What is Safe-Bricks Limited?

Safe-Bricks Limited offers 71 pages of practical heritage restoration advice, project guidance, FAQs, and trusted insights for Brighton and Hove homes.

How does this differ from a building survey?

A building survey, whether a Level 2 or Level 3 report, is prepared by a surveyor whose role is to identify and describe defects, assess risk and advise on further investigation. It is a professional assessment of condition. What it does not normally provide is a costed, buildable remediation scope, because the surveyor is not the party who will carry out the repair. Our report begins where the survey ends: we take the findings, inspect the fabric as a heritage contractor, establish what is actually causing each defect, and set out the sequence of work required to resolve it together with an estimate of cost. The two documents are complementary. We would not advise proceeding on ours in place of a survey, nor relying on a survey alone to judge what a period property will cost to put right.

Why does bungaroosh need a specialist costing?

Bungaroosh is a cast composite of flint, brick bats, chalk and rubble bound in lime and rendered over, and it behaves quite unlike solid brickwork. Its condition varies within a single elevation, moisture movement through it is central to how it performs, and the repairs that suit modern masonry — cement render, injected damp-proof courses, hard cementitious patching — are among the principal causes of accelerated decay in it. A costing prepared on general building assumptions will therefore misprice the work in both directions: it may allow for extensive intervention where consolidation would suffice, or allow nothing for the lime render reinstatement and curing programme that the wall genuinely requires. Accurate figures depend on identifying the construction correctly first.

Can a report be produced from photographs alone?

Photographs are a useful starting point and are often all that is available before an offer is agreed. They allow us to identify the likely construction, recognise incompatible previous repairs, and advise whether the defects described in a survey warrant closer examination. They do not allow us to establish the moisture source, the depth of decay behind a render, or the condition of a wall core, and we will say so rather than present an estimate that appears more certain than the evidence supports. Where access can be arranged before exchange, an inspection produces a materially more reliable scope and figure.

Do you specify damp-proof injection or cement render?

No. In solid, lime-bound traditional walls a chemical injected damp-proof course cannot form a continuous barrier through a variable rubble and lime matrix, and it does not address the source of the moisture. Cement render and hard cementitious plaster trap moisture within the wall and force decay into the historic fabric behind them. Our specifications are material-compatible and vapour-open throughout: breathable lime renders and plasters, lime mortars gauged to the existing work, and the removal of whatever is preventing the wall from drying. Where a report sets out the cost of correcting earlier work, that is frequently the cost of removing cement and reinstating a breathable system.

Does the report account for listed building consent?

Yes, as a constraint on both the specification and the programme. A significant proportion of the property stock in Brighton and Hove is listed, curtilage-listed or within a conservation area, and in those cases the acceptable materials, finishes and extent of intervention may be determined by the consent process rather than by preference. We identify where consent is likely to be required, note where the specification may be shaped by it, and allow realistic time for it in the sequence of work. We are contractors, not your agent in a consent application, and we recommend establishing the position with the local authority.

How is curing time reflected in the programme?

Lime-based work sets and gains strength slowly, and it is dependent on temperature, humidity and protection. Renders and plasters require proper curing before subsequent coats or decoration, and a wall that has been saturated for years needs time to dry before its true condition can be judged. A programme that ignores this produces failed work. Our reports state the curing and drying periods that the specification requires, and where an interval is unavoidable we set it out plainly so that it can be planned around rather than discovered later.

Specialist reporting

Heritage builder pre-purchase costing report, Brighton and Hove

A heritage builder pre-purchase costing report in Brighton gives a prospective purchaser what a building survey does not: a diagnosed remediation scope for a bungaroosh or period property, sequenced and costed by the specialists who would carry out the work.

A building survey does its job well. It identifies defects, records their extent, assesses risk and advises where further investigation is needed. What it is not intended to provide is the figure a purchaser actually needs, which is the cost of putting the building right correctly.

For a purchaser of a bungaroosh or period home in Brighton and Hove, that gap matters. The survey may report failed render, rising damp at low level, cracked stucco or decayed timber, and each of those descriptions can represent anything from localised consolidation to the removal of decades of incompatible cement repair. Without a specialist scope behind them, the numbers used in negotiation are estimates of an unknown.

Safe-Bricks Limited prepares pre-purchase costing reports as heritage restoration consultants and craftsmen. We read the survey, examine the fabric, establish what is causing each defect, and set out the work required in the order it must be carried out, with the cost of that work stated against each element of the scope.

What the Report Contains

The report is a working document for a purchaser and their advisers, not a marketing summary. Its structure follows the building rather than a template.

A completed report sets out:

The construction identified, elevation by elevation, including where bungaroosh, brick, flint or later alteration is present
The defects reported in the survey, interpreted against what the fