Homebuyer Drain Surveys

Why buyers book a pre purchase drain survey

A home report does not put a camera in the drains. If your surveyor has recommended a specialist drainage inspection, or the property is older, extended, or surrounded by mature trees, this is the inspection that answers it. Drainage is one of the few defects that is invisible at a viewing and expensive to put right afterwards.

Buyers work to dates, so pre purchase surveys get priority in our diary. Tell us your completion or missives date when you ring and we will work to it.

What we inspect for a purchase

• The private drainage run from the building to the boundary
• Inspection chambers, gullies and the connection point where accessible
• Structural condition of the pipe: cracks, fractures, displaced joints
• Root ingress and where it entered
• Standing water, loss of fall and partial collapse
• Whether extensions or driveways have been built over the run
• Soakaways and surface water arrangements where present

The report, and how to use it

You receive the footage, still images of every defect, distances and depths, an explanation in plain English, and a cost against anything that needs work. That final part is what makes it useful in a negotiation. A surveyor's note saying further investigation is advised has no number attached to it. A costed drainage report does, and it can be put to the seller directly.

If the survey finds a problem before you complete

There are normally three outcomes. Minor defects that are worth knowing about and no more. Repairable defects, where a patch liner or a relining job fixes the run without digging up the garden, and where the cost is a straightforward figure to negotiate on. Or a collapsed section that has to be excavated and replaced, which is the case where buyers most often want the price adjusted before they proceed.

We tell you which of the three you are looking at, and we do the repair work ourselves if you go ahead with the purchase.

Reports your solicitor and lender can act on

If missives are still open, a costed drainage report is the document your solicitor needs to raise the point properly. We can address the report to you, your solicitor, your lender or an insurer, and we write it so a non specialist can read it without a glossary.

We own our CCTV equipment rather than hiring it in, so a survey can usually be fitted around a completion date rather than a supplier's diary, and we carry £5m public liability insurance with over 20 years in the trade behind the reporting.

Booking and access

We need access to the chambers, which is usually arranged through the selling agent. Most surveys are carried out within a few days of the call and take one to two hours on site. There is no call-out charge, and we quote the survey before we attend.