Chartered Building Surveyors and Historic Building Specialists
RICS Regulated Practice
Welcome to Witcombe Surveying and Conservation Ltd. A Hastings based practice specialising in period and Listed properties covering the Hastings, St Leonards, Bexhill, Cranbrook and Rye areas. We’ll help you decide whether to purchase, maintain or upgrade a property and the cost of undertaking such works.
Experience
Our principal David Witcombe (BSc, MSc, RICS, IHBC), is an award-winning historic building specialist and personally undertakes all inspections. With 20+ years of experience, David’s passion and expertise are evident in every report he delivers.
Independence
We take pride in being fully independent to act in your best interests and do not pay referral fees to Estate Agents or receive commissions from contractors.
Specialists
We specialise in pre-purchase surveys and don’t split our expertise or life long learning with other services such as dilapidations and party wall work.
High-Quality Home Surveys & Defect Reports
Helping you make the right decisions before purchasing a home.
Our detailed Level 3 Building Surveys and Level 2 Homebuyers Reports uncover and disclose any major structural issues you need to be aware of, potentially saving you thousands. We identify any essential repairs you’ll have to budget for to prevent future deterioration or dampness.
Chartered Building Surveyors
We place immense importance on offering good value to our customers.
Our complete and transparent home surveys can keep you from unknowingly committing yourself to thousands of pounds worth of repair works – if we identify one major defect, you’re likely to be able to save the survey fee many times over through negotiation prior to purchase.
Historic Building Specialists
Award-winning historic building specialist.
Our principal David Witcombe (BSc, MSc, RICS, RPSA), personally undertakes all inspections to offer a first-class, bespoke service. With over 20 years of experience, David’s passion and expertise are evident in every report he delivers. You can be confident that our service will meet the consistently high standards we’re known for.
I have always been impressed with surveys David has carried out for my clients because of how thorough and detailed his reports are – leaving no stone unturned. David is always so approachable and goes the extra mile, particularly if a client has a specific query. David's reports are bespoke with a number of photographs demonstrating each of his points. I have known clients to be reluctant as to whether to incur the expense of having a survey carried out, but are grateful they did as David's reports have uncovered instances of subsidence or chimney defects which wouldn't have been obvious upon inspection by an untrained eye. They were then able to make an informed decision as to whether or not to proceed and negotiated a price reduction. Had this not been identified by David then they may have ended up with an unexpected and significant bill to carry out such works and may have experienced problems marketing the property for future sale. I cannot emphasise how important it is to have a survey carried out on a property but more particularly so with David Witcombe who is, in my opinion, the best there is in the business!
Fantastic service, fantastic reports, very knowledgeable
Response from the owner 09:07 24 Jan 25
Thank you Darrell, I was very impressed with your work and negotiation in getting the drains repaired. 
Having had a meeting with David from Witcombe surveyors and subsequent discussions about the detail and thoroughness of their surveys I can categorically state that they are in my opinion the most thorough building surveyors we have ever dealt with and have a fantastic knowledge of traditional buildings, certainly we would not look anywhere else.
If you are looking for a surveyor with integrity and attention detail for your traditional house purchase look no further
If you are looking for a surveyor with integrity and attention detail for your traditional house purchase look no further
Response from the owner 09:08 24 Jan 25
Thank you for this, it was good to meet you at your premises with all of the interesting work you do. 
David helped us twice, he is the best by far.
Response from the owner 13:59 23 Jan 25
Thank you, it was a pleasure to help 
David provided a fantastic service when surveying the house we intend to buy, the report was clear, detailed and comprehensive. David provided lots of additional assistance over email and went above and beyond in helping us, and was a pleasure to deal with. We can heartily recommend his services
Response from the owner 14:00 23 Jan 25
Thank you very much Ciaran, I hope all went well and it’s moving forward 
David conducted a very thorough survey, promptly produced a report with lots of useful detail, talked us through all of the main issues in a very balanced way and responded to queries very quickly and helpfully too. Would definitely recommend to anybody.
Response from the owner 16:53 28 Nov 24
Thank you Charlotte, any other questions, please come back to us. 
I would very highly recommend Witcombe, David was great.He surveyed a complicated building for us and he came across as impressively competent as well as helpful and communicative . Thank you.
Excellent! Swift response to initial request, provision of detailed information and offer of support in understanding and navigating the process of buying a house.
