Homebuyer Drain Surveys in Stockport
Buying a house and want to know what is under it before you exchange. Full colour footage, a written report your solicitor can use, and a straight answer on the one question that decides the cost — whose pipe is it.
Book a survey, or ask whether you actually need one.
Why the building survey is not enough on its own
A homebuyer or building survey stops at the chamber lid. A surveyor can tell you that a gully is cracked, that there is staining at the back of the house, or that the manhole is full — and then, quite properly, recommends a specialist drainage investigation, because looking down the pipe is not what they do.
That recommendation is where most people meet this. It is also the point at which the purchase acquires an open-ended risk with no number attached to it, which is uncomfortable when you are trying to exchange. The survey exists to close that back down to a fact.
What you get, and what it has to be good enough for
A homebuyer survey is read by more people than any other kind, so it has to stand up to all of them — you, your solicitor, the seller's side, and sometimes a lender or an insurer. You get:
- The full colour footage, as a file you keep, so a second opinion is possible without a second visit.
- A written report naming each defect, where it is along the run, how serious it is, and what it would actually take to put right.
- A drain plan showing the runs, the chambers and the connections — including which pipes serve this property alone and which are shared.
- A coded defect list to industry standard where the report needs it. Solicitors, lenders and insurers generally do.
- A plain-English summary, because the coded version is unreadable to everyone who is not a drainage engineer, and you are the one making the decision.
How it works when you are on a deadline
Almost every one of these is booked against a date somebody else set. Say what that date is when you ring — it changes what we can promise, and we would rather tell you at the start than at the end.
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Tell us the address and the deadline
The property, what the building survey said if it said anything, and when you are hoping to exchange. If a survey cannot be done in time to be useful, that is worth knowing before you pay for one.
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Access, which is the part that slips
You almost certainly do not own the house yet, so somebody has to let us in — the seller, or the agent. Arranging that is the single most common reason a survey runs late, and it is worth starting the moment you decide you want one.
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The survey itself
Chambers lifted, camera through the runs, everything recorded. Allow a morning for access: the survey itself is usually an hour to ninety minutes, but a homebuyer job lifts every chamber on the plot and draws a plan rather than answering one question, so it is worth not booking it tight. A large plot, a long private run or a system nobody has a plan for takes longer again.
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The report, and a conversation about it
The written report and the footage come to you, and we will talk you through what is in it. That conversation matters more here than on any other job, because you are about to make a decision with it rather than just book a repair.
Before exchange, or after completion
You look before you exchange
- You know what the defect is and roughly what it costs
- You know whether it is even yours to fix
- It is a fact in a negotiation rather than a worry
- You can walk away, and occasionally that is the right answer
You find out afterwards
- Every pound of it is yours
- A collapse under a new extension or drive is a very different job
- Insurance rarely covers a defect that predates the policy
- The seller has no reason to take your call
Exchanging soon? Ring and say so.
The date is the thing that decides whether this is worth doing, and you will get a straight answer about it on the phone.
Common questions
The mortgage valuation did not mention the drains. Is that the same as a survey?
No, and the two get confused constantly. A mortgage valuation is for the lender, not for you, and it is an assessment of whether the property is worth what is being lent against it — nobody lifts a chamber lid for one. Even a full building survey stops at the surface. If you want to know what condition the pipework is in, somebody has to put a camera down it; there is no other way to see the condition of the pipe, and no other report covers it.
We are exchanging next week. Is there any point?
Often yes, but the honest constraint is access rather than us — somebody has to let us into a house you do not own yet, and arranging that through an agent is what usually costs the days. Tell us the date when you ring and you will get a realistic answer. If it genuinely cannot be done in time to inform the decision, we will say so rather than take the booking, because a report that lands after exchange is a repair quote, not a survey.
Can I use the report to renegotiate?
People do, routinely, and a coded report with footage is far harder to argue with than an opinion. What we will not do is tell you what to ask for — that is between you and your solicitor, and it depends on things well outside drainage. What we give you is an accurate description of what is there, what it would take to put right, and whether it is even the buyer's liability in the first place. Those are the facts the conversation needs.
Do I need the seller's permission?
Yes. You are not the owner yet, so access has to be agreed with the seller, usually through the estate agent. In practice it is rarely refused — a seller who has nothing to hide generally wants the sale to proceed as much as you do, and a refusal is itself information. Start the request early; it is the step that most often delays this.
The house is a new build. Do we still need one?
Less often, and it is worth saying so. A recent build under warranty, on drainage that has been adopted or is still covered, is a much weaker case than a Victorian terrace with a shared lateral. Where a new build does justify it is when the plot has been built over an older run, or where the garden and driveway went in after the drainage did — which is where we find the damage on new properties. Ring and describe it and we will tell you honestly whether it is worth your money.
What happens if the defect turns out to be the water company's?
Then it is not your repair bill, and that is the best outcome this survey has. Shared drains and everything past the boundary have generally been United Utilities' since 2011. We give you the footage and the report showing where the defect sits, which is normally all they need to take it on. It is also the reason we would rather do this before you exchange than after: the same finding is worth a great deal more to you while you are still deciding.
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Read moreWhere we do this
Homebuyer Drain Surveys across Stockport and the towns around it. Pick your town for response times, postcodes and the drainage we actually see there.