Condition ratings
You hold a roofer's price for the slipped slates. Has the further investigation the report asked for been done?
The investigation has not been done. The paper in your hand is a roofer's price for the slipped slates, which is a cost for a repair they are willing to price. Further investigation, where the report asked for it, is a look at the cause and the extent, not a figure on its own. Until that look has been written up, the request in the survey is still open.
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?
A price can be exactly what you need later. Where an element is rating 3, serious or urgent, the survey tells you to obtain written quotations before you enter a legal commitment. That advice is about not committing blind to cost. It is easy to treat the first quotation as if it were also the investigation. It is not, if the paragraph asked someone to find out why the slates slipped, whether the fault is local, and what else in the slope is involved. A number for replacing the visible slips does not answer those points.
Go back to the sentence in the report and see what it named: a roofer's diagnosis, a closer inspection of the slope, or simply quotes for an obvious repair. Match the booking to that sentence. The home survey did not lift every slate, and it does not guarantee concealed parts of the roof. The price you hold is evidence of what one contractor would charge on the terms they assumed. File it as a price. Commission the investigation the report actually requested if that step has not been written down yet.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What did you want investigated about the slipped slates beyond a replacement price?
- Does this quotation answer that, or only price the visible slips?
- What would a written investigation still need to say?
What are the typical next steps?
- Compare the roofer's price with the exact sentence in the report.
- Book the investigation if the report asked for a diagnosis, not only a cost.
- Keep the price labelled as a price.
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 three roofers give prices, has the investigation happened?
Not by headcount. Three prices are still prices unless one of them is the written investigation that was asked for.
Should you ignore the price entirely?
No. Keep it. Use it when you know the extent. Do not pretend it closed the investigation.