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Surveys
What a house survey costs
The three RICS levels, what each one covers, and why the price is a quotation rather than a published fee.
A survey is the one big cost of moving that nobody has to publish a price for. The legal fee is on a firm's own website because the rules make it be. The Land Registry fee is in an order of Parliament. The search fee is on the council's page. A survey is a quotation from a surveyor, worked out job by job, and that single fact explains most of what looks like chaos when you start asking what one costs.
The levels are not three products three different firms invented. They are one standard, written by RICS, so a Level 2 means the same thing whoever carries it out. That is worth knowing before you compare two surveyors, because what changes between them is the price and not the scope.
Source: RICS, read 23 September 2026.
The three levels, and what each one actually gives you
| Level | What the report covers | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1Condition Report | The condition of the property, the risks and any urgent defects, with no advice on how to put them right | £300 to £900 |
| Level 2Homebuyer Report | Everything in Level 1, plus the roof space and the drainage chambers, plus advice on repairs and maintenance, as a survey on its own or a survey with a valuation | £400 to £1,000 |
| Level 3Building survey | The most comprehensive report: how the building is built, an analysis of the defects, the repair options, a repair timeline and what it costs you to leave the repairs undone | £630 to £1,500, and higher on an expensive house |
What the levels are: RICS, read 23 September 2026.
Where the cost ranges come from: HomeOwners Alliance, read 23 September 2026.
Read those two columns differently. The middle column is RICS, the body that writes the standard, so it is what a level means. The cost column is the HomeOwners Alliance publishing what surveys tend to go for. Nobody sets that, nobody is bound by it, and it is here attributed and dated rather than dressed up as a fee.
Level 1, once called the Condition Report
Level 1 tells you what is wrong. It does not tell you what to do about it, and that is not a gap in the report, it is the level working as designed. It suits a conventional, newer home in good order. On anything old, altered or visibly tired it will leave you holding a list and no idea what the list costs.
Level 2, once called the Homebuyer Report
This is the middle one and the one most buyers take. It comes in two versions and the difference matters on the invoice: survey only, or survey plus a market valuation and an insurance reinstatement figure. Ask which one you are being quoted for, because the cheaper number in front of you may be the one without the valuation.
Level 3, once called the Building or full structural survey
Level 3 is the one that answers the question you actually have, which is what the repairs will cost and what happens if you leave them. It is the right level for an older, larger, altered or run-down house. On a modern flat in good order it is money spent on detail you will never use.
Why there is no price list, in RICS's own words
There is no set price for a survey, because the surveyor quotes for the job in front of them. A survey fee is a quotation, not a published price. RICS says so itself: the surveyor works out how long the job will take and prices that. So the figure you are given is not wrong for being different from the figure your friend paid, and there is no fee order to appeal to. This is the opposite of the Land Registry fee, which is set by Parliament and identical everywhere.
Source: RICS, read 23 September 2026.
So two honest quotations on the same house can differ, and neither of them is a trick. What is worth checking is that both are for the same level, and for a Level 2 that they are both either with the valuation or both without it. A cheaper number for a smaller job is not a saving.
Which level is worth paying for
RICS puts it as a question about the building rather than about your budget: the age, the size, the condition, the complexity and how much of the original house is still there. A conventional modern home in good order is what Level 1 was written for. A conventional home in reasonable condition is what Level 2 was written for. Large, older, run-down, unusual or heavily altered, or major works planned, is what Level 3 was written for.
A typical range published by the HomeOwners Alliance, and the one that moves most with the price of the house. On the same source's figures a Level 3 runs about £630 to £800 on a house between £100k and £249k, and about £1,000 to £1,500 on one between £500k and £1m. London is dearer, which the HomeOwners Alliance puts down to London house prices rather than to a London surcharge.
Being a first-time buyer changes none of this. It changes the tax and nothing else, which is set out on the first-time buyer costs page.
Where the survey sits on the bill
The survey is not a conveyancing disbursement. Your conveyancer does not order it and does not pay it on your behalf; you appoint the surveyor and you pay them. It lands in the same few weeks as the searches and the deposit, which is the part worth planning for. Everything your conveyancer does bill you for, every figure sourced, is on the conveyancing fees page.
Questions people ask
How much does a house survey cost?
There is no set price, because a surveyor quotes for the particular job rather than charging from a scale. The HomeOwners Alliance publishes typical ranges of £300 to £900 for a RICS Level 1, £400 to £1,000 for a Level 2 and £630 to £1,500 or more for a Level 3, rising with the value of the house. Nobody is bound by any of those.
What is the difference between a RICS Level 2 and a Level 3 survey?
A Level 2 describes the condition, flags the problems that matter and advises on repairs and maintenance, with a more extensive look at the roof space and drainage than a Level 1. A Level 3 goes further: how the building is built, an analysis of the defects, the repair options, a repair timeline and the consequences of not carrying the repairs out.
Is a mortgage valuation the same as a survey?
No. A RICS Level 2 can be taken as a survey on its own or as a survey with a market valuation and an insurance reinstatement figure, and it is worth knowing which of the two any figure quoted to you covers. A valuation on its own is not a report on the condition of the house.