Condition ratings
The crack paragraph says ask a structural engineer. Why is a builder's price not that investigation?
A builder's price is not that investigation because it prices work rather than answering the structural question. The paragraph asked you to put a structural engineer on the crack. A builder can tell you what they would charge to stitch, pin or replaster. That figure does not identify cause, mechanism or whether the crack is still moving, which is what the engineer was named to consider.
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?
The two instructions get confused because both can end with a number. An estimate is useful once you know what is wrong, and where a defect is rated 3 the survey is already pushing you toward written quotations before you enter a legal commitment. Those quotations are about cost. They are not a substitute for the investigation the same report named in the crack paragraph. Paying a builder to guess a repair, before anyone has said what the crack is doing, spends money on a different question.
Instruct the engineer against the paragraph you were given: where the crack is, what the surveyor saw, and what you need in writing. The home survey remains a visual inspection. It did not open the wall, it did not monitor movement, and it did not become the engineer's report by recommending one. No level guarantees concealed parts, so the hidden structure of that crack is exactly the sort of thing the survey left to a specialist. File the builder's price, if you obtain one later, behind the engineer's findings rather than in front of them.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What question do you want the engineer to answer that a price cannot?
- Did you open this crack, or is the cause still unseen?
- Should quotations wait until the engineer has reported?
What are the typical next steps?
- Instruct a structural engineer for the crack the paragraph named.
- Keep any builder's price until you know what the work actually is.
- Do not send the price to the solicitor and call it the investigation.
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 builder used to be an engineer, does the price count?
Only if they are instructed to investigate and they write that investigation. A price alone is still a price.
Does rating 3 mean you skip the engineer and only collect quotes?
No. Rating 3 tells you the matter is serious or urgent and to get written quotations before commitment. If the paragraph also names an engineer, that investigation is still the one it asked for.