Surveyor recommendations in London

[Alethea Price]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to buy a boat that was recently surveyed in London. It was surveyed by a previous potential buyer who decided not to go ahead following the survey - so I'm already cautious and not rushing into anything. I'm looking to get the boat surveyed myself and the previous potential buyer has kindly offered to let me see the survey in the meantime.

However, they have provided the survey via the seller who is not letting me view it before meeting with him to discuss it together - all sounding alarm bells to me! He has suggested that the surveyor in question is not well trusted in London, and has in-fact been black listed by many and can often make the boat appear to be in worse repair than it actually is. I don't want to name names to cause any problems but would appreciate your advice.

Are there any surveyors in London you would highly recommend, or would you avoid and why?

Thanks.

[Robbo]

Black listed by who?   If it’s by agencies then that sounds like it’s because the surveyor thougher  

[Alethea Price]

3 minutes ago, Robbo said:

Black listed by who?   If it’s by agencies then that sounds like it’s because the surveyor thougher  

Hi, yeah dont' know but I've actually spoken to the original surveyor myself today and he seems reasonable and well knowledged to me so I'm not concerned about him. I'm jsut looking for good recommendations to get my own survey don't.

If anyone can recommend that would be great.

[Alethea Price]

1 hour ago, Alethea Price said:

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to buy a boat that was recently surveyed in London. It was surveyed by a previous potential buyer who decided not to go ahead following the survey - so I'm already cautious and not rushing into anything. I'm looking to get the boat surveyed myself and the previous potential buyer has kindly offered to let me see the survey in the meantime.

However, they have provided the survey via the seller who is not letting me view it before meeting with him to discuss it together - all sounding alarm bells to me! He has suggested that the surveyor in question is not well trusted in London, and has in-fact been black listed by many and can often make the boat appear to be in worse repair than it actually is. I don't want to name names to cause any problems but would appreciate your advice.

Are there any surveyors in London you would highly recommend, or would you avoid and why?

Thanks.

I'm also looking for a recommended and reasonablly priced engineer in London who'd be willing to come and look at the boat with me this week, with the intention that if all goes ahead they might work with me on the boat following purchase.

I know she needs some welding work so if someone could recommend an engineer to come with me and be able to quote on the cost that would be brilliant. Thanks everyone.

[David Mack]

4 hours ago, Alethea Price said:

 

I know she needs some welding work so if someone could recommend an engineer to come with me and be able to quote on the cost that would be brilliant. Thanks everyone.

You might do better asking a welder.

[Giant]

This is sounding an awful lot of alarm bells to me. Rejected by a previous buyer post-survey, known to need welding, and the seller is acting shady?

Why this boat? Plenty on the market. If it's because it's cheap, it's very probably a false economy.

[alan_fincher]

4 hours ago, Alethea Price said:

Hi, yeah dont' know but I've actually spoken to the original surveyor myself today and he seems reasonable and well knowledged to me so I'm not concerned about him.

So shouldn't you therefore be concerned about the boat?

Why would you chose to press ahead with it if that surveyor has found enough problems to cause someone else to pull out.

Surveys cost a great deal of money by the time you have also paid for docking - why not save yourself that expense and hang on to the money to pay for a survey on another boat that isn't known to have issues before you begin?

[Tim Lewis]

14 hours ago, Alethea Price said:

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to buy a boat that was recently surveyed in London. It was surveyed by a previous potential buyer who decided not to go ahead following the survey - so I'm already cautious and not rushing into anything. I'm looking to get the boat surveyed myself and the previous potential buyer has kindly offered to let me see the survey in the meantime.

However, they have provided the survey via the seller who is not letting me view it before meeting with him to discuss it together - all sounding alarm bells to me! He has suggested that the surveyor in question is not well trusted in London, and has in-fact been black listed by many and can often make the boat appear to be in worse repair than it actually is. I don't want to name names to cause any problems but would appreciate your advice.

Are there any surveyors in London you would highly recommend, or would you avoid and why?

Thanks.

We use Tony Tucker (Surveyor) who lives in Hemel Hempstead

We have had welding work carried out at P & S Marine at Cassiobury

 

Tim

[Bee]

Careful. You can persuade yourself its ok and go ahead with it and then not sleep at night as the doubts creep back in. Nothing wrong with buying a boat that needs work but when you start doing that work it always uncovers even more work and its really only for the brave. The brave can do ok out of it but sometimes the boat has caused a few tears on the way.

[Alethea Price]

10 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

So shouldn't you therefore be concerned about the boat?

Why would you chose to press ahead with it if that surveyor has found enough problems to cause someone else to pull out.

Surveys cost a great deal of money by the time you have also paid for docking - why not save yourself that expense and hang on to the money to pay for a survey on another boat that isn't known to have issues before you begin?

The Suveyor has not found lots of problems, the original buyer was simply being asked to pay more than she could afford. She didn't have the money to do repairs. That was the only reason she pulled out. I have spoken with her personally and can confirm that the boat is just needing some minor welding above the water line in the gas locker.

1 hour ago, Bee said:

Careful. You can persuade yourself its ok and go ahead with it and then not sleep at night as the doubts creep back in. Nothing wrong with buying a boat that needs work but when you start doing that work it always uncovers even more work and its really only for the brave. The brave can do ok out of it but sometimes the boat has caused a few tears on the way.

Thank you and everyone else for the advice it's all appreciated.

Having spoken with the Surveyor I'm aware of the work needed and the possibility for increased work along the way. I'm taking on a challenge because that's very much what I'm looking for and am prepared for the tears.

 

That said I'm asking for recommendations as it's only sensible to cover my back. Hopefully some people will be able to offer some valuable suggestions.

2 hours ago, Tim Lewis said:

We use Tony Tucker (Surveyor) who lives in Hemel Hempstead

We have had welding work carried out at P & S Marine at Cassiobury

 

Tim

Thanks so much that's great.

10 hours ago, David Mack said:

You might do better asking a welder.

Thank you. That is of course why I'm looking for an engineer (welder if you prefer) to join me to take a look at her. If you can recommend one that would be really great thank you.

[Alethea Price]

10 hours ago, Giant said:

This is sounding an awful lot of alarm bells to me. Rejected by a previous buyer post-survey, known to need welding, and the seller is acting shady?

Why this boat? Plenty on the market. If it's because it's cheap, it's very probably a false economy.

Hi thanks for the input and I understand your concern. However, as I've mentioned to others on the forum she only rejected it because she had no budget for repairs (I have spoken with her personally) and was looking for something ready to go. I'm however looking for something that needs work and am willing to put that work into it hence my request for engineer recommendations.

If you know someone that would be great, thanks.