If you are on a budget when buying a house, many times you might think to yourself, can I save money by doing the property survey myself. 

The bottom lines is that, in the UK at least, the lender is going to want to see that a qualified person has gone out and at least put a valuation on the property and reported any major defects to them. 

However, you also have a choice as to whether you want to get a more in depth survey done like a structural survey. 

Even thought in the short term, this might save you money, the truth is that it is normally not a good idea to go down this route unless you are qualified. If you don’t notice a defect, you might have saved a few hundred pounds on the initial cost of a surveyor, but in the long run, it could cost you thousands of pounds.