Choosing a survey level
The cottage is thatched and the firm quotes the same site time as for a modern flat. Why is the brochure time not the inspection of this roof?
Because the brochure time is a generic slot, the same figure the firm quotes for a modern flat, and a thatched roof is not that flat. The quoted duration describes how the firm diaries an ordinary visit. It does not describe the looking this coat of thatch needs: the ridge, the eaves, the chimney abutment, the valleys if there are any, and the condition of the coat from wherever it can actually be seen. Putting the same hours on two unlike roofs does not make the inspections alike. The brochure time is a scheduling line. It is not the inspection of this roof.
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?
Thatch is a thick, layered covering. Defects sit in the coat, around chimneys and under the ridge, and they are not the defects of a flat roof. A slot copied from a flat's appointment does not add time for a distant slope or a complicated junction. A short quote does not prove the surveyor will skimp. It shows the brochure has not described this roof. What will be inspected is the scope in the terms, not the number printed for every job.
Ask the firm what they will do about the thatch, and from where, before you accept the slot. Ask whether time on site will extend if the roof demands it. Get thatch named in the scope, not only a duration borrowed from a flat. Do not treat the brochure figure as a promise that this covering will be understood. The inspection is the work described and then done. The clock in the brochure is not that work.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What of this thatch will you inspect, and from which viewpoints?
- Is the quoted site time a generic slot or a plan for this roof?
- Will the scope name the thatch rather than only a duration?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask how the thatch will be inspected, not how long a flat takes.
- Get the roof written into the scope.
- Do not treat the brochure duration as the inspection.
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 stays longer, has the brochure time become accurate?
A longer stay may be a better inspection, and it still does not make the brochure figure a description of this roof. The brochure equated a thatch with a flat. What matters is what was actually seen of the ridge, the eaves and the abutments, written in the report. The slot is not the survey.
Does a thatched roof require a particular number of hours?
The brochure has not established one, and neither should a guess. The point is that copying the flat's time does not describe this roof. Ask what will be looked at. Judge the inspection by the scope and the report, not by matching a clock to a different building.