RICS Level 3 Building Survey in Stockton-on-Tees

A RICS Level 3 survey is the most detailed visual inspection available through the RICS Home Survey Standard. Our surveyor looks at all accessible parts of the building, which usually means the roof space, external walls, chimneys, rainwater goods, joinery, floors, ceilings, visible services and any accessible sub-floor areas. On a house near the High Street, that can mean checking the signs of damp, movement or timber decay without lifting floors or opening up the structure. It is careful, but it is still non-invasive.

The report goes beyond a simple condition check. We explain how the building was put together, what materials are in use, what defects we can see, what repairs are likely, and what maintenance should be dealt with first. If a flat-roof extension off Harrowgate Lane has aged badly, or a bay window near Church Road is showing cracked render and failed pointing, we set out what that means and what happens if the repair is left. That detail matters, because minor-looking issues can become expensive once moisture, heat loss or movement is allowed to continue.

A Level 3 survey is not a structural engineer's report, and it is not a mortgage valuation. If we find signs of movement, such as stepped cracking, sloping floors or a roof line that has dropped, we will say so and recommend a specialist structural engineer as the next step. Our reports also make the limits clear. We do not carry out destructive opening-up, we do not lift carpets, we do not test services, and we do not run a drainage CCTV survey as part of the inspection.

• Loft spaces and roof coverings
• Sub-floor voids where accessible
• External walls, chimneys and joinery
• Visible services without testing

Stockton-on-Tees was rebuilt in brick and tiles between 1680 and 1710, and that fabric still shapes the town centre today. Around Finkle Street, Silver Street and the High Street, older brickwork and early 18th-century homes sit alongside later alterations, while 25 High Street, 74 and 76 Church Road, and other listed buildings show how much care older masonry needs. In the Stockton Town Centre Conservation Area, repairs that look neat from the road can still trap moisture behind hard pointing or modern render. A Level 3 survey is useful because it reads the building, not just the frontage.

The ground matters here as much as the walls. Stockton-on-Tees is rated 71st out of 413 districts in the UK for domestic subsidence risk, at about 1.55 times the national average, with shrink-swell clay soils to the north and Till and sandstone to the south. During summer months there is a 70% probability of a valid subsidence claim, and about 60% of those damages are linked to clay shrinkage. On a property with a bay window or an extension, that can show up as stepped cracking, sticking doors or floors that no longer run level.

Flooding is another local factor that sits in the background of a survey. The River Tees, tidal influence, Lustrum Beck and surface water all matter, especially around Portrack, Bamlett's Wharf and the wider estuary edge, where tide locking can worsen drainage. Stockton Borough Council estimates that 9,200 residential properties could be affected by surface water flooding at a 1 in 200-year probability of depth greater than 0.1m, and 1,500 residential properties by deep surface water flooding at greater than 0.3m. That is why we look hard at damp staining, ground levels, external falls and any clues around cellar walls, parapets and floor timbers.

• Brick and tile town-centre fabric
• Shrink-swell clay on the northern side
• Tidal and fluvial flood risk by the Tees
• Conservation area controls in the centre