Can't be on site?
HMO site checks: 4 visits, from studwork to sign-off
Your builder wants paying and you can't see the work. A qualified surveyor we instruct checks the four stages that matter, against your schedule of works, with photos and our recommendation to you. We review every report before you get it.
£2,700 inc VAT (£2,250 + VAT) for all 4 visits, plus the variation log, the completion and licensing checklist and your fire alarm zone plan.
Visit 1 has to happen before the plasterboard goes on. Once a room is boarded, that check is gone. Stud walls going up soon? Book a call this week.
Already on site? You can still book Site Checks. On the call we'll tell you which visits are still possible, and your proposal is priced for those.
Want the work valued line by line before you pay your builder? Book a stage valuation visit, from £474 inc VAT (£395 + VAT, up to 8 rooms).
Your lender's surveyor reports to the lender. Our checks report to you.
20 minutes with Tahirah: your property, your finance, your timescale, and whether the package or one piece fits. No obligation.
You keep your builder. Proposal within 24 hours. There's nothing to pay unless you go ahead.
Can't wait? Call Tahirah now on 01733 971 200.
Take the 2-minute checkFive quick questions, then Tahirah calls you back.
Adam Cooper, Director · 14+ years in property · 79 projects · £37.8M combined end value (GDV) of projects we've been involved in
What we check at each HMO site visit
Many build mistakes are cheap to fix at one stage and expensive at the next. Each visit is timed to catch problems while they're still cheap to fix: before they're covered up, finished or handed over. We flag them; your builder fixes them.
- Visit 1: before boarding. At first fix, with the stud walls up and the plasterboard not yet on, we check every room's dimensions against the plan. A bedroom under 6.51 m² can't be let as a bedroom for one adult in a licensed HMO in England; councils can set higher. Anything that's about to be covered up gets checked while it's still open: a short room is a few hours of studwork now, not a wall moved later.
- Visit 2: after skimming. Once the walls are skimmed, we check the rooms are still the right size, and that every socket, switch, radiator and point is where the optimised plan puts it, with sockets and switches at the heights in the room legend. Your tenants live with these positions for years: a socket by the bed, a switch by the door, and no radiator hidden behind the wardrobe.
- Visit 3: snagging. We walk the house room by room and list everything that isn't finished or isn't right, so your builder has one clear list to work through before handover.
- Visit 4: completion and sign-off. Final check of all the works against the schedule and the snagging list, with the completion and licensing checklist: a list of the certificates you'll need for the HMO licence and the final drawdown. You also get your fire alarm zone plan: your electrician's zones, marked on your layout drawing. You get a clear list of anything still outstanding before you sign it off.
- A variation log: every change priced and agreed before it's built.
- Your fire alarm zone plan: at the end of the build your electrician gives us the zones and we mark them on your layout drawing, ready for your HMO licence application.
At every visit you get photos against your Schedule of Works lines and our recommendation to you.
Every report comes to you, the client. We never act for your lender, and we never certify to your builder. You keep your builder.
Doesn't the lender's surveyor do this? Their checks are very narrow by comparison. They check that the money released matches the work done, for the lender. They don't check room sizes, first-fix positions or whether the house will pass licensing.
Your builder builds to one plan. We check that they did.
or take the free 2-minute checkFive quick questions, then Tahirah calls you back.
Can't wait? Call Tahirah now on 01733 971 200.
Value the work before you pay
Need the work valued line by line before a payment or a drawdown? Extra visits are £474 inc VAT (£395 + VAT) up to 8 rooms; £594 inc VAT (£495 + VAT) for 9 to 12 rooms; £714 inc VAT (£595 + VAT) for 13 rooms or more.
How drawdowns work: with a development loan, your lender usually releases the money in stages as the build goes on, often after their surveyor has visited. Every lender sets its own stages.
Who comes to site
A qualified surveyor we instruct visits your site, working to our checklist and report template. They check what we set for each visit, against your Schedule of Works and layout. Every report comes to us, and we review it before it reaches you, with our recommendation. Tell us your town in the 2-minute check and Tahirah will tell you on the call whether the surveyors we instruct cover your area.
Stud-stage dimension checks
This is the kind of record you get when we measure every room at stud stage, before boarding. Every room is measured against its target, short rooms are flagged with a suggested fix, and you decide before boarding.
Full project management (separate)
Site Checks don't run the build: the contract stays between you and your builder. If you'd rather we ran it and administered the contract, that's full project management: £21,000 inc VAT (£17,500 + VAT) on a build of about £200,000. See full project management
Already on site, or not ready for all four? Book one visit on its own: a single site visit from £474 inc VAT (£395 + VAT, up to 8 rooms), with every room measured against your drawings, or the work valued before your next payment.
Not on site yet? Start with Layout only, £714 inc VAT (£595 + VAT): the optimised layout, the furniture plan, the first-fix plan (first fix: wiring and pipes before boarding) and the decoration plan, on your architect's drawings, with every room checked against the council's HMO room-size rules. We need your architect's proper drawings, not a sketch. More about Layout only
Layout only isn't credited against Build Ready or the package.
Not sure which you need?
A 20-minute call will tell you.
or take the free 2-minute checkFive quick questions, then Tahirah calls you back.
Can't wait? Call Tahirah now on 01733 971 200.