came from the firm that would carry out the cure. Reviewing another party's recommendation is a normal instruction, and an engineer who does not sell repairs has no reason to inflate the answer.