Cavendish Surveying

This is the most detailed type of survey and is suitable for all types property.

A Building Survey is more detailed than a Homebuyer Report.

Our Building Surveys include a detailed assessment of existing construction, building health and also cover a number of other matters.

A Building Survey Report will tell you about:

building condition inside and out which requires careful and considered evaluation
technical advice on problems found and the likely repairs that could be needed
highlight the serious problems
maintenance advice and outline possible future defects
possible legal issues to bring to the attention of your solicitor

Our reports can be tailored to suit your individual requirements. For example, if you are looking to construct an extension in the future, our reports can be configured to provide you with advice at an early stage.

All of our Building Surveys are written in plain English and are accompanied with a Photographic Schedule Appendix.
The Cavendish building survey service

If you give us a call or send in your requirements, we will come back to you with a fixed price, usually within 12 hours.
We will also be pleased to provide an example report for you to have a look at.

A Chartered Building Surveyor of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors will always produce your Building Survey Report who will have the knowledge and experience to produce reports of this type.

Cavendish Surveying for your survey?

We are a firm of Chartered Surveyors who focus on providing impartial tailored advice.

If you are worried about something, please talk to us. We will carefully evaluate your concerns and anything else you tell us prior to our site survey.

Our fees are competitive and we will endeavour to deliver your report within a week following site inspection.

If you are planning construction work, we will be able to assist you.

The types of project we usually become involved in are:

Extensions and home refurbishments
External repair and redecoration works
Office refurbishments
Roof replacement contracts
Window replacement

Our service ranges from preparing a brief schedule of works for small projects to producing detailed tender package for larger scale works.

How we can help

Prior to Tender

The first step in the process is to understand the Client brief and this sometimes involves a meeting.

We will then advise on the required statutory consents such as planning permissions, building regulations approval or whether the works are notifiable under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996.

We are experienced in providing advice on suitable forms of building contract which protects our client’s interests.

A tender package for competitive tendering would normally be produced comprising:

Contract Preliminaries
Preambles
Schedule of Works
Pre-construction Information to comply with CDM 2015
Designer’s Risk Register to comply with CDM 2015
Collection Pages
Main Summary Page
Form of Tender

The contractor list should be agreed and the tenders issued to contractors for pricing.

When the tenders are recieved there is a tender opening ceremony at Cavendish Surveying’s office. The intial results are issued to the client.

The tender data is input into a spreadsheet and we complete detailed tender analysis. Enquiries are made with contractors as appropriate.

A Tender Analysis Report is produced which will include recommendation for Contractor appointment.

Post Tender

We would oversee the project from start through to completion which would include the following:

Completing site visits
Maintaining close contact with the appointed contractor
Maintaining close contact with the employer
Holding monthly site meetings
Reporting to the employer
Issuing Certificates for Payment in accordance with contract terms
Issuing Contract Administrator’s Instructions during the contract period
Issuing Certificate for Extension of Time as appropriate
Issuing Certificate of Practical Completion

The contractor’s activties are monitored closely to ensure that the work is being carried out using the correct materials and to the appropriate standard of workmanship.

Why choose Cavendish Surveying

The benefit to our clients in employing Cavendish Surveying as Contract Administrator is that they save both time and money by having their involvement for the running of the project reduced to a minimum and can be confident that our involvement will ensure that the finished project meets their expectations and their budget.

If a lease exists, a claim for dilapidations may arise.

A dilapidations claim is a liability as a result of failing to comply with the lease covenants.

The usual main Tenant obligations are as follows:

Repair – to keep or put the demised premises in repair
Redecoration – an express obligation under the terms of the lease to prepare and redecorate previously painted elements
Reinstatement of alterations – remove all tenant alterations at lease expiry and repair and make good all disturbed
Compliance with statute – ensure the demise complies with statute

The landlord’s dilapidations claim is normally prepared by a surveyor who produces a Schedule of Dilapidations and Quantfiied Demand which is served on the Tenant by the Landlord’s solicitor.

At this point, the Tenant is presented with a number of options including; undertaking of the dilapidations works to result in lease compliance or, entering into a negotiation with the Landlord.

It is important to note, dilapidations is a complex area and there are several considerations, the main one being, what has the Landlord suffered as a consequence of the lease breaches.

How we can help

The principal of Cavendish Surveying has acted for both Landlords and Tenants for over ten years.

The first exercise when acting for either Landlord or Tenant is to understand the lease provisions. This will involve a detailed examination of the lease, sub leases and any other associated documents. The contractual obligations must be understood before appraising any dilapidations claim. It can take years to understand your way around a lease.

A dilapidations surveyor should understand requirements of the Property Litigation Association’s “Dilapidations Protocol”, application of Section 18(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 and precedent set by common law.

When acting for Landlords we will:

Advise on whether professional fees incurred by the Landlord are the Tenant’s responsibility
Prepare detailed Schedules of Dilapidations in compliance with the Dilapidations Protocol
Where necessary, recommend for the appointment of specialists such as mechanical and electrical engineers, or drainage specialists
Negotiate the dilapidations claim to full and final settlement with the Tenant or their appointed surveyor

If appointed by Tenants we will:

Advise on the lease obligations
Provide recommendations on the Tenant’s exit strategy. This will include an assessment of the dilapidations liability and whether we
believe undertaking of the works will be more sensible as opposed to reaching a settlement with the Landlord

Responding to the schedule of dilapidations served by the Landlord
Negotating with the Landlord or the Landlord’s appointed surveyor in order to reach a settlement. There are a number of aspects requiring assessment including; application of VAT, supersession, inherrent defects, Landlord’s intentions for the unit and the loss that the Landlord will sustain due to the Tenant’s breaches