The Hidden Depths

A building is the total of 1,000's of items and tasks, each one needing to fit together to create the design of the architect. Sometimes it only needs one error, one imperfect item, to start a process that will lead to failure. Once built, the attack begins. Sun, wind and rain combine to relentlessly work to reduce the building once again to its constituent elements and erode it down to a pile of dust once again. Castle or finca, penthouse or studio, they are all basically the same. Brick upon brick and a combination of dust, water, wood, metal and oil. So simple really, but oh the joy and grief they can bring!

A building surveyor is like a detective. He knows that EVERY property has its flaws, its faults of construction or advancing erosion. He looks and pries and lifts and opens until he finds them. Most have little effect upon the building and may be just a minor blemish that will be removed with the next redecoration. But some, he knows, will inevitably lead to major problems that are at least going to reduce the owner's enjoyment of the building. Some will reduce its value and can even lead to its collapse.

Also, the builders may have done their best, used their skills and energy to create a good clean building, but inherent faults in the design or foundations can make that all worthless. The house in the photograph was well built, but the architect or soil analyst did not design it for the underlying ground conditions. Rain water washed the soil away to such an extent that the floor cracked, breaking the back of the building and leaving the poor owner, who hadn't even moved in, with the only alternative to demolish and start again. Despite all the insurance policies, he is struggling to obtain compensation and nothing can make up for all the tears and anguish experienced by the family. The worst case scenario perhaps, but surveyors do see examples of this and other very expensive faults.

It's not just new houses that have faults, in fact most don't. But as the years go by, houses and the structure settle with some, like a machine, bedding in nicely and functioning well. But others may be slightly askew, twisting and opening fissures. The wind driven rain will enter these and work away, despoiling the decoration and eating into the structure. Left uncorrected, a small flaw will become a major one.

The value of a house is made up of the cost of all the elements and energy expended in its construction, plus the unique value of its location. If the construction is faulty or eroded, it will require further spending to reinstate it to its ideal form, thus reducing the value of the property. If the location is to be affected by other developments, that too will reduce its value. It is for these reasons that it is ALWAYS a sensible idea to have these faults found before buying. The cost of a survey to a buyer, often less that 1,000th of the asking price of the house, can be recovered many times by its identifying hidden defects and reduction of the asking price or prior reinstatement by the seller. Some will want to buy a house knowing that it's not perfect, taking pleasure in improving the property themselves. Others in extreme cases will decide that they want to do other things with their time and money and can walk away to buy another property in better condition. "Ask not what you can do for the property, but what it can do for you"

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