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Price discrepancies between surveyors.


Microsoft

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Has anyone had any experience using a survayor who charges less than £650 and have they found them to be satisfactory. 

 

I have found surveyors to charge between 700 ish £ to 800 £ to do a survey and then I have been quoted around 400£ for a full boat survey by others. 

 

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? 

 

 

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Have you ever had any quotes for (say) building work ?

 

You can get prices as much as 2 or 3 times the lowest quote, you can only assume ;

 

1) You get the same 'job' done to the same standard but one builder is desperate for work and quotes a 'silly' price just to get the job, or.

 

2) The lowest price will result in 'you get what you pay for', or.

 

3) Using the highest price builder you get a quality job, no corners cut and 'you get what you pay for'.

 

If you are paying £50,000 for a boat and have decided to use a surveyor then why risk it all for the sake of 'a couple of hundred quid' and only get 'half-a-job' done.

 

 

Edit to add :

I suppose  if he is already doing another boat in the same area then he has no travelling time so can give a lower price.

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Have you ever had any quotes for (say) building work ?

 

You can get prices as much as 2 or 3 times the lowest quote, you can only assume ;

 

1) You get the same 'job' done to the same standard but one builder is desperate for work and quotes a 'silly' price just to get the job, or.

 

2) The lowest price will result in 'you get what you pay for', or.

 

3) Using the highest price builder you get a quality job, no corners cut and 'you get what you pay for'.

 

If you are paying £50,000 for a boat and have decided to use a surveyor then why risk it all for the sake of 'a couple of hundred quid' and only get 'half-a-job' done.

 

 

Edit to add :

I suppose  if he is already doing another boat in the same area then he has no travelling time so can give a lower price.

And some think the more they pay the better the job which is a good incentive to charge high.

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39 minutes ago, Microsoft said:

What would you class as a fair price? £700 for a full survay? 

 

Bear in mind that in most cases you are also going to have to pay for a 'lift out' and a 'drop back in' after the survey £1000 'all in' would not be unreasonable to budget for.

 

The problem comes when folk are looking at the 'bottom end' of the market (say sub £20,000) and the boats in that price range are 'not the best'. You pay a £1000 for a survey, and the boat 'fails', you now have £19,000 so look at slightly cheaper boats, find one, pay £1000 and have it surveyed, it fails quite badly so you now have £18,000  ..........................

 

You can see where this is going.

 

If buying on a limited budget you either :

 

1) have to accept you are not going to be able to buy a boat that will remain floating.

2) buy a campervan

3) keep saving until you get enough saved up to take you up into the next price bracket where 'good' boats can be found

4) start a crowd-funding page

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On 12/09/2020 at 19:37, Microsoft said:

Has anyone had any experience using a survayor who charges less than £650 and have they found them to be satisfactory. 

 

I have found surveyors to charge between 700 ish £ to 800 £ to do a survey and then I have been quoted around 400£ for a full boat survey by others. 

 

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? 

 

 

 

The going rate up North for a pre-purchase survey was a tenner per foot last time I got one six years ago.

 

So a 40ft boat would be £400 regardless of asking price and a 70ft boat would be £700 regardless of asking price.

 

Are you specifying you want a pre-purchase survey? These tend to be more detailed and more expensive than an insurance survey or a hull survey.

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22 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

The going rate up North for a pre-purchase survey was a tenner per foot last time I got one six years ago.

 

So a 40ft boat would be £400 regardless of asking price and a 70ft boat would be £700 regardless of asking price.

 

Are you specifying you want a pre-purchase survey? These tend to be more detailed and more expensive than an insurance survey or a hull survey.

Yeah, looking at getting a pre-purchase full survey on a 50' boat close to london with an asking price of £27000 (im not paying that much though). 

 

And i have recieved two quotes, one for 690 from a well regarded surveyor (tony tucker) , one for 700 from a well regarded surveyor who had to travel a bit further (Vladamir Chorbadzheiv) and one for 450 from a surveyor who I could not find any reference to online who I will not name. 

