Choosing a survey level
You paid for a Level 3 and the carpets stayed down. Why has the building-survey name not promised that floor coverings would be lifted?
The building-survey name has not promised that, because a Level 3 is a more detailed report, not a warrant that fitted coverings will be lifted. You paid for that level, and the carpets stayed down. The survey should say so, as a limit on what was seen of the floors. It has not inspected the boards or the joists the carpet still hides. The product name describes how the survey is reported. It does not, by itself, move the furniture or take the carpet up.
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?
People hear building survey and picture floors opened. The inspection is still principally visual. Coverings come up only where that was agreed and where it can be done without damage the occupier has accepted. A Level 3 can discuss the floors more fully than a shorter report, and it should be plain about what it could not see. It cannot describe timber it did not uncover. Paying for the level buys the level of inspection in the terms, not a promise the name is sometimes thought to make.
Read the limitations section for the floors, and compare it with what the quote actually said about lifting coverings. If you still need the boards seen, that is a new agreement with the seller and the surveyor, not something the Level 3 title already contained. Tell the solicitor the carpets stayed down. Do not treat an unseen floor as a clear one because the report is long.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did the terms you agreed say carpets would be lifted, or only that floors would be inspected as visible?
- Where does the report say the coverings stayed down?
- What of the floor structure was hidden and therefore not described?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the Level 3 as not a promise that carpets come up.
- Check the report's limit on floors that stayed covered.
- Agree any later lifting separately, with the seller's consent.
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 walked every room, have the floors been seen?
They have seen the coverings, not automatically what is under them. A Level 3 walk-through is not a promise to lift carpets. Where the carpets stayed down, the boards and joists beneath were not in view. The building-survey name does not change that. The report should mark the limit, and a walked room is not an opened floor.
Does a heavier report fee include taking the carpet up?
Not by the name of the product. The fee is for the level described in the quote. Unless that quote said coverings would be lifted, the carpets can stay down and the report should say so. Do not invent a lifting service the terms did not contain. What was hidden stays hidden in this inspection.