Non-Traditional and Traditional Properties,
What Are They?
Independent Surveyors
We are highly qualified independent Surveyors who can provide help and advice with regard to traditional and non-traditional housing, estate agents, building surveys, structural surveys, independent valuations, specific defects reports or any other property matters.
We are independent which means we are not linked to or owned by an estate agent or lending institute, and as a result we are only working with your best interests in mind.
Please free phone 0800 298 5424 for a friendly chat with one of our surveyors.
Why we recommend having an independent building survey?
Always have an independent building survey as this will pin point any property problems. Caveat emptor means buyer beware and is why you need to have a building survey to find out if there are any problems within the property; the estate agent certainly will not advise you of any.
Traditional properties
Traditional properties very much depend upon where you are in the country and what age of property you are looking at.
Vernacular architecture
Many older properties have what is known as vernacular architecture. This is architecture that is local to the area. This can mean in the form of style but also, and probably mainly, in the form of material used, for example most areas would originally have used timber to build in, as timber was plentiful, then they would have moved onto stone and used local resources such as clay for bricks.
The industrial revolution changed traditional buildings!
With the coming of the transport system in the form of canals and railways materials were able to be transported some distance. This was particularly prevalent in the Victorian era when slates from Wales were transported all over the country. Nevertheless, it was normally still thought of as traditional construction.
After the war years
After World War I and World War II there was a pressing need for accommodation and different ways were looked at to build quickly and economically. This was probably the start of the non-traditional construction era. Properties can look like traditional properties or they can look completely different and are certainly treated differently by mortgage lenders.
What mortgage lenders consider traditional and non-traditional
Most mortgage lenders would consider traditionally built properties to be brick or stone with a tile or slate roof and older properties a timber frame construction with non-traditional construction such as system building construction that appeared after the war, may be deemed not acceptable unless work is carried out, or simply just not acceptable. We have heard it argued that in fact the mortgage companies limit the design flair in this country as if a designer used a system to build that wasn't traditional it would be very difficult to get a mortgage upon it and thereby limiting the market, as we believe it is between 80% and 90% of all people and mortgages on their property.
Compare our Building Surveys but don't compare Apples with Thursdays
Whether it is a traditional or non-traditional construction we have a wealth of knowledge and experience as independent surveyors and have carried out surveys on many different types and eras of property.
We are more than happy to email you example surveys. Please call us on 0800 298 5424.
We have every confidence in our surveys and believe there are no other comparable surveys out there in the UK property and surveying market.
Having a survey carried out on the property by an independent surveyor will give you extra peace of mind.
Meet your Surveyor at the property
We like to meet you at the property during the survey to answer any questions and we are more than happy to talk to you about the survey report.
The photos and sketches and circles and ovals we use in our building survey reports
All things property related interest us greatly as surveyors and we hope this reflects in our building surveys.
We use many photos and sketches which we have commissioned in our building survey reports and if we want to highlight a certain area we also use circles and ovals on our photos and sketches to make the problems as clear and as easy to understand as possible.
An example of one of our sketches
An example of one of our photos
Our articles
We hope you found the article of use and if you have any experiences that you feel should be added to this article that would benefit others, or you feel that some of the information that we have put is wrong then please do not hesitate to contact us (we are only human).
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