Survey costs
Is a survey firm in breach if its Level 1 fee is above a few hundred pounds, or its Level 3 fee is under £1,000?
No. Nothing in the RICS consumer guide fines a firm, or voids a quote, for sitting either side of those illustrations. The words show that fees vary and that the levels are not the same product. Your comparison is the written quote for this address: which level, and what is included.
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?
Firms still meet buyers who arrive with those phrases as if they were a price list. The guide uses them so you understand that levels are not all the same cost, and that there is no single fee. Your figure depends on the firm, the property, the level, the distance, and what is included. A Level 3 under £1,000 is not automatically wrong. A Level 1 above a few hundred pounds is not automatically a breach. Neither phrase is an invoice.
Compare written quotes for a named level, a named address, and a stated scope, including whether a valuation is extra and whether VAT is included. Do not reject a quote solely because it sits outside a sentence in a consumer guide, and do not demand that a complicated building be forced into the lower phrase. Repairs the report may later recommend are not inside those words at all. There is no RICS rebate if your quote is higher, and no RICS penalty if it is lower.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What does this quote include that the consumer-guide phrases do not price?
- Which level is the figure for?
- Does the figure include VAT, extras and a valuation, or not?
What are the typical next steps?
- Use the firm’s quote, not the guide’s description, as the fee.
- Do not treat a few hundred pounds or £1,000 as a cap.
- Ask what changes the fee on this particular building.
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
Can you complain to RICS that a quote broke the guide?
The guide is not a tariff. A complaint about service is a different subject from a fee that is simply higher than those words.
Does the same wording fix a London fee and a rural fee?
No. The guide says cost is variable. It does not set a regional table.