A straight answer
What is original, what has been altered, what condition each window is in and whether it can be repaired, window by window and with photographs.
For homeowners
Independent sash window surveys for homeowners
An honest second opinion on your windows: what is original, what can be repaired, and what your council is likely to accept.
If you are restoring a listed home or a property in a conservation area, or a builder has told you the windows need replacing, an independent sash window survey tells you what can be restored and what should be replaced, written so that your architect, your builder and your conservation officer can all use it. Our advice does not depend on what you decide to do next.
The situation
Do I need an independent sash window survey?
If the person who has told you your windows cannot be saved is also the person who would replace them, it is worth getting an independent view. That is no reflection on them, it is simply that the judgement is a difficult one and it helps to have it made by someone with nothing riding on the answer.
A sash window is made of separate parts, and rot in a sill or a bottom rail does not condemn the box, the sashes or the glass. The difference between a repair and a replacement is very often the difference between keeping the character of the house and losing it.
What we do
What you get from us
Something you can use
Written so that your architect, your builder and your conservation officer are all working from the same document rather than from three different opinions.
Yours to take elsewhere
You pay for the survey and the report, most clients take it to their own builder, and our advice does not depend on what happens next.
Relevant services
Questions
Common questions
My builder says the windows are beyond repair. Is that likely?
Sometimes it is right. It is still worth checking, because whether a window can be saved depends on which parts have failed, and that is a judgement best made by someone looking closely and with nothing riding on the answer.
Do I need a survey before applying for listed building consent?
In most cases, yes, because the survey is the evidence the application rests on. Refusals on windows are usually for insufficient information rather than because of the proposal itself.
Can you do this from photographs?
Often, yes, as a first opinion. A digital window survey gives you a written assessment within 72 hours and tells you whether a site visit is worth commissioning.
Will you quote to do the work?
Not as part of the survey. If you would like a quote once you have the report, we can arrange one through the right business in The Barnsbury Group, but only if you ask us to.
How much does it cost?
Every survey is quoted individually on the size of the property, its listing status, access and location, so send us the address and roughly how many windows there are and we will put a fee in writing within one working day.
Find out what your windows need
Homeowners. We reply within one working day.
Find out what your windows need- Practice
- Heritage Window Consultants Ltd
- Address
- London N1
- Enquiries
- 020 7164 6305