Choosing a survey level
You booked a Level 1 and you can already see a crack you wanted advice on. What repair advice does that product not set out to give?
A Level 1 does not set out to give repair advice on the crack you can already see. The product records condition within a limited scope. It does not set out a method, a specification, or a sequence for putting that crack right. Booking it, and being able to see the crack, does not enlarge it into a repair design. The survey can note that a crack is there. It has not advised how to repair it, has not settled the cause, and has not written a scheme. Repair advice is what the scope does not set out to give.
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?
Level 1 is the shortest of the RICS home survey products. It is for recording condition, not for designing repairs, and it is aimed at a conventional house that appears in reasonable condition. Wanting advice on a crack you can already see does not change the product that was booked. The report can say the crack is there. It will not tell you whether to stitch or to monitor. Those choices are repair advice. This product does not set out to give them, and this visit has not given them.
If you want repair advice on the crack, you need a product that sets out to give it, or a separate instruction to someone who will. Tell the solicitor the Level 1 has not specified a repair. Do not read a short note of a crack you could already see as a scheme of work. RICS publishes the Level 1 scope so the limit is visible. The limit here is repair advice. The survey has not stepped over it because the crack was obvious on the day.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did this Level 1 stop short of repair advice on the crack?
- What did you record about the crack without specifying a remedy?
- Would a different product be needed if repair advice is what you want?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the Level 1 as a condition record, not as repair advice.
- Do not treat a note of the crack as a repair scheme.
- Instruct a fuller survey if you need advice on how to repair the crack.
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 crack is obvious and wide, must the Level 1 say how to fix it?
No. How to fix the crack is repair advice, and a Level 1 does not set out to give it. The survey has not specified a remedy because that is outside the product. An obvious crack is a reason to think about a more detailed inspection. It does not rewrite the survey you booked into a repair design.
Can a repair paragraph be added because you pointed the crack out on the day?
Not as part of the Level 1 that was booked. Repair advice sits outside what that product sets out to give. A different instruction would have to be agreed. This report has not become that instruction because the crack was pointed at. The limit of the product remains the limit.