Condition ratings
Rating 3 asks you to obtain quotations. Why is the rating itself not one of those quotations?
The rating is a condition mark, not a quotation. Rating 3 means defects that are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently. The number tells you the urgency of what was seen. It does not price the work, name a contractor, or write a builder's specification. The survey has not calculated a cost and has not produced one of the quotations it asks you to obtain. Obtain those figures from people who price the repair. Do not treat the rating as if it were already the quote.
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?
Two elements can both be rating 3 and need entirely different work: a dangerous fitting and a failed covering are not the same job. Only the paragraph says which this one is. A quotation is a priced offer from someone who will do that job. The survey stops at the condition and the advice to get figures. It does not measure up for a builder, and it does not choose a specification. Reading the number as a price invents a document the report does not contain.
Ask contractors to quote the work the paragraph describes, and give them the wording rather than only the digit. Keep those quotations with the solicitor. A lender may want to see them, but the survey has not prepared them. Do not send the rating page and call it a quote. If the paragraph asks for investigation rather than a straight repair, the next piece of paper may be a specialist report, which is still not the rating itself.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Is rating 3 a mark of serious or urgent repair, replacement or investigation?
- Has the survey priced that work or named a contractor?
- Can two rating 3 items need completely different quotations?
What are the typical next steps?
- Obtain written quotations for the work the paragraph describes.
- Keep those quotations with the solicitor.
- Do not send the rating to a lender as if it were a quote.
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 rating 1 mean no repair is currently needed?
Yes. Rating 1 means no repair is currently needed. That is a different mark from rating 3, which is serious and/or urgent. Neither mark is a price. A rating 1 element is maintained in the ordinary way. It does not set a cost for a rating 3 somewhere else in the same report. Read each element on its own paragraph.
Is NI a quotation that nothing is wrong?
No. NI means not inspected, not a pass. It is not a quotation and it is not rating 1. Where the surveyor is concerned about a part they could not see, the report should say what further investigation is needed. That investigation is another instruction. It is not a price hidden inside the letters NI.