A mortgage valuation is not a survey. The difference routinely costs buyers five figures — and it is entirely avoidable.
Why this matters
Most projects that overrun did so long before anyone broke ground. Getting this right at the outset is the cheapest risk reduction available to you.
- Define the scope. An estimate is only accurate for the works it describes, and it is the silence that costs money.
- Use current rates. Material prices have moved sharply; last year’s figures are not conservative, they are wrong.
- Allow for risk. Ground conditions, party wall awards and planning conditions all carry cost, and all are knowable in advance.
What good looks like
A professional piece of work should be legible to a non-specialist and defensible to a contractor. If it is not itemised, you cannot meaningfully compare it with anything else.
An estimate is not a prediction of what your project will cost. It is a statement of what a defined scope of work is worth at today’s rates.Richard Mitchell
Next steps
Send us what you have — drawings, sketches or a description — and we will tell you within a day what we can produce.
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