Building Surveys

Whether its a house or a commercial property, before you commit to buying, get a building professional to look at it for you. What may look like a good choice at first hand may turn out to contain some inherent problems that will cost you money later on.

Raeside Architects has been checking out properties for prospective buyers for over 16 years. As architects, we know what signs to look out for, what the root causes may be for many building defects and how to fix them.

Older buildings and “period properties” can be especially troublesome. Over the years we have seen older buildings in very poor condition because of incorrect application of modern materials and methods intended as “improvements”. Modern paints, cement, double-glazed sealed windows, blocked-up fireplaces and many more modern interventions can lead to older buildings becoming unfit for human occupation because of damp, mould and rot. Simple things like blocked hidden gutters can be the cause of rotting timbers elsewhere in a building, as in photo to the right.

Buy one of these at your peril. Or, ask us to examine the building and prepare a building report for you before you buy. We won’t be able to see through walls, but we will be able to give you a good indication of what you might be letting yourself in for!