Choosing a survey level
Before you instruct, what should you ask about whether the garage flat roof and the garden office are inside the fee?
Ask, in writing, whether the garage flat roof and the garden office are inside the fee and inside the inspection, or whether either is excluded as an outbuilding. Do it before you instruct, so the answer is part of the quote rather than a surprise in the report. The survey has not yet decided anything about those roofs, because it has not been commissioned. A fee that is silent on them has not promised them. Get a yes or a no on each.
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?
Garages and garden rooms are easy to assume are in the house and easy for a quote to leave out. A garage flat roof is a different covering from the main roof, and a garden office may be a separate structure. None of that is inspected by hope. Ask whether both are included, what will be said about them, and what happens to the fee if one is left out. Written answers are what you can hold the report to.
Put the question in the email that accepts the quote, and keep the reply with the terms. If either roof is out, decide whether you still want the instruction or a revised fee that brings it in. Tell anyone else relying on the survey, including your solicitor, what was included. Do not discover the exclusion only when the report says the garden office was not inspected.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Are the garage flat roof and the garden office each inside the inspection?
- Is each of them inside the fee, or priced as an extra?
- What will the report say if access to either is refused?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask in writing, before you instruct, whether both roofs are in the fee.
- Keep the firm's answer with the quote.
- Do not assume an outbuilding is included because it is on the plot.
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 garage is attached, is the flat roof automatically in?
Not automatically. Attached is a description of the building, not a line in the quote. Before you instruct, ask whether that flat roof is inside the fee and the inspection. Silence is not a promise. An attached garage can still be excluded, and you want that said now rather than after the visit.
Does the garden office count as the house for electrics?
The home survey will not decide that by the way the room is used. Ask whether the garden office is inside the fee at all. If it is in, the survey still does not test the electrics. If it is out, it is not part of this inspection. The question before you instruct is inclusion, not a free electrical certificate.