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.

Level 2 Home Buyers Report

These surveys follow a standard format and are ideal houses constructed in the 1920s onwards, with cavity walls or modern timber framing.

Level 3 Building & Structural Survey

(Previously known as Building or Structural Survey) – Suits larger properties, homes built before 1920, or buildings with solid walls.

Defect Inspection Reports

Our single-issue defect inspection reports are for homeowners or tenants concerned about defects such as dampness or cracking.

Building Conservation and Planning

With a conservation-minded approach, we use our extensive knowledge when preparing reports for house purchasers to guide them towards sensitive repair options and help them protect the historic integrity of their property.

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.

Learn more >>

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.

Book a Survey >>

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.

Meet the Team >>

Speak to the Experts. Call 01424 400232 or Request A Quote

Chloe Roach

13:28 29 Sep 22

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.

S C

13:49 24 Aug 22

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.

tom mcshane

13:47 11 Aug 22

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.

Nadine Keats

13:13 29 Mar 22

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!

Felicity Scott

11:44 01 Feb 22

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.

lance prebble

17:38 10 Nov 21

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.

Paul Player

14:37 29 Sep 21

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.

David Ardron

09:15 27 Sep 21

House purchase - full structural surveyAs 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.