Choosing a survey level
The report mentions the question of scope next to concrete block in the south west. Has cores you must ask about before you assume they are included been tested, or only named?
Only named. Cores you must ask about, before you assume they are included, have not been tested. The report puts a question of scope next to concrete block in the south west. That is a prompt to ask what the instruction covers. It is not a core test, and it is not a result. A visual home survey does not become a materials investigation because the walls are concrete block. The survey has named the scope question. It has not sampled the block, and it has not decided what the concrete contains.
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?
Scope is the list of work the fee covers. Concrete block in the south west is a reason to ask whether that list includes sampling, because a look at the surface will not identify the aggregate. Asking is not the same as receiving the test. If the confirmation comes back that cores are excluded, the walls remain visually described only. If they are included, you should see that in the instruction and, later, in a result that this page does not already contain.
Write to the surveyor and ask whether cores of the concrete block are inside the agreed scope. Keep the reply with the report. Tell the solicitor the visit named the question and did not test the walls. Do not tell a lender the concrete has been classified by a survey that only flagged the scope. If the answer is that sampling is extra, decide then whether to instruct it. Until that reply arrives, the cores stay unnamed as work done.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Does the written instruction include cores, or only a visual look at the block?
- Has any sample of the concrete already been taken on this visit?
- Where in the report is the scope question distinguished from a result?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask the surveyor in writing whether cores are included.
- Keep that reply with the report.
- Do not describe the concrete as sampled until a result exists.
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 concrete block in the south west itself prove a problem?
No. The location and the material are why a buyer asks about scope. They are not a test, and they are not a result. Cores you might assume are included have only been named as something to ask about. This visit has not sampled the block. The walls stay visually noted, with their contents undecided.
If the surveyor says cores are extra, has the present report failed?
No. A visual instruction that does not include cores has done what it was asked, and it should say so. The failure would be assuming the cores were inside it. Ask, and if they are extra, decide whether to add them. The page you have has named the question. It has not pretended the sample already happened.