Renegotiating or walking away
A damp specialist's quotation arrives with a treatment the survey did not ask for. Why should you not send that figure to the seller as if the survey had specified it?
Because the quotation specifies a treatment the survey did not ask for. Sending that figure to the seller presents the specialist's proposal as if it were the survey's specification. It is not. The survey said what it said about damp. The specialist has offered a treatment of their own. Those are different documents. Use the survey for the finding. Use the quotation only if you and the surveyor agree it answers the finding. Do not forward it as the report's instruction.
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?
The specialist has priced a treatment of their own choosing. If the survey did not ask for that treatment, the figure is not evidence of what the survey required. It may be a fair way to deal with the damp, or it may be wider than the note. You cannot tell which from the total alone. Ask the surveyor whether this proposal is what they had in mind, or whether it goes beyond the finding. Until they say so, it is not their specification.
If the survey asked for further investigation rather than for a named treatment, send the investigation, not a treatment quote dressed up as one. If you do want the seller to see a price, say plainly that it is the specialist's proposal and not a specification in the report. Your solicitor can decide what, if anything, is put to the other side. Mislabelling the paper is how a sales quote becomes a fake survey instruction.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did your report ask for this treatment, or for something narrower?
- What finding would a relevant quotation need to address?
- Should this specialist's proposal be kept separate from your wording?
What are the typical next steps?
- Do not send the treatment quote as if the survey had specified it.
- Ask the surveyor whether the proposed treatment matches the note.
- Label any figure you do pass on as the specialist's, not the survey's.
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 the specialist is well known, has the survey adopted the quote?
No. Reputation does not make their treatment the survey's specification. The survey did not ask for that treatment. Do not send the figure as if it had.
If the quote is the only price you have, must you use it?
No. Having only one paper is not a reason to mislabel it. Get a quotation that matches the finding, or say clearly that this one does not.