Choosing a survey level
In a Home Report the energy report recommends new windows and the single survey rates the windows 2. Why are those different documents?
Because the energy report is an energy document and the single survey is the condition document. A recommendation of new windows is about energy performance. A condition mark of 2 is a sentence in the single survey, not that recommendation rewritten as a rating. A Home Report is the Scottish product a purchaser is pointed to. It holds both papers, and it is not an English Level 2 you instruct yourself. The documents can share a cover and still answer different questions. One has not become the other.
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?
Energy reports suggest glazing, insulation or heating. They are not deciding whether frames are rotten. The single survey is where condition is recorded. A mark of 2 lives there, with the wording around the number. It does not mean the energy report has been adopted as the condition finding, and the energy report does not mean new windows have been ordered. Readers who collapse the pack into one voice will think they were told the same thing twice. They were told two different things.
Read the single survey for the windows, including the lines under the number, and read the energy report as energy advice. Ask the solicitor to keep them distinct if a seller says the two are one instruction. A Home Report is the Scottish product a purchaser is pointed to, not an English Level 2 you commission yourself. Do not invent how long the pack lasts. A further look at the windows would be a new instruction, not the two documents added together.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which document recommends new windows, and which gives the condition mark?
- Have you read the lines under the single survey's mark, not only the energy tip?
- Are you treating the pack as an English Level 2 you instructed?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the energy report and the single survey as different documents.
- Do not treat a window recommendation as the condition finding.
- Do not treat the Home Report as an English Level 2 you instructed.
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 both mention windows, must the windows be replaced?
Not on that logic. The energy report recommends new windows for energy reasons. The single survey's mark is a condition comment in a different document. Neither paper, in this question, is an order you have been shown to replace the frames. Read what each actually says. Do not add them into a single instruction.
Can the seller say the energy report has overruled the single survey?
No. They are different documents inside the Home Report, which is the Scottish product a purchaser is pointed to. The energy report does not overrule the single survey, and the single survey does not become an English Level 2. Each part keeps its own job.