01332 702225
8.30am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday
Steve Butler Surveyor has been undertaking Building Surveys and Level 2 Homebuyers Surveys of residential property in Derby for thirty years and is thus very familiar with the area. Steve has been surveying, valuing and managing a portfolio of properties in Derby since qualifying as Chartered Surveyor in 1992. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) which is an independent professional body established by Royal Charter has been setting and upholding the highest standards of excellence and integrity for surveyors for over one hundred and fifty years. Steve Butler has also passed the Government's Home Inspector Surveying Examinations and is a qualified commercial energy surveyor and associate member of the Chartered Institution of Legal Executives.
Steve Butler Chartered Surveyors are entirely independent. We do not not pay introductory fees to estate agents ensuring our independence.
Our surveyors have lived in or owned properties of all types and ages in many parts of Derby and Derbyshire so we have considerable local knowledge of most areas, and practical experience of owning and maintaining many types and ages of property.
Derby Chartered Surveyors RICS Level 2 Homebuyers Survey and Report on a 1930 semi detached house
The elevations on this typical 1930's house have been rendered to save money by avoiding the need to purchase and carefully lay expensive facing bricks. The render had been given sharp edges at the openings using metal beads. Unfortunately these were corroding leaving unsightly stains. The only remedy is to chop them out and re render which requires skill to blend the new into the old. The house then has to be repainted unless matching paint is available. The roof surface had formed a dish shape due to a slightly substandard structure in which a major component was undersized and had sagged slightly. An outbuilding had a fractured concrete roof. Apart from letting water into the outbuildings this is potentially problematic as the reinforcing may start to corrode forcing concrete of the roof until it is eventually destroyed. The property had the original quarry tile floor in the kitchen. This was uneven due to the sand or ash on which it had been laid compacting unevenly. The tiles and particularly the joints are likely to be damp as there is no damp proof membrane under. Such floors need to be kept uncovered and well ventilated. Roots had also invaded a drain and were catching water material. Fortunately this was at an early stage and the chamber had not filled.
Building Surveys in Derby: Click for sample report
The Building Survey provides a more detailed picture of a property’s construction and can be carried out on practically all residential properties.
The report is bespoke and tailored to your requests.
It is most suitable when the building is less conventional. This could be because it is very old, it has been built using unusual construction methods, or it is dilapidated. Similarly, it can be very informative if a building has been extensively altered.
RICS Chartered Surveyors Building Survey on a Derby 1960 dormer bungalow
Our Derby RICS Chartered surveyors found included frost damaged bricks, ponding on a garage roof, unsightly spay foam repairs, uninsulated roof voids and a dangerous loft hatch.
Level 2 Homebuyers Survey Fees
A standardized report produced by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) to highlight significant problems and matters requirng urgent investigation.
It is designed to flag up major defects and problems that need urgent or significant attention, because such issues will affect the property’s value.
It is the cost effective choice for the majority of property purchasers.
A valuation of the property and estimation of reinstatement cost for insurance purposes is included as standard in the Homebuyers Survey report.
Homebuyers Survey of a 1910 Derby Semi detached house by our independent property surveyors
Our Derby Surveyors found structural movement above a soldier arch, a long standing leak, frost eroded bricks and pointing and an insecure ceiling whilst preparing an RICS Homebuyer Report and Survey
RICS Homebuyers Survey of a Derby Bungalow built about 1980
Although modern this property suffered from a buckled flank walls, rotting timbers and a fractured floor.
We can help property owners in Derbyshire with Party Wall matters. Steve Butler surveyors can help prepare shedules of condition prior to works on an adjoining property so that there is no argument as to wether the proposed works cause damage. Our surveyors can also draw up an agreement between the parties so that works are carried out in a manner that will reduce the risk of damage to an adjoining property and inconvinience to the neighbour.
CPR 35 Right of way and boundary dispute report for Court
The claimant wanted to argue she had a right of way with a vehicle from a public car park through a splay that was persistently blocked by the land owner first with a car that was subsequently burnt out and then with bollards. Unfortunately, the judge found she had been using the splay for just short of the twenty years required for a right of way by prescription, she did not have a right of way by conveyance and that she had not acquired the right of way under Section 62 of the LPA 1925. It was found under cross examination that access to the splay had been blocked by a wall which was demolished less than twenty years ago and that an alternative access had existed at the time which had subsequently become blocked and then re-opened.
Best Three Rated Surveyors
Defects noticed by our Derby Surveyors whilst undertaking Homebuyers Reports and Building Surveys in Derbyshire
Victorian slates seen by our surveyors on a Level 2 Homebuyers Survey. Our surveyors noticed that the slates are starting to disintegrate. Slate is a layered material and with age the layers will literaly peel off usaully due to frost action on condensation. The other common source of failure of slate roofs seen by our surveyors is corrosion of the fixing nails that secure the slates.
Fractured floor. The house had been built on a sand quarry. Amazingly a mortgage surveyor and a structural engineer who incorrectly diagnosed sulphate attack (sulphate attack forms humps in the floor) had missed the buckled window frame seen below.The purchaser lost £20,000 selling the house on to a builder.