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Surveyor recommendations


MichaelG

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Hi all, does anyone have any recommendations for surveyors they have used. Most of the brokers we have been looking at are clustered around Northamptonshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire so it seems likely we will end up buying from one of those areas. 

I think an average price for a survey should be in the region of £700 for a 57' boat, would that be about right?

Also what professional qualifications or trade body memberships are nice to see a surveyor has?

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Yet another vote for Trevor Whitling.  He did a hull survey of Daedalus for us and when we sold the boat, he also did a survey for the purchaser (which, bizarrely, I was left to superintend when the purchaser decided that he didn't need to be present after the first 10 minutes).

Trevor is an excellent combination of thorough and pragmatic.

Chris G

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22 hours ago, rusty69 said:

Trevor Whitling 

http://www.whitlingmarine.com/

Having also used him I'm afraid I wouldn't recommend him.

This guy is in a different class: He surveyed the same boat and found all the things that Mr Whitling missed - one of which was a major problem. Unfortunately he was my buyers surveyor!

http://www.newhambusinessdirectory.co.uk/Business-Details.aspx?companyID=44716

 

Edited by blackrose
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1 hour ago, blackrose said:

Having also used him I'm afraid I wouldn't recommend him.

This guy is in a different class: He surveyed the same boat and found all the things that Mr Whitling missed - one of which was a major problem. Unfortunately he was my buyers surveyor!

http://www.newhambusinessdirectory.co.uk/Business-Details.aspx?companyID=44716

 

He appears to be London based, so even if he is prepared to travel to any of the areas mentioned, isn't it going to end up rather expensive.

Trevor Whitling is one of the most highly regarded narrow boat surveyors, so I can only say your vote against him is a surprise. I wish he had found less that needed doing on one of our boats - I wouldn't have ended up shelling out so much on re-plating!

 

 

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Hello and thank you for your recomendations. Now all I need to do is find the right boat in the right style in the right layout in the right condition in the right length and at the right price. Oh and ofcourse the OH and I have to agree on what is "right", should be a piece of cake!

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3 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

He appears to be London based, so even if he is prepared to travel to any of the areas mentioned, isn't it going to end up rather expensive.

Trevor Whitling is one of the most highly regarded narrow boat surveyors, so I can only say your vote against him is a surprise. I wish he had found less that needed doing on one of our boats - I wouldn't have ended up shelling out so much on re-plating!

 

 

I don't know how much John Polley charges, but he came to Watford to survey my boat so he does travel.

The phrase "highly regarded" is selective I'm afraid. Trevor Whitling may be highly regarded by some people, but not by others. I've spoken to a several people over the years who've shaken their heads and given me a knowing look because they had a similar experience to me and don't regard him highly at all. If your experience was good then that's what you should report, but mine wasn't so I'll also say what I think. It wasn't just that I later found he'd missed important aspects of the boat that I'd commissioned him to survey, it was also that he then decided to involve himself in the financial negotiation with the vendor which I had previously and specifically asked him not to do. I've no idea whether he was in collusion with the vendor or not, but either way it was very unprofessional and his intervention ended up costing me a lot of money. I've said all this on the forum before so if it comes as a surprise you must have missed my comments.

Edited to add: this all happened about 20 years ago so perhaps (and I hope) he has improved since then.

Edited by blackrose
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5 hours ago, Halsey said:

Blimey I wouldn't like to be publicly dammed today for something I did 20 years ago - I think we all should be allowed to learn from our mistakes not be haunted by them as if it were yesterday - in my book that's called experience.

That's fair enough - it seems @blackrose did learn from his experience, about 20 years ago.  He learnt to use a different surveyor!

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On 20/02/2018 at 13:33, rusty69 said:

Never used him, but the other Surveyor who is often recommended on here is Craig Allen

 

http://craig-allen-marine.co.uk/boat-safety-examiner/

Another vote for Craig Allen, very thorough and takes the time to explain how the various systems work, assuming you are present for the survey. 

Edited by cuthound
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