Non-standard construction
The concrete columns of an Airey house have been painted and no repair scheme is in the pack. What has the paint not shown you about the concrete?
The paint has not shown you the concrete. It covers the Airey columns, so cracks, spalling, exposed reinforcement and the condition of the concrete beneath the coating were not visible. No repair scheme is in the pack, and paint is not a scheme. The survey can say the columns are painted. It cannot describe concrete it could not see, and it has not tested or sampled that concrete. The coating is a finish, not a report on the columns.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Airey houses are a precast reinforced-concrete system, recognised by concrete columns and panels. The columns are the part people worry about, and they are also the part a coat of paint conceals. A repair scheme, where one was done, is a set of papers and a method, not a colour on the surface. Without those papers, and without a view of the concrete, you do not know whether a scheme was carried out, refused, or never started. The survey should not invent one.
Ask your solicitor to request any repair-scheme certificate or specification from the seller. Do not scrape or strip the paint yourself to inspect the columns. If the concrete must be seen, that is a specialist inspection with access agreed, not a job for the home survey you already have. Tell a lender the columns were painted and no scheme was in the pack. The survey has not certified the concrete.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Were the column faces painted, with no bare concrete in view?
- Did you see any repair-scheme papers, or was the pack silent?
- Have you avoided describing the concrete condition under the paint?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask the solicitor for any Airey repair-scheme certificate.
- Do not treat the paint as evidence of a repair.
- Do not strip the coating yourself to inspect the columns.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the paint film is intact, are the columns sound?
No. Intact paint means the film has not flaked off. It does not show the concrete, the reinforcement or whether a repair scheme was done. The survey did not sample the columns and has not called them sound. The film says nothing about the concrete it covers.
Does a neighbour's repaired Airey prove this one was repaired?
No. A neighbouring house is a different address with its own papers. Nothing in this pack shows a scheme for these columns. The survey cannot borrow a certificate from next door. This house needs its own scheme papers, if any exist at all.