Excellent service. Detailed report arrived promptly after a verbal report on the day of the survey. Very comprehensive. Thank you
Response from the owner 08:22 10 Sep 24
Thank you Christine, please come back to me if you have any questions. 
David provided an absolutely first rate survey for us on what is now our home. It was very thorough, highly detailed and he provided further explanation on anything I required. I’ve since recommended him to other friends. Excellent service.
Response from the owner 07:48 08 Aug 24
Thank you very much for this. I hope you are happy in your new home! 
David was absolutely wonderful. He went above and beyond to help us on both the surveys we commissioned. He's very thorough and detailed, and always wants to do the best job he can. Great communicator and very helpful, even after delivering the survey. We will definitely be using him again, should the need arise.
We instructed David to carry out a full property survey of our Grade II listed, flint barn house. We knew there would be lots of remedial work identified, as the property has been neglected, and we wanted to ensure that the report was as thorough as possible. We'd heard good things about Witcombe Surveying, so we decided to instruct them to survey the property. David's work was astonishingly detailed, and his report has been enormously helpful to us, not just in the purchasing process but also as we plan our repairs and updates to the property. He is clearly an incredibly experienced and thorough surveyor, and he really goes the extra mile too - he spent time with us on the phone both pre- and post- the survey, which was so helpful to us during a somewhat stressful time! I cannot recommend David's company more highly.
Witcombe surveyors have been fantastic providing me with my survey, the home buyers survey I received was incredibly detailed. Their knowledge and professionalism is unparalleled.
I run a roofing company and I often come across David's surveys when clients ask us to quote for work highlighted by David. David's surveys are exceptionally descriptive and I can often quote work from the survey directly without seeing the property.
I wouldn't hesitate in recommending Witcombe Surveying and Conservation to home buyers in the future, David is a exceptional surveyor and provides an excellent service.
I run a roofing company and I often come across David's surveys when clients ask us to quote for work highlighted by David. David's surveys are exceptionally descriptive and I can often quote work from the survey directly without seeing the property.
I wouldn't hesitate in recommending Witcombe Surveying and Conservation to home buyers in the future, David is a exceptional surveyor and provides an excellent service.
David's homebuyer's report was exceptionally thorough and detailed and gave us very clear instructions as to what we needed to follow up on. He was recommended to us by several people and for good reason!
I would highly recommend David's services. Calm, thorough, professional, patient - he went above and beyond to satisfy all of our requirements. As first-time buyers we felt like were in safe hands. The property we are purchasing is Grade II listed and David was very knowledgeable and clear in his advice, he really knows his stuff! We wouldn't hesitate to use his services again.
The Best of the Best, a thorough professional. David did 2 full surveys for us on semi commercial properties his analysis and recommendations enabled us to sort the wheat from the chaff and make the right choice.
Most definately the right man for the job! Thanks David.
Most definately the right man for the job! Thanks David.
I have used Witcombe surveying for my house and also and issue with my beach hut.
They were superb in every respect and I would recommend them highly.
They were superb in every respect and I would recommend them highly.
House purchase - full structural survey
As probably your single largest investment in life, it's important to know all you can about your potential new home. As a result we cannot recommend David Witcombe of Witcombe Surveying and Conservation enough. His obvious experience and wealth of knowledge produced an extremely comprehensive and detailed report (more than we expected), which you can easily understand. The report really opens your eyes to all issues (large or small), allowing you to make a fully informed decision. Not only that, David is keen to discuss any issues and help you find realistic solutions. The survey report has been invaluable in our purchase process - which hasn't concluded yet ! We are very appreciative of David's continued assistance in our journey. We would definitely recommend Witcombe Surveying and Conservation. Again, our thanks.
As probably your single largest investment in life, it's important to know all you can about your potential new home. As a result we cannot recommend David Witcombe of Witcombe Surveying and Conservation enough. His obvious experience and wealth of knowledge produced an extremely comprehensive and detailed report (more than we expected), which you can easily understand. The report really opens your eyes to all issues (large or small), allowing you to make a fully informed decision. Not only that, David is keen to discuss any issues and help you find realistic solutions. The survey report has been invaluable in our purchase process - which hasn't concluded yet ! We are very appreciative of David's continued assistance in our journey. We would definitely recommend Witcombe Surveying and Conservation. Again, our thanks.
