Commercial Buildings Survey continued...
When we inspect a building we examine:-
We provide an overall impression of the services but will not test them. Drainage inspection chamber covers will be lifted where visible and physically possible. Water will be passed through the drains where possible. We may recommend specialist tests and will arrange these.
Our inspection will be of as much of the property as is accessible with safety and without undue difficulty.
A very careful inspection will be made for evidence of dry rot, woodworm and insect infestation or vermin attack, or any types of deleterious materials such as asbestos. You will appreciate that some areas will be covered, unexposed or inaccessible and our report will therefore be limited in the event of such infestations or materials being discovered subsequently as a result. Where the property is part of a building comprising suites of offices, we will inspect those parts of the structure and services which do not directly affect the property only in so far as defects in those parts of the whole building might have a significant effect on the repair and maintenance charges for which you would have to pay a contribution.
The Report
Wherever possible, we will identify serious defects and give warnings about defects which, for a variety of reasons, might develop during the medium term (e.g., ten years or so) or which could have a serious deleterious effect on the property and/or its value.
We will comment on relevant information provided by the vendor or the vendor's agent, but we will not normally verify such information. Similarly, we will endeavour to identify any significant recent alteration or extension to the building.
A copy of our report should be shown to your legal advisors in order for them to make any necessary further enquiries and they are welcome to telephone us in this respect.
Where the property is part of a building comprising flats or maisonettes, or office suites, etc, we will only report those defects which are likely to have a significant effect on your contribution to the service charge.
In general, we will not report individual defects of a minor nature and you should appreciate that it will not be possible for the report to be used as a schedule or specification of works for the purposes of obtaining fixed price quotations and undertaking such works as are required to remedy the defects identified.
It is our normal practice to give an indication of the costs of attending to the main defects summarised in our report but you should appreciate that these will not be based on any measured quantities nor schedules or specifications of work. For this reason, and because we will not necessarily know the extent or nature of any alterations or improvement that you might wish to carry out, or the results of any further investigations, such costs will be very approximate indeed and are intended purely as an overall guide. We therefore strongly advise that if you decide to proceed, our estimates are verified by detailed and fixed price quotations obtained prior to any commitment.
A Building Survey does not include a valuation, but we can provide this separately if you need one.