Building surveys in Mönchengladbach
Building surveyor in Mönchengladbach
Look first, assess second, decide third.
A crack above a lintel, a wall that darkens every winter, a purchase contract waiting to be signed next week: none of those is settled by an opinion. They are settled by someone standing in front of the building. We come to Mönchengladbach, examine the component, record what we see, and tell you what follows from it.
Facade with scaffolding, photographed during an inspection.
- Area covered Mönchengladbach and the neighbouring towns
- On site Viktor Knop, master mason and concrete constructor
- You receive Photographic findings and a written assessment
Reasons
Six situations where an outside look pays for itself
Most calls from Mönchengladbach fall into one of these six situations. Recognise yours and you already know what we will talk about on the phone.
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Before you buy
A house in Rheydt or Wickrath appeals to you, but the state of the roof, the cellar and the windows is unclear. We come along and tell you what the next few years hold.
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Cracks in masonry
A crack is a symptom, not a finding. We look at its path, its width and its position, and judge whether it concerns the structure or only the surface.
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Damp and mould
Dark corners have a cause: rising damp, a thermal bridge, a failed junction, or simply the way the room is used. We separate those from each other.
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Before handover
Before you sign, someone should walk the building who will name the defects while they are still the contractor problem and not yet yours.
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A dispute over workmanship
When client and trade disagree about how something was built, a sober record of the current state, with photographs and measurements, gets further than another argument.
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After damage
Water, storm, a vehicle against the garage wall: the state immediately after the event can only be recorded once. After that it is a memory.
Your situation is not listed? Call us. If it is not a case for us, we will say so on the phone.
How it works
How an inspection runs
From the first call to the document in your hand there are five steps. None of them costs you time you did not know about in advance.
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Call or enquiry
You describe the situation briefly. We tell you whether an inspection makes sense and what it would cover.
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Appointment in Mönchengladbach
We agree a time when every room is accessible. For a property you intend to buy we speak to the seller or the agent beforehand.
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Survey on site
We work through the property systematically, take measurements, photograph every component that stands out, and note what we cannot see.
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Assessment
Still at the building we tell you what is urgent, what should be watched, and what you can leave alone with a clear conscience.
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The document
You receive the survey in writing, with photographs, located findings and an assessment you can put in front of a trade or a solicitor.
Recording on site, component by component.
Request an inspectionEnquiry
Tell us what this is about
Three details are enough to start: how to reach you, where the property is, and what you have noticed. Everything else we settle on the phone.
- We call you back, usually the same or the next working day.
- We tell you what the appointment covers and what it costs before we set off.
- What you write reaches us and nobody else.
Scope
What we record, component by component
The scope follows your reason for calling. These are the positions we go through on a full inspection of a residential building.
- Foundations and cellar
- Slab, cellar walls, tanking, moisture pattern, ventilation, visible signs of settlement
- Loadbearing masonry
- Crack paths and widths, bearings, lintels, openings and how they are supported
- Floors and stairs
- Deflection, bearings, vibration, junctions with the walls, damage to finishes
- Roof and roof structure
- Rafters, bearings, condition of the timber, covering, junctions, daylight and ventilation
- Facade
- Render or brick, joints, plinth, splash zone, junctions with windows and roof
- Windows and doors
- Fixings, perimeter joints, seals, condensation, ironmongery and operation
- Bathrooms and wet areas
- Bonded waterproofing, joints, junctions, moisture pattern on adjoining walls
- Visible services
- Pipe runs, age of the visible installation, traces of earlier leaks
We do not record components behind closed surfaces without opening them up. Where we cannot see, the document says so.
Plates
What a finding is anchored to
Eight typical images from a building survey. They show what we look at when a component comes up for discussion.
Result
What ends up in your document
The document is written so that a trade can price from it and a solicitor can work with it. No technical term without an explanation.
Survey, drawing and assessment belong together.
- Property and reason Address, year of construction where known, weather on the day, who was present
- Findings Every observation with a photograph, a position in the building and a measurement, numbered in sequence
- Assessment What the finding means, how urgent it is, and what happens if nothing is done
- Recommendation The next sensible step for each finding, from watching it to commissioning a specialist design
- Limits of the survey What could not be seen and therefore remains open
We put no figure in the document that we cannot support from the building itself.
Preparation
What to have ready for the appointment
None of this is compulsory. Every item of it makes the survey more precise and the appointment shorter.
- A floor plan or construction drawing, a copy from the building file is fine
- Earlier reports, quotations or invoices for repairs
- Photographs from the time the damage was first noticed
- Access to the cellar, the loft, the boiler room and every ancillary room
- For a purchase: the particulars and an appointment with the seller or agent
If none of it exists, we come anyway. The survey then starts from what the building itself shows.
Area
Mönchengladbach and its neighbours
Mönchengladbach is an independent city and a widely spread one. Between the late nineteenth century terraces on Hindenburgstrasse, the post war estates in Rheydt and the new developments on the edge lie eighty years of building history. We drive to every one of these districts.
Residential street in the city, typical post war stock.
Districts we visit regularly
- Rheydt
- Odenkirchen
- Wickrath
- Giesenkirchen
- Neuwerk
- Hardt
- Rheindahlen
- Eicken
Neighbouring towns and municipalities
- Korschenbroich
- Viersen
- Jüchen
- Willich
- Erkelenz
- Wegberg
- Schwalmtal
Is your property just outside? Ask anyway. The journey rarely decides the appointment.
Questions
What people ask most often beforehand
If your question is missing here, ask it in the enquiry form. We answer it before any appointment is made.
How soon can you inspect in Mönchengladbach?
That depends on the week. Tell us in the enquiry if it is urgent, for instance because a purchase or a handover is due. We move urgent appointments forward as far as we can.
What does an inspection cost?
That follows from the size of the property, the reason and the scope of the document. We name the price before we set off, and it does not change afterwards without your agreement.
Are you a publicly appointed and sworn expert?
No. We work as a German Meisterbetrieb, a master craftsman business, with our own site experience, and we record the condition of a building. For a court report you need a publicly appointed expert, and we will tell you that before you instruct us.
Will you come to a viewing with me?
Yes, that is one of the most common reasons. Arrange the viewing so that there is enough time. Half an hour between two interested parties is not enough for a survey anyone can rely on.
Do you open up components to see behind them?
Not without an explicit instruction and not without the owner agreeing. An inspection is non destructive. Where we think an opening is necessary, that goes in the document with our reasons.
Can I have the document in English, Polish or Russian?
We write the survey in German, because that is the version that stands up in front of trades, insurers and courts. We can discuss it in any of the languages this site is published in.
How long does an inspection take?
For a detached house usually two to three hours on site. A single item of damage is quicker, an apartment block takes longer. We tell you in advance.
Contact
One call is enough to start
You reach the same people who come to the appointment. No call centre, no transfer.
Our registered office in Monheim am Rhein is the postal and invoicing address. The appointments are in Mönchengladbach.