Survey costs
The report mentions a reinstatement figure. Why is that figure not the price you have agreed to pay the seller?
That reinstatement figure is not the price you have agreed to pay the seller. It is a rebuild number for insurance, aimed at what it might cost to reconstruct the building, not a market price for the house as it stands. MoneyHelper explains that a mortgage valuation is not a structural survey. A down-valuation, if a lender later makes one, is the lender's figure, not a defect list written by the home survey. None of those numbers is your agreed price.
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?
Reinstatement asks a different question: if the building had to be put back, what sum might the insurer need to consider. It ignores what a buyer will pay for this house, on this plot, in this condition, on this deal. The figure can sit in a report so an insurer is not left without a starting point. It is not a check on the contract price, and the survey has not negotiated with the seller. Reading it as the price would mix insurance with the bargain.
Tell your solicitor the agreed price remains the price in the contract papers, and that the reinstatement figure is an insurance estimate inside the survey. A lender's valuation, including any down-valuation, is the lender's own process. Do not invent the lender's criteria, and do not ask the surveyor to move the reinstatement figure until it matches what you are paying. They are not meant to match. Keep the insurance number with the insurance enquiry.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Is the reinstatement figure described as a rebuild sum for insurance?
- Has it been kept apart from the price agreed with the seller?
- Is any lender valuation a separate figure from both?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep reinstatement with the insurance question, not the price.
- Tell the solicitor the contract price is unchanged by that figure.
- Do not treat a lender's valuation as the home survey's defect list.
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 the rebuild figure sit above the agreed price?
Yes. Rebuilding can be costed differently from what a buyer pays for an existing house, so the two numbers need not match. The survey has not decided that one of them is wrong because they differ. Use the reinstatement figure for insurance questions. Use the contract for the price you have agreed to pay the seller.
Does a mortgage valuation rewrite the reinstatement figure?
No. MoneyHelper makes clear that a mortgage valuation is not a structural survey, and it is not an edit of the reinstatement figure either. A down-valuation is the lender's figure, not a defect list written by the home survey. Leave each number in its own paper.