Survey costs
A new-build warranty may have an excess the survey does not state. What should you not type into the price negotiation as if the survey had priced it?
Do not type an excess, or any other warranty sum, into the negotiation as if the survey had priced it. The report does not state a warranty excess. A number you insert would be an invention. If a new-build warranty exists, any excess is in that policy, which you should read rather than guess. Do not invent a minimum claim. Do not name a product the PDF never named and then negotiate as though the survey had costed it.
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?
New-build paperwork and a home survey sit in different piles. The survey, if you have one, describes condition it could see. A warranty, if the seller has one, is a contract with its own definitions, exclusions and claims process. Some policies have an excess. Some buyers never find the schedule. The correct reaction to not knowing is to ask for the documents, not to type a placeholder sum into a price reduction and attribute it to the surveyor. The surveyor has not seen a figure they did not state, and the guidance does not publish one for you to borrow.
Your solicitor can ask for the warranty documents and explain what they appear to cover. Another company's policy is not automatically the famous product you have heard of, so do not rename it. Do not guess the date cover started, and do not guess a minimum value below which a claim would fail. Those details are either in the papers or they are unknown. Unknown is not a licence to invent. Use the survey for condition. Use the policy for the policy. Keep any price talk labelled with the document that actually contained the number.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Have you stated any warranty excess in this report?
- Which defects are condition comments, not claims advice?
- What should I ask the solicitor to obtain before I talk about warranty money?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the warranty if it is supplied.
- Do not invent an excess and attribute it to the survey.
- Do not guess a minimum claim value.
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 agent names an excess from memory, can I treat it as the survey's?
No. Memory is not the report. Ask for the policy schedule.
Does a snag the survey notes automatically fall inside a warranty excess?
The survey does not say that. Cover, and any excess, are questions for the policy, not for a guessed line in the negotiation.