Spend on the things that appear in a survey or a solicitor's enquiries — damp, roof defects, movement, missing certificates, unpermitted work — because those cause renegotiation or a withdrawn offer. Cosmetic work rarely returns its cost, with the exception of cheap presentation: decoration, cleaning and tidying the frontage.
- A survey comment is worth more off your price than the repair would have cost.
- Missing paperwork stalls more sales than missing decor. Gather certificates early.
- Unpermitted past work is the commonest reason a sale falls through late.
- Do not start a project you cannot finish. A half-done job is worse than the original defect.
What actually costs you money on a sale
There are three separate things going on when a property is sold, and they are worth separating because they call for different spending.
Getting viewings and an offer. This is presentation. Photographs, the frontage, light, clutter, smell, decoration. It is cheap and it has a real effect on whether people come and whether they offer.
Surviving the survey. A lender's valuation or a buyer's homebuyer or building survey produces a list. Anything on it becomes a negotiating point, and buyers routinely ask for more off the price than the repair would have cost, because they are pricing in uncertainty as well as the work.
Surviving the legal enquiries. The buyer's solicitor asks about building regulations approvals, planning permissions, guarantees, electrical and gas certificates and anything that looks like unpermitted work. Gaps here cause delay, indemnity policies, retentions or a withdrawal.
Most pre-sale spending goes on the first category when the money that returns most is in the second and third. Presentation is worth doing because it is cheap, not because it is where the value is.
Worth fixing, and not
| Item | Worth doing before sale? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Active roof leak or slipped tiles | Yes | Survey comment and a visible stain inside |
| Damp patches | Yes — diagnose first | A damp meter reading stalls lending |
| Blocked or broken gutters | Yes | Cheap; causes the damp a surveyor will note |
| Cracked render, loose brickwork | Yes | Reads as movement until proven otherwise |
| Missing electrical certificate | Yes | Solicitor enquiry; EICR is inexpensive |
| Rewirable fuse box, no RCD | Usually | Flagged, and cheap relative to the deduction |
| Rotten fascias and soffits | Often | Visible in photographs and in the survey |
| Full kitchen replacement | No | Rarely returns its cost; buyers change it |
| New bathroom | No | Same — clean and reseal instead |
| Full rewire | Usually not | Large cost; disclose and let the buyer price it |
| Extension or loft conversion | No | Not a pre-sale project |
| Decoration in neutral colours | Yes | Cheapest thing with a measurable effect |
| Tidying the frontage and garden | Yes | First photograph and first impression |
| Deep clean and declutter | Yes | Costs almost nothing |
The pattern: fix defects, do not make improvements. A buyer discounts a defect heavily and pays little extra for a new kitchen they did not choose.
Gather the paperwork before you list
- Building regulations completion certificates for any structural work, extension, loft conversion, replacement windows, new boiler or rewire.
- Planning permissions and any approved drawings, plus a lawful development certificate if one was obtained.
- Electrical certificates — an installation certificate for any notifiable work, or a current EICR for the condition of the installation.
- Gas Safe records for the boiler, and the boiler guarantee if it is still running.
- FENSA or CERTASS certificates for replacement windows and doors.
- Guarantees and warranties — damp proofing, timber treatment, roof, render, structural work, cavity insulation.
- Party wall awards where any work affected a shared boundary.
- The EPC, which must be in place before marketing.
This is the single most useful thing to do early, because it is free and because the gaps take time to resolve. Where a certificate is genuinely missing, a regularisation application or an indemnity policy takes weeks, and finding that out at week six of a conveyance is what pushes completion back.
Unpermitted work: deal with it now
This is the commonest reason a sale collapses late, and it is almost always discoverable in advance.
The usual candidates: a removed load-bearing wall with no building regulations approval and no visible steel detail, a conservatory or extension built without permission, a garage conversion done informally, a loft room marketed as a bedroom that was never signed off, a flat roof or structural alteration done by a previous owner, and electrical work done without notification.
What happens is predictable. The buyer's solicitor asks for the certificate, there is none, and the options are a regularisation application to the local authority, a lawful development certificate where enough time has passed, an indemnity policy, a price reduction, or the buyer walking away. All of them take time and most cost money.
Dealing with it before listing is substantially better. A regularisation application for structural work means opening up and having it inspected, which is disruptive but finite; applying for a certificate of lawfulness where the work is old enough is largely paperwork. Either leaves you with a document rather than a question.
