Home-Buyer
Electrical Survey
A pre-purchase EICR for people buying a home in Bath & Mid Somerset — especially older and period properties. Know what the wiring really costs before you exchange, with a plain-English report you commission directly.
07889 334849Already own the property? See our standard EICR testing page →
Your house survey
doesn’t test the electrics.
A standard home survey looks at the electrical installation visually at best — the surveyor will typically note that the consumer unit looks dated and recommend a specialist electrical test. This is that test: a full BS 7671 inspection of the wiring you’re about to buy, commissioned by you, reported to you.
Surveyors recommend it — few buyers do it
Solicitors and conveyancers routinely request EICRs during property transactions, and survey reports regularly advise an electrical test on older homes. The buyers who actually get one walk into completion knowing exactly what they own. The ones who don’t find out after the keys are handed over.
Bath & Somerset homes are old
Georgian townhouses, stone cottages, Victorian terraces, farmhouses. Older properties commonly hide rubber or lead-sheathed cabling, rewireable fuse boxes, missing earths on lighting circuits and decades of DIY additions — none of which a viewing or a mortgage valuation will surface.
Documented findings, real costs
You receive the coded EICR plus an itemised written quote for any remedial work. That gives you and your solicitor a factual basis for the conversation with the seller — and a ready-priced plan for any work you choose to do after completion.
What a pre-purchase
EICR covers
The same full BS 7671:2018+A2:2022 inspection and testing we carry out for landlords and homeowners — pointed at the property you’re buying, on your timeline.
You commission it — not the seller
This survey is instructed by you, the buyer, and the report is addressed to you. We arrange access through your estate agent with the seller’s permission, exactly as a surveyor would. Because we work for you, the findings serve your decision — there’s no incentive to soften anything for a sale.
Full inspection & testing
- Visual inspection: consumer unit, earthing and bonding, visible wiring, accessories, signs of overheating or amateur alterations
- Dead testing: continuity (R1+R2), ring circuit continuity, insulation resistance at 500V DC on every accessible circuit
- Live testing: earth fault loop impedance (Zs), polarity, prospective fault current at the origin
- RCD testing: trip times measured against the limits in BS 7671
- All readings taken with a calibrated Megger MFT multifunction tester and recorded against the circuit schedule
A report your solicitor recognises
You receive the formal EICR on the industry-standard model forms — the same NAPIT-backed report format used for landlord compliance, lender surveys and insurance. Schedule of circuits, schedule of test results, schedule of inspections, every observation coded. Alongside it, we write you a plain-English summary: what we found, how serious it is, and what it would cost to put right.
Built around your purchase timeline
Conveyancing has deadlines, so tell us your target exchange date when you enquire and we’ll prioritise the booking around it. Satisfactory reports are issued same-day. Where defects are found, the itemised remedial quote arrives alongside the report — so the survey informs your decision instead of delaying it.
C1, C2, C3 & FI —
what the codes mean for a buyer.
Every observation on an EICR is coded to BS 7671. The report is Satisfactory only when there are no C1 or C2 (or FI) items; any C1 or C2 makes it Unsatisfactory. Here’s what each code means — and how to read it when you’re the one buying the house.
Risk of injury — immediate action required
A real and present danger exists, such as accessible live parts. A C1 must be dealt with immediately — where we find one during the survey we make it safe or isolate the affected circuit before leaving site, with the seller’s knowledge. For a buyer, a C1 is a serious flag: budget for the remedial work, or raise it before exchange.
Urgent remedial action required
Not an immediate danger, but a defect that could become dangerous — for example inadequate earthing or damaged insulation. Any C2 makes the report Unsatisfactory. For a buyer, C2 items are the core of the remedial quote: real work, real cost, and a factual point to discuss with your solicitor before you commit.
Doesn’t comply with today’s standard — not assessed as dangerous
The installation doesn’t meet the current edition of BS 7671 but is not assessed as dangerous — common in older homes that were compliant when installed. C3 items alone do not make a report Unsatisfactory. For a buyer they’re a forward-planning list, not a crisis: useful for budgeting upgrades, not grounds for panic.
Something needs opening up before it can be assessed
A potential defect was identified but couldn’t be fully assessed without further investigation — concealed wiring, inaccessible areas, undocumented alterations. FI items prevent a Satisfactory outcome until resolved. In a purchase context, an FI is a known unknown: we’ll tell you plainly what it would take to resolve it.
