Certifying the self-build

Our mortgage lender required us to have the self-build certified. This meant that every phase of the project had to be assessed by a surveyor. We initially could not understand why it was necessary to have an independent surveyor when you also have to be inspected by the local Building Inspector. It seemed to us like a complete duplication of time, effort and hassle, however it is essential to have this piece of paper when in the future you need to sell the property.

So we had to find someone to carry out this function. Initially our thoughts turned to the NHBC - after all most new houses are certified by them aren't they? This was not possible in our case - they would not certify us because our self-build was recognised as a conversion. We decided to approach a local firm - Russen & Turner (www. russenturner.com) - with a Chartered Surveyor to see if they could carry out this role - and they could. We had used them previously to carry out a survey on a house we were buying, to carry out a survey on the barn and assess the soil conditions before we started the build - so they were a natural choice. We have always been delighted with the service which we received and we would recommend them to anyone - in fact we have! In addition to this we found it invaluable to have someone knowledgeable giving us guidance and looking after our interests. The fact we dealt with one representative of the company meant that we had continuity of service and built up an excellent working relationship. We also found that the detail in which the self-build was inspected by the independent surveyor and the Building Inspector varied considerably.