Surveying Blog

Ruins of Fountains Abbey reflected in the River Skell, near Ripon, North Yorkshire On 22–23 June 2026, the RICS Yorkshire & Humber region held a two-day technical event on lime mortar at Fountains Abbey near Ripon, a little under an hour's drive from us here in Scarborough. Led by the conservation specialist Nigel Copsey, the event combined technical lectures with hands-on demonstrations of traditional hot-mixed mortars and limewashes, and carried four hours of formal CPD. It

A characterful Edwardian detached home in Scarborough, recently inspected under a RICS Home Survey Level 3. There is a particular satisfaction in surveying an older home. Beneath the decorative plasterwork, the leaded fanlights and the original timber staircases lies a building that was designed and constructed in a fundamentally different way from the houses we build today. Understanding that difference is the single most important thing a buyer of a period property can do,

The Filey semi-detached home featured in this Level 2 Home Buyer Survey, recently refurbished with a new slate roof. When you commission a survey, you're not just paying for someone to walk around a property with a clipboard. You're paying for a complete, honest picture of the home you're about to buy. So when something gets in the way of that, the right thing to do is simple: go back and finish the job properly. That's exactly what happened on a recent Level 2 survey I carri

Red-brick Victorian mid-terraced house in Bridlington, inspected under a RICS Home Survey Level 3. If you are buying a traditionally built terraced house on the East Yorkshire or North Yorkshire coast, you are buying into a particular kind of building. They have solid walls, suspended timber floors, slate roofs and chimney stacks that have weathered well over a century of sea air. These homes can provide excellent, characterful accommodation for decades to come. But they beha

The property being surveyed. A lovely property. When buyers spot a crack running diagonally across the brickwork of a property they are hoping to purchase, the immediate assumption is often the worst: subsidence, structural failure, a building that is slowly falling apart. In reality, diagonal cracking is one of the most common defects we record during a survey, and in the great majority of cases the underlying cause is far more manageable than it first appears. The difficult

Aerial view of a 1850s sandstone farmhouse It has been a little while since I last published a blog post, but for good reason. Over recent months, I have been exceptionally busy carrying out RICS Level 3 Building Surveys on traditionally built properties across North Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire, including projects in Scarborough, Whitby, Bridlington, Malton and Driffield. There has been a noticeable rise in buyers looking to purchase historic properties, old fa

Traditional Solid-Wall Buildings vs Modern Cavity-Wall Homes. A building surveyor’s guide for buyers in Scarborough, Filey, Bridlington, and Driffield.

A building survey case study from a Victorian terrace in Scarborough

RICS registration isn’t just a badge. Learn what it means for clients and how it supports clear, professional, and trusted property advice.

Which property survey do you really need? A plain-English guide to snagging, Condition Reports, HomeBuyer & Building Surveys for buyers and landlords.

Discover how Skyline Property Surveys’ CABE affiliation and MCIOB membership benefit you, with ethical, professional and reliable property surveys.

A Scarborough case study showing the hidden costs of coastal living, from damp and weathering to safety risks uncovered before purchase.

Go behind the scenes of a snagging surveyor’s day: real fixes, real stories, and expert support for new-build homeowners across Yorkshire.

A real example of a new build inspection survey in Ellington, showing how early checks help homeowners spot issues and protect their investment.

Grab a snagging checklist with DIY tips from a surveyor. See real defects found in a Kirkbymoorside new build and when to hire a professional.

Discover common issues found in period properties. See how a Level 2 survey at a listed cottage in Pickering saved the buyer £20,000.

Behind the surveys: what we’ve been finding in homes across Filey, Bridlington and Scarborough and how it’s helping local buyers.

Why get a survey when buying a house? Two surveys. One property. Discover the hidden secrets we uncovered - and why every buyer should look closer.