Honest coding, both ways: we don’t inflate C3 observations into scare stories, and we don’t soften genuine C2 defects because a sale is riding on it. The report says what the installation is.
Buying a period property?
That’s our home ground.
We work on listed buildings, Bath townhouses and stone farmhouses across Mid Somerset week in, week out — we know exactly where old installations hide their problems.
From enquiry to exchange,
without slowing either.
Five steps. You stay in control of the purchase; we handle the electrics.
Call or message
Send the address or the listing and your target exchange date. We’ll confirm a firm fixed quote based on the property.
Access arranged
We coordinate the visit through your estate agent, with the seller’s permission — the same route your surveyor uses.
Full inspection
Calibrated Megger MFT testing across the accessible installation: dead tests, live tests, RCD trip times, every reading recorded.
Report + plain English
The formal coded EICR plus a buyer’s summary of what each observation actually means. Satisfactory reports issued same-day.
Remedial quote
Itemised written costs for any C1/C2 work and recommended improvements — for your negotiation, and ready to instruct after completion.
Priced per circuit,
like every EICR we do.
From £30 + VAT @ 20% per circuit for domestic single-phase installations. A typical 3-bed house has 6–10 circuits. Send the address or listing and we’ll come back with a firm fixed quote before you book.
NAPIT
City & Guilds
TrustMark
Part P
BS 7671Home-Buyer Survey FAQ
What is a home-buyer electrical survey?+
It is a full Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) carried out before you exchange on a property purchase. The fixed wiring — consumer unit, circuits, earthing, sockets, lighting and protective devices — is inspected and tested to BS 7671, and every defect found is coded by severity. You get the formal report plus a plain-English summary of what it means for the house you are buying.
Who commissions the survey — the buyer or the seller?+
You, the buyer, commission it directly and the report is addressed to you. We arrange access through your estate agent with the seller’s permission — the same way a surveyor gains access. Because you instruct us, the findings work for you, not the seller.
How much does a pre-purchase EICR cost?+
Like all our EICRs it is priced per circuit — from £30 + VAT @ 20% per circuit for domestic single-phase installations. A typical 3-bed house has 6–10 circuits. Prices are indicative: send us the address or listing and we will confirm a firm fixed quote before you book.
What do the C1, C2 and C3 codes mean?+
C1 means danger present — a risk of injury exists and immediate remedial action is required. C2 means potentially dangerous — urgent remedial action is required. C3 means improvement recommended — the installation does not meet the current edition of BS 7671 but is not assessed as dangerous, and a C3 alone does not make the report Unsatisfactory. FI means further investigation is required without delay. A report is Satisfactory only when there are no C1 or C2 (or FI) items.
Will the report help me renegotiate the price?+
The report gives you and your solicitor a factual, coded record of the installation’s condition, and we provide an itemised written quote for any remedial work alongside it. Whether and how you use that in negotiation is between you, your solicitor and the seller — but you will be negotiating from documented findings and real costs, not guesswork.
Can you fit a purchase timeline?+
Yes — tell us your target exchange date when you enquire and we will prioritise the booking around it. Satisfactory reports are issued same-day. Where defects are found, the itemised remedial quote comes alongside the report so nothing stalls your conveyancing.
The house is a period or listed property — does that change anything?+
Period and listed properties need more time and more care — older wiring types, rewireable fuse boxes and limited access are common. We work on listed and period buildings across Bath and Mid Somerset, and if the survey points to a rewire or consumer unit upgrade after purchase we can quote that work sympathetically to the building. See our heritage installations page →
More questions? See our full FAQ →
Buying a house?
Test it before you sign.
Send the listing, get a fixed quote, book the survey. Call DS Electrical directly.
Direct Dan Stevens, Director: 07889 334849Request a Pre-Purchase
Electrical Survey
Fill in the form below and we will get back to you within 24 hours with a fixed quote.
One survey, one electrician,
one plan for the house.
Because we tested the installation before you bought it, the remedial quote is already itemised and priced. If the survey points to a consumer unit upgrade, a partial or full rewire, or sympathetic work on a period building, you instruct us when you’re ready — no second survey, no re-quoting from scratch.