Choosing a survey level
The brochure says building survey and the scope paragraph reads like a Level 2. Which paragraph tells you the product?
The scope paragraph tells you the product. The words building survey in the brochure do not, if the scope that follows is the narrower one. A Level 2 scope is a visual inspection with limited opening up and services left untested. A Level 3 building survey is the wider product. When the headline and the scope disagree, the paragraph that lists what will and will not be done is the one you can hold the firm to. Marketing language is not the engagement. Read the scope, and ask for the level to be named in the terms.
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?
Brochures reach for the phrase people think is the thorough one. Scope paragraphs are more precise: roofs from ground level unless said otherwise, furniture not moved, drains not tested. That list is Level 2 language even when the cover says building survey. You are buying the list. If you wanted a longer account of an old house, and the scope never promises it, the cover has oversold the job. Pause before you pay. Do not solve the puzzle after a thinner report arrives.
Write to the firm and ask them to confirm, in the terms, whether this is Level 2 or Level 3, and to make the scope match the answer. If they mean Level 2, ask them to drop the building-survey headline or explain exactly what extra you are getting. Do not rely on a spoken assurance that it is basically Level 3. The paragraph in the document is what a later argument can use. Choose the product by that paragraph, then instruct the one you actually want.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which paragraph sets out what will be inspected and what will not?
- Does that scope match Level 2, whatever the brochure headline says?
- Will the terms name the level in words that agree with the scope?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the scope paragraph as the product, not the headline.
- Ask the firm to name Level 2 or Level 3 in the terms.
- Do not instruct on a brochure word that the scope contradicts.
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 surveyor later writes a long report, has it become Level 3?
Length after the visit does not rewrite the scope you agreed. The product is the paragraph that said what would be done. A full write-up of a Level 2 inspection is still that inspection. If you needed Level 3, the time to say so was when the scope read as Level 2.
Can you ignore the scope if the fee matches a building survey?
No. The fee does not relabel the paragraph. Ask what the scope is committing the firm to do. A building-survey price attached to a Level 2 list is a question about the quote, not proof you will receive the wider product.