In today’s Property Surveying blogpost, we are going to be discussing at party wall surveying fees and costs.
More often than not, a building owner will be unprepared for the necessary professional fees that can come with party wall surveying procedures.
This can often come as a result of them not having been aware of the Party Wall etc Act 1996 and its legal requirements. This can result in unplanned and unbudgeted for fees, which can often come as bad news for building owners.
In this blogpost, we are going to aim to set out some of the typical and average party wall surveying fees and costs that we have seen over the years.
Hopefully, the aim and outcome being that you are fully informed on the likely fees and costs that come with the legal procedures as set out by the Party Wall etc Act 1996.
Party Wall Notices
If you are a building owner and planning on undertaking construction work to your property, if that construction work falls within the realm of the Party Wall etc Act 1996, you will have a legal duty and requirement to serve a Party Wall Notice upon the adjoining owner, or adjoining owners, who are affected by those works.
The legal phraseology here is that your works would be notifiable to the adjoining owners.
Party Wall Notice fees are a relatively low cost in the wider scale and scheme of the party wall surveying procedures.
Generally speaking, Party Wall Notices and the costs associated with them, can start at as low as £25 plus VAT, increasing to circa £150 plus VAT.
It is also worth noting that there is no legal requirement or need for a building owner to instruct a party wall surveyor to serve a Party Wall Notice.
They can indeed serve Party Wall Notices on their own, here at Stokemont we have a free Party Wall Notice generator and creator on our website.
Equally, there are a number of other websites in the land which equally give building owners the right and opportunity to create their own Party Wall Notices.
A brief point to note, is that building owners serving their own Party Wall Notices can often be a false economy.
By having a party wall surveyor prepare and serve the Party Wall Notice, you are giving the adjoining owner the opportunity to discuss and speak to that surveyor about your planned construction works.
This can go a long way to reducing the likelihood whereby an adjoining owner will seek external advice from a different party wall surveyor, often then translating into an adjoining owner’s party wall surveyor appointment.
Here at Stokemont, we would advise that Party Wall Notice service by building owners directly is reserved for those occasions whereby the works are very straightforward and low-risk, or, alternatively, whereby the adjoining owner is well aware of the planned works, discussions have been had with the building owner, and you already have an understanding of how they will respond to that Party Wall Notice.
Here at Stokemont, our fixed fees for Party Wall Notices are £45 plus VAT.
Building Owner’s Party Wall Surveyors
The vast majority of party wall surveyors in the land will offer building owners a fixed cost quotation to act as a building owner’s party wall surveyor.
This is usually done upon review of the construction drawings, irrespective of whether these are architectural or structural.
At that stage, a good party wall surveyor will be able to understand the type of works taking place, as well as have a gauge and understanding of the number of adjoining owners, which those works affect.
They will then be able to put forward a fixed cost quotation for the building owner to consider and ultimately, hopefully, accept.
At this stage, the party wall surveyor is going to be bidding or tendering for business.
It is therefore likely that there is going to be competitive rates and reductions applied to the quote, in an effort and aid to win the business and instruction from the building owner.
Here at Stokemont, we offer fixed cost quotations to all building owners who enquire with us.
We also go a step further to set out our quoted fees in an easy-to-understand traffic light system.
This will fully set out all of the likely costs and scenarios that can coming with Party Wall Notice Service, bearing in mind that in many cases the adjoining owner will have the legal right to appoint their own party wall surveyor, with that party wall surveyor equally charging a fee.
Our fee scale will set this out, so that building owners are not only fully informed on our costs, but also have a full understanding of likely adjoining owner party wall surveyor fees.
Here at Stokemont, our fixed cost fees start from as little as £400 plus VAT, often increasing to the £800 plus VAT mark.
Adjoining Owner’s Party Wall Surveyor Fees
When a party wall surveyor is undertaking an adjoining owner’s party wall surveyor instruction, unlike a building owner’s party wall surveyor scenario, they will be unable to offer a fixed cost quotation.
This is very much down to the surveyor not having a full understanding of the likely and necessary time that they are going to incur through the process of administering the Party Wall etc Act 1996, on behalf of the adjoining owner, and ultimately agreeing a Party Wall Award with the adjoining owner’s party wall surveyor.
The time they spend will be a combination of their hourly rate, along with the overall reasonable time that they expend and incur in agreeing the Party Wall Award.
This time is likely to include:
- Discussions with the building owner’s party wall surveyor
- Discussions with the adjoining owner
- Discussions with any advising engineers
- Reviewing construction details and drawings
- Undertaking the Schedule of Condition Report of the adjoining owner’s property
- Agreeing the Party Wall Award
All of these exercises and activities will bear with them cost and time, for which the building owner will, in due course, need to reimburse the party wall surveyor for.
Generally speaking, hourly rates within the party wall surveying profession will start from £90 plus VAT, increasing to £300/£400 plus VAT for your centrally-based and London party wall surveying firms.
Here at Stokemont, our hourly rates start at £110 plus VAT, increasing to £245 plus VAT.
Agreed Party Wall Surveyor Fees
When acting as an agreed surveyor, the party wall surveyor will equally likely be able to offer the building owner a fixed cost quotation.
This is because unlikely acting on behalf of the adjoining owner, they will be able to control the amount of time that they spend on the file.
This is possible as they are not going to be having ongoing and open discussion and communication with another party wall surveyor.
They are also likely to be able to put in place time-saving practices, such as combining the Schedule of Condition with other local surveys, delegating some of the lesser complex work to junior surveyors within the firm.
These are all going to lend themselves to cost savings and ultimately a more competitive fee for the building owner.
As a general average, agreed party wall surveyor fees will usually start around the £700 plus VAT mark, going up to the £1,500 plus VAT mark.
Party wall surveying fees are naturally going to be a bone of contention for building owners.
If you would like to seek a fixed cost quotation, here at Stokemont we would advise that you get in touch with our team of experienced and qualified party wall surveyors.
We will be able to review your planned construction work drawings, set out a fixed cost fee quotation along with our handy and easy-to-follow traffic light system.
Finally, we will also put in place and set out the strategic approach that we will take to ensure that the overall process is best managed from a cost and time perspective.
We look forward to hearing from you, and hopefully working on your party wall surveying project.