Where the work was yours and recent, the honest position is that the certificate was always needed and getting it now is cheaper than the deduction. Where it predates you, establish how old it is, because that changes the route available.
What needs approval is covered separately, and it is worth reading against your own house before a buyer's solicitor does.
Damp: diagnose, do not just treat
A damp patch is one of the few things that can stop a lender advancing, so it matters out of proportion to its size.
The instinct is to get a damp-proofing company in, take the guarantee, and show it to the buyer. That is sometimes right and often not, because the majority of damp we are asked to look at is not rising damp and a chemical injection does not address it.
What a surveyor will do is take meter readings and write what they find. What a buyer then wants is either the defect resolved or a specialist report explaining it. A guarantee for the wrong treatment satisfies neither.
So: establish the route first. A blocked gutter, a cracked downpipe, ground level built up above the damp-proof course, a bridged cavity, a failed flashing, or condensation from inadequate ventilation. Those are cheap to fix and they are what is usually happening.
Then fix it, let it dry, and make good. If the decoration is done over a wall that is still wet, the stain comes back before the sale completes and you have paid twice for a worse outcome.
Replastering over a damp wall before a viewing is the one piece of pre-sale work that reliably backfires, because it hides the problem for about six weeks.
Mistakes Coventry homeowners keep making
- Spending on a kitchen instead of the roof. One is in the survey and one is not.
- Painting over a damp patch, which comes back during the conveyance.
- Starting a project they cannot finish. A half-stripped room or a part-built extension reads as a liability and is discounted far harder than the original state.
- Leaving the paperwork until the solicitor asks, which adds weeks at the worst point.
- Assuming nobody will notice the loft room was never signed off. The valuer counts bedrooms and the solicitor asks.
- Over-improving for the street. There is a ceiling on what a given house in a given road achieves, and spending past it does not return.
- Ignoring the frontage. It is the first photograph and it costs very little.
- Getting one quote for a survey item and accepting the buyer's figure instead of their own. Your quote is usually lower.
What it costs
These are the building figures published across this site:
| Job | Typical Coventry guide price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Builder, hourly | £20–£40/hr (avg ~£24) | Skilled trade |
| Builder, day rate | £200–£350/day | Varies with firm size |
| Repointing | £20–£50 per m² | Brick condition dependent |
| General building project | £4,600–£14,700 (avg ~£8,593) | Scope dependent |
For pre-sale work the useful comparison is not the cost of the repair but the deduction it prevents. Buyers price uncertainty as well as work, so a defect with no quote attached to it tends to cost more off the price than fixing it would have.
We will look at what a surveyor is likely to write down and price only those items, so you can compare the repair against the likely deduction.
Frequently asked questions
What should I fix before selling my house?
The things a surveyor will write down and a solicitor will ask about: active leaks, damp, roof defects, cracked render, missing certificates and unpermitted work. Those become negotiating points worth more off the price than the repair costs. Add cheap presentation — decoration, cleaning, tidying the frontage.
Is it worth fitting a new kitchen before selling?
Usually not. A kitchen rarely returns its cost, because buyers discount a defect heavily but pay little extra for a kitchen they did not choose and may replace. Cleaning, repairing doors and replacing worktops or handles achieves most of the presentation benefit for a fraction of the money.
What paperwork do I need to sell a house?
Building regulations completion certificates for structural work, extensions, loft conversions, windows, boilers and rewires; planning permissions; electrical certificates or a current EICR; Gas Safe records; FENSA or CERTASS for windows; guarantees for damp, roof or render work; any party wall award; and the EPC.
What happens if work was done without building regulations approval?
The buyer's solicitor asks for the certificate and the options become a regularisation application, a certificate of lawfulness if enough time has passed, an indemnity policy, a price reduction, or the buyer withdrawing. All take time. Resolving it before listing is substantially cheaper than at week six of a conveyance.
Should I get damp proofing done before selling?
Only once you know what the damp actually is. Most damp is not rising damp, and a guarantee for the wrong treatment satisfies neither the surveyor nor the buyer. Find the route — gutter, downpipe, raised ground level, bridged cavity, flashing, condensation — fix that, let it dry, then decorate.
Will a survey find everything?
A lender's valuation is brief and will not. A homebuyer or full building survey is far more thorough and will flag anything visible, plus anything it cannot inspect as a recommendation for further investigation — which buyers treat as a defect. That is why unresolved questions cost as much as known faults.
Fix the survey, not the decor
We price the items likely to appear in a survey separately from anything cosmetic, so you can decide what is worth doing before you list.