Choosing a survey level
You have been offered a Level 2 on a house the agent already calls PRC. What should you ask the firm before you accept that level?
Not the level to accept on the label alone. Before you take a Level 2 on a house the agent already calls PRC, ask the firm whether they will actually report that construction. PRC is non-standard. Unusual and non-standard construction is a Level 3 conversation, because you need the building described, not passed over as if it were an ordinary cavity house. The question is not whether a firm may mention Level 2. The question is whether this instruction will say what the concrete construction is, and what they could and could not see of it.
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?
An agent calling a house PRC is a warning, not a specification. Precast reinforced concrete systems differ, and the name on a brochure is not the survey. Level 2 is aimed at conventional homes of simple form. If the firm already knows the agent says PRC, ask them to say, in writing, whether they will identify the system as far as they can, or whether they will only give a standard Level 2 and stay quiet on the frame.
Do not treat the offer of Level 2 as proof that PRC is conventional. RICS points unusual construction toward a more detailed survey. Ask what a Level 3 would add here: how the panels or columns are built, what is hidden by render, and what repair consequences follow. Deciding is not the same as accepting Level 2 because it was offered. If the firm will not report the construction, do not pretend the level has done the job the house is asking for.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Will you state the PRC construction in the report, or only if you are sure?
- Why is Level 2 being offered once the house is already called non-standard?
- What would Level 3 add about the concrete that Level 2 would leave out?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask the firm whether they will actually report the PRC construction.
- Treat non-standard construction as a Level 3 conversation.
- Do not accept Level 2 only because it was the level offered.
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
Does an agent saying PRC make Level 2 the wrong product automatically?
It makes Level 2 a question, not a default. Ask whether the firm will report the construction before you accept it in writing.
Is every concrete house banned from Level 2?
No. The point is this house is already called PRC. Unusual construction belongs in a Level 3 conversation, not in silence on the level.