The majority of reputable damp proofing companies make a nominal charge for carrying out timber and damp surveys whilst a lot of the more ‘dubious’ company state ‘we do free surveys’. How can any business provide such an important service for free? We have to employ an experienced qualified surveyor, supply him with a car and equipment, send him on an hours drive to do an hour plus survey, write out a detailed report, draw a sketch plan, drive an hour back and hand over his report for processing, for FREE??? Someone, somewhere along the line must pay for it or without doubt the company wouldn’t survive (and many don’t).
In our experience the ‘We do free surveys’ companies employ so called ‘timber and damp surveyors’ who spend a maximum of 15 minutes at each property, do about eight ‘surveys’ a day and get paid COMMISSION on the amount of jobs they get. The consequences of this are many costly defects are missed which is not ideal, especially if you are purchasing the property, because now it is you that has to pay for the repairs instead of the vendor.
Reputable companies like Tapco HomeDry will in most cases make a nominal charge for carrying out a thorough timber and damp survey and issuing a detailed report, but if you instruct us to carry out the work we DEDUCT the charge from the cost! A genuine FREE SURVEY! We adopt this policy not for making money but to avoid time wasters who claim ‘I’m not paying as I already have four companies who will do it free’. The amount we charge goes nowhere towards paying for the actual cost but it allows us time to concentrate on genuine clients who want things done thoroughly.
Property in the UK is a genuine but expensive asset and compromise shouldn’t be considered. Only use a reputable, established company like Tapco HomeDry who are members of the Property Care Association (PCA), Trust Mark (Government Endorsed Standards) and can offer Guarantee Protection Insurance (GPI). We cover all of London, Surrey and the HomeCounties, as far as Oxford and have been established since 1971. Call us now.