Three categories

Structural findings are the ones that change what the building is: movement, a failing roof structure, a wall that is not doing its job. These are rare, and when they appear they usually warrant a specialist report before any conversation about price.

Maintenance findings are the bulk of any survey on a house over eighty years old. Pointing, gutters, a window that needs replacing, a boiler near the end of its life. These are real costs and they are also, almost always, already reflected in what the house was marketed at.

The third category is the one that causes the most alarm and the least actual expense: things the surveyor could not inspect. No access to the roof void, no test of the drains, damp readings that warrant further investigation. These are not findings. They are recommendations to look further, and the right response is to look, not to negotiate.

What actually moves a price

A finding moves the price when it is unexpected, expensive and verifiable. All three matter. A roof at the end of its life on a house marketed as needing work is expected, and a seller will rightly say so. The same roof on a house presented as fully refurbished is a different conversation.

Verifiable means a written quote. Reopening a price with a number you have estimated yourself rarely succeeds and often costs goodwill. One quote from a competent contractor changes the discussion from opinion to arithmetic.

How to reopen the conversation

Do it once, with everything together, and early. A buyer who returns three times with new items over a fortnight loses the seller, even when each point is fair. Set out what the survey found, what it will cost with evidence attached, and what you are proposing.

Say what you want to happen. Whether that is a price adjustment, a retention, or the seller carrying out the work before exchange, ambiguity at this stage is what turns a solvable problem into a collapsed sale.

When to walk

Rarely, and usually for one of two reasons: a structural issue whose cost cannot be established before you would have to commit, or a seller who will not engage with a documented finding. Neither is about the money. Both are about proceeding without knowing what you are buying.