Grade 2 listed problems

[dhutch]

seiben said:

bennno said:

Some high quality repairs there no doubt, sellotaping broken windows. Guess the bodge and leave it approach is ok if you don’t ever plan to resell.

Suggest you take a read of VP's project thread before being too dismissive of his work

Who in their right mind would not avoid a house because a fan light window was cracked?

[dhutch]

Gullwings said:

Blimey this is absolute gold. I've started up a table with the same headings and will work with the surveyor to categorise items in terms of urgency. It makes the whole process much easier to digest instead of one big tsunami of information!!

Do you have any building experience? This is my second house and my experience thus far includes changing a light bulb and tightening up a toilet... And assembling garden furniture

It's a good list. We have a 1902 non-listed house and could write a similar list, I genuinely can't think of anything in the survey which wasn't nonsense.

From suggesting we replace the high spec viessman system boiler with a combi, the recommendation that the greenhouse needed urgent work (?), mention of plans growing in the attic I still see now sign of at all, yet also not spotting the garage roof leaked and the central heating was a old single pipe system very poorly matched to a modern boiler and with enough bodges from plumber who didn't understand how it worked to all but stop it working.

Some of the worst work done on our house, re-tilling the roof with awful concrete interlockers, and replacing bay windows with uPVC in the 80s would have been prevented had it been listed, yet as far as I know nothing we have done so far would have been and issue is listed. It is a double edge sword.

Daniel

[Vanity Projects]

The main part of ours has got concrete interlockers on it. Sadly done by previous owners prior to building being listed (1987). The rear has slate but the front roof they replaced was mad from york stone, he told me they set a chute up down to a skip and just chucked them all down into it and sent them away as rubble.

They also blocked up the eaves so naturally it got damp, followed by woodworm, etc.

[dhutch]

Vanity Projects said:

The main part of ours has got concrete interlockers on it. Sadly done by previous owners prior to building being listed (1987). The rear has slate but the front roof they replaced was mad from york stone, he told me they set a chute up down to a skip and just chucked them all down into it and sent them away as rubble.

I remember reading that on your thread and nearly cried!

I presume ours had hand made clays on it, which is what was period around here as well as what it looks like on the photos. Atleast we could get Marley red clays which are half way there, but still, cannot understand why you would! Maybe in 50years time people will be crying that period cement interlockers are no longer available.... somehow I'm less sure!


This is the one photo we have of the house, from particulars of sale, when the previous owners to us bought the house in the early 80s. Before the roof was changed and the timber bay windows hacked about into a steel frame upvc construction with mock Tudor paneling and mini pitched roofs.

The house was split into two in 1965 with the split being to the right of the RHS bay in the photo. The previous owners then sold off the end of the garden as a building plot shortly before we bought it, about at the line of shrubs in the middle of the photo. Most of the rest remains as seen including both the greenhouse and garage.

[wombat172a]

This is a relief to read! We're just going through the purchase of a Grade B Scottish property, and should be completing this month. We had a similar experience with the surveyors report being very pessimistic, before getting a specialist to nose around.

Also, as recommended further up this thread there are a couple of good books to get hold of (I hope!)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0857332848/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0711227721/

Which offers sensible ideas to damp and infestation problems that normally scare surveyors.

Also, if there's concern around cracking/movement then I'd start by putting a cheap crack gauge in place and taking a measurement every 2-3 months for a year before panicking.

[Gullwings]

wombat172a said:

This is a relief to read! We're just going through the purchase of a Grade B Scottish property, and should be completing this month. We had a similar experience with the surveyors report being very pessimistic, before getting a specialist to nose around.

Also, as recommended further up this thread there are a couple of good books to get hold of (I hope!)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0857332848/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0711227721/

Which offers sensible ideas to damp and infestation problems that normally scare surveyors.

Also, if there's concern around cracking/movement then I'd start by putting a cheap crack gauge in place and taking a measurement every 2-3 months for a year before panicking.

Good luck!! And thanks for the recommendations

These rumours of a stamp duty holiday materialise, it will be a heaven sent gift in my situation. I would save around 13k which can be immediately used on repairs if required.... We'll see

[Gullwings]

So our vendor has come back with their own survey which estimates repair costs of £12,000 (vs our ~£60k), and a builders quote of £4000 for essential works (vs our £49,000)

Quite shocking really how two surveys could be polar opposites. After a long few months we hope to conclude negotiations this week, thanks all for your help on this thread

[TA14]

Gullwings said:

So our vendor has come back with their own survey which estimates repair costs of £12,000 (vs our ~£60k), and a builders quote of £4000 for essential works (vs our £49,000)

Quite shocking really how two surveys could be polar opposites. After a long few months we hope to conclude negotiations this week, thanks all for your help on this thread

Glad it's worked out for you and the seller. Will this now be the restoration thread?

[randlemarcus]

TA14 said:

Gullwings said:

So our vendor has come back with their own survey which estimates repair costs of £12,000 (vs our ~£60k), and a builders quote of £4000 for essential works (vs our £49,000)

Quite shocking really how two surveys could be polar opposites. After a long few months we hope to conclude negotiations this week, thanks all for your help on this thread

Glad it's worked out for you and the seller. Will this now be the restoration thread?

Can you get the builder to fixed price the work then?

[Gullwings]

Yes the builder will honour the work at the quote price.. Just need to confirm that it covers everything we need to the right standard.

Haha we'll see about the resto thread. Probably the thread of how I tragically sawed off a finger trying to do DIY.

[bennno]

Gullwings said:

Yes the builder will honour the work at the quote price.. Just need to confirm that it covers everything we need to the right standard.

Haha we'll see about the resto thread. Probably the thread of how I tragically sawed off a finger trying to do DIY.

Just be aware local heritage officer might need to approve works & method statements.

[dhutch]

Gullwings said:

These rumours of a stamp duty holiday materialise, it will be a heaven sent gift in my situation. I would save around 13k which can be immediately used on repairs if required.... We'll see

Indeed!

[will_]

Gullwings said:

So our vendor has come back with their own survey which estimates repair costs of £12,000 (vs our ~£60k), and a builders quote of £4000 for essential works (vs our £49,000)

Quite shocking really how two surveys could be polar opposites. After a long few months we hope to conclude negotiations this week, thanks all for your help on this thread

Blimey.

There doesn't seem much point in getting a survey if it is such an arse covering that it is that far out in terms of repair costs. You'd never buy anything on that basis!