Survey costs
What should you ask about VAT and extras before you compare two survey quotes?
Ask whether the figure includes VAT, travel, a valuation, and any third-party search. Two headline numbers are not comparable until those are listed. RICS does not publish a national Level 2 or Level 3 price, so the quotes are the only prices. A forum average is not a third quote.
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?
Disbursements might include a map, a mining search or a print. If they are extra, they should be named. Environmental searches the solicitor orders are not the surveyor’s disbursement unless the quote says the surveyor will buy them. Do not pay both by accident.
A cheap quote that excludes the roof void and the garage is a smaller product. Compare the scope paragraph, then the money. There is no “standard extra” for a drain camera. If you want one, it is a separate line from a drainage firm or an agreed add-on.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Is VAT included in this number?
- Which disbursements are extra?
- Is the loft, and are outbuildings, in the scope I am comparing?
What are the typical next steps?
- Rewrite both quotes as a list: fee, VAT, travel, valuation, extras.
- Throw away any comparison that uses a national average. There isn’t one.
- Add specialist tests only if you have decided you need them.
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
Is a card fee a disbursement RICS requires?
No. It is the firm’s charging. Ask. It is not a condition rating.
Does a shared-ownership valuation include VAT in the same way?
Ask that provider. Their valuation of the share is not this home-survey quote.