 

And dont worry, i am aware of the additional costs of craning etc. 

 

Its cool anyway, i have decided to go for Vladimir as i got a really good review of him from Mark Douglas on the phone. 

 

I just thought it was an interesting question regarding the differences one may be quoted.

 

I had a boat surveyed early in the year and eventually opted for Tom Keeling who was fantastic but had been quoted 390 by another surveyor i didnt go with. 

Edited by Microsoft
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2 hours ago, Machpoint005 said:

If you want a monkey, pay peanuts.

On the other hand, don't commission someone if you think they may be taking the piss.

Try paying me in peanuts and you will soon find a banana inserted where the sun don't shine. ;)

 

It is not always the case of lower price poorer job, it's possible the lower price monkey just has lower costs

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1 hour ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

The going rate up North for a pre-purchase survey was a tenner per foot last time I got one six years ago.

 

So a 40ft boat would be £400 regardless of asking price and a 70ft boat would be £700 regardless of asking price.

 

Are you specifying you want a pre-purchase survey? These tend to be more detailed and more expensive than an insurance survey or a hull survey.

I was charged £10 a foot by Steve Hands in 2011 - £450. I’d guess prices have increased in 10 years, so thought my experience might no longer be valid.

 

I asked him to survey it again last year, but he was on holiday when I was out of the water, so we didn’t get to prices.

 

If I was a surveyor, but not very busy, I might have a business model where I charge a very competitive price in order to increase work, to fill my time and maximise income.

 

If I was being offered more work than I could cope with, I might increase my prices to try and reduce work, “just” fill my time, and maximise income.

 

Whatever my price, the job would be the same. In fact, it might be better when I have more time and am charging less.

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1 hour ago, Microsoft said:

And i have recieved two quotes, one for 690 from a well regarded surveyor (tony tucker) , one for 700 from a well regarded surveyor who had to travel a bit further (Vladamir Chorbadzheiv) and one for 450 from a surveyor who I could not find any reference to online who I will not name. 

 

 

Well with two quotes differing by a tenner, one recommended to you and the other recommended on the forum, and one much cheaper who you can find no reference to online, what do you think is the going rate for a surveyor whose opinion you might be able to place some faith in?

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15 hours ago, Microsoft said:

What would you class as a fair price? £700 for a full survay? 

 

 

Just make sure they have the correct certifications. There's a lot of snobbery goes with pricing, and some people will tend towards the higher price. It doesn't necessarily mean better. Get some recommendations, if possible. 

 

My recent survey, conducted for the insurance company, was £450. The insurance company stipulated the qualifications they'd expect the surveyor to have. Without checking, I couldn't say what they were. 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Higgs
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1 hour ago, MajorJones said:

Wait, I thought you need to have a boat first?!

 

No, there are dozens of these channels where incompetent new boaters make video of themselves doing their first lock badly.  That market niche is saturated already.

 

You could do one about looking to buy a boat, starting with looking at a cheap, knackered one and gradually increasing in value until you find the one you want.  If you get enough subscribers, you could even crowdfund the extra £10,000 you were considering adding to your budget! 

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14 hours ago, Microsoft said:

one for 450 from a surveyor who I could not find any reference to online who I will not name. 


if you name the £450 surveyor, maybe somebody here will know them, and be able to comment - good or bad.

 

For example, if Steve Hands still charges £10 per foot, he would have quoted you £500. Were that the case, I, and probably quite a few more here, would suggest you snap his hand off.

 

The dame could apply to other surveyors.

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1 minute ago, MajorJones said:

Surely it's a good thing, no? More public promotion => more people buying boats => more canal users => more work done by CRT => recovery of the system

 

You'll live and learn, but those things don't always follow. More people buying boats, for instance, might conjure up visions of the M1, which many will not want to see. Ah, you'll see. 

 

 

 

 

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We paid top dollar for the survey on our first boat and the result wasn't impressive, he even listed items as checked that didn't exist! I would be tempted to go for a price in the middle if in that position again. 

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