Surveyor Local Omdömen 

Quick honest valuation survey to sell my 50% share in my property

We were recommended Surveyor Local by a friend but unfortunately did not have the same level of service.

Their customer service was great when purchasing our survey on 21 August and taking payment but following this we had multiple issues.

Our first survey was booked in for 3rd September and on the day we received notification from the surveyor that had been instructed that he was not insured to cover our area and had to cancel. We then received notification from surveyor local the day after that they had had to cancel and rearrange for 14th September. This delayed things on our side for our house purchase so I called surveyor local and they said they would try their best for an earlier date and would call me back - to which I never heard back.

On 11 September, I was conscious I had still not heard any confirmation of our survey actually taking place on 14 September so called SL who advised they had spoken to our estate agent and vendor and booked in for the 14th. However, I then called both our estate agent and vendor who had had absolutely no contact from surveyor local.

I then called surveyor local who advised the surveyor would ring our vendor that evening (Friday) to arrange access times for Monday. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s fair to give someone two days notice of a building survey or need to access their property.

On Saturday, I checked with our vendor and she had still had had no contact. So I called to cancel with surveyor local and was told it was cancelled and I would receive a refund.

Two hours later our vendor called me to say a surveyor had tried to call her to which she advised we had cancelled. Again, it seems unfair now to give a day’s notice for access to someone’s home especially in the current climate.

I called surveyor local who advised it had been cancelled. On Monday 14th, I had still not received written confirmation of my cancellation and refund and then received a called from the surveyor directly to say he was trying to organise access.

I then called surveyor local again to confirm full cancellation but they did not answer. It was only after using my boyfriend’s phone did they answer and I was told that they had spoken to the estate agent for access (which they still hadn’t) and was also very rudely told that due to my ‘late cancellation’ they hadn’t been able to let the surveyor know in time. I’m not sure how it can be a late cancellation for something that was never booked in with vendor or estate agent!

I have since received my cancellation confirmation and refund. However, not a process I have enjoyed as first time buyers and we have gone elsewhere within the 5 days since cancelling with surveyor local, had a new survey done and our report received.

Amazing team, brilliant service would definitely use again!

If you want to get bombarded by 6 texts, 10 calls and 8 emails a day, do not use these people.
Absolutely ridiculous, sending me conveyance quotes when i only asked for a few surveyor quotes.

Really excellent. Great customer service - very helpful and easy. Prices are very competitive too. Highly recommended.

Surveyor Local provided an exceptional service. The customer service team were supportive and efficient. They provided me with a surveyor from Bartley West for the first house I intended to purchase (The report provided was prompt, thorough and informative. Unfortunately it highlighted an issue that was not able to be resolved and the purchase fell through). Upon finding another house I contacted the customer Service Team and explained why I needed another Home buyers survey. They were extremely helpful and provided another surveyor, Laurie Gavaghan, at a reduced cost, paying only for a search that was highlighted as required on the new property. Thankfully, this survey arrived promptly and flagged only small easily resolved issues.
During such a stressful time I cant praise Surveyor Local enough for their support and professionalism.

Good Customer service team, and prompt support.
Only reason for 4 stars is their vetting of local surveyors isn't good - was initially booked a layman surveyor (Roger at Patterson Francis & Associates - stay away if you have been booked them!) who noted basic observations for a full building survey. After raising this to surveyor local, the agreed the survey did not meet the required standards and rebooked a new surveyor who provided a sufficient report. Surveyor local said they have dropped this layman surveyor from their board and their customer support was great, but this initial let down had a major delay on my property purchase .

I have never in my life dealt with such an unprofessional company. Ray is very rude and patronising, would not advise u use them!!

Excellent report could not have asked for a more comprehensive survey.

Our surveyor was very prompt to give us feed back and was very
easy to understand we are most grateful to him.

Could not ask better.

Very helpful and professional.

I have given them three stars because the team at Surveyor Local were initially pleasant, polite and gave the impression of being helpful.
Once I phoned and confirmed I wanted to go ahead, they were very prompt in asking for payment which I sent and they responded with a summary email. Thereafter it went downhill.
The summary email misquoted the value of the property by 100k - I did inform them of that but they didn't send an amended summary.
The date of the survey was two weeks later which although much longer than they say it suited me but it wasn't even the right date as the survey was actually carried out two days earlier than stated - as the Estate Agents informed me.
Despite paying for a full buildings survey no one bothered to contact me after the survey (as Surveyor Local say they do). I eventually rang the surveyor 5 days after the survey was carried out - he didn't have his notes so couldn't give me a verbal update nor did he offer to get his flipping notes and call me back with the summary. He did however promise to get the written report out to me that evening, would he have done if I hadn’t called? We shall never know….
Emailed surveyorlocal 10 days ago to see what they had to say, obviously very little as I haven’t heard back from them. What a shambles.

30/7 Update: Amended to a single star due to the following: Just got this from my solicitor: "Usually a building survey will list matters which are said to be for a legal advisor to check and it is not appropriate for the solicitor to read and try and understand the survey report. I could not see the usual page indicating matters for legal advisors and only that the reference in the survey the solicitor should confirm the age of extension. This is really not a legal issue I am afraid"
So even my solicitor thinks the survey was rubbish - if I compare it to the full survey I had done when I bought my current house, it is like a high level homebuyers one in comparison. I have no idea what I should be asking my solicitor to check and the report is so brief it gives me no comfort at all

Update 31/7/2019: Still waiting for the customer service team to ‘personally address my concerns’ as their reply below promised.
I went for the most expensive survey including a valuation coming to almost £1000 and got 20 pages back of very little detail in fact the first 4 pages were just stating the details I had given them, a content list of what will be inspected and the weather on the day! another couple of pages were spent on the topography and a description of the site and garden layout (all of which I knew from viewing the property myself) and the final page was just a signature. The chimney / roof were inspected with the use of binoculars and the gutters couldn’t be inspected as they did not find a ‘suitable elevated position’ (it is a detached chalet bungalow so a ladder would probably do it!).
It appears to depend very much on the surveyor you get allocated, this company has a lot of good reviews on here which is why I went with them BUT my advice based on my experience is don’t waste your money find your own local surveyor.

1/8/2019 - still no contact - after sales even worse than the survey content - unfortunately you cant give less than one star - looks like they put an answer on trustpilot just to look as though they are concerned

2/8/2019 - only fair I update on the email response I finally received from SurveyorLocal today
1) They apologised for the delay in contacting me and for not sending me the amended summary email
2) My fault I didnt contact SurveyorLocal as well as the surveyor to chase the verbal update
3) My solicitors fault re the legal summary- apparently the most expensive survey does not have to summarise the points for solicitors to follow up - only the cheaper homebuyers survey has to do that - who would of guessed!
4) My responsibility re the Survey content - I have to complain direct to the solicitor and escalate to the RCIS if I am not happy.
I will leave you to decide if that is a satisfactory response

Roger Roberts the surveyor was fantastic. Very thorough and very professional. Put me at ease and nice to have a real person with understanding at last.....thank you

Really exceptional service. The customer service team manage to be personable and efficient - remembering to use my actual first name when I phoned them, for example, and immediately knowing where to direct me, while appearing genuinely interested in my transaction, which quite frankly, is probably not at all interesting or unique to someone doing that job.

This kind of service takes care and attention, and a good system for relaying customer information, as obviously they deal with loads of people in very similar situations, day in and day out. Still, whoever leads that team ensures they take it on themselves to remember their customers rather than leaving them with loads of annoying and impersonal hoops to jump through. So much better than most other businesses over the phone.

They also use their initiative. They bent over backwards to ensure that work which I wanted completed yesterday (quite unrealistically) was taken care of, even though I was unreachable in a meeting, with minimal fuss or worry for me, at what was a stressful time. I am not the world's most laid back customer, and they had to take some risks and use some common sense and basically be human beings to sort out the booking in a way that worked best for everyone involved. Commonsense and initiative painfully rare in anything but the tiniest organisation in 2019. If I could give them 6 stars I would.

Please send your manager to advise the big phone companies and insurance companies and all the other companies that people have to deal with on the phone. The world would be a better place.

Very thorough, professional and friendly. I was called and after the survey and briefed about the main points . The surveyor was very good and put my mind at rest , saving me time as I could continue with the purchase.

really quick in getting it booked in for you but as yet I haven't had a result after a whole week. I may be wrong but I thought idvof had the results by now. sorry

Unimpressed with the first survey.
totally contradicted itself and mentioned an upstairs shower room and extension to the property that did not exist. However in fairness Surveyor Local held their hands up and arranged for a second survey to be completed promptly. Andrew was very competent and we would recommend him.

Booking was managed very quickly and efficiently. Communication was good throughout and we were very happy with the thorough report provided.

Amazing service!

I was in a real hurry and I managed to get a survey within a week and the surveyor called me up the same day to go through any concerns so I didn’t even wait for the report.

I could not recommend more highly!

Easy to work with, very efficient, friendly and professional. Would definitely recommend and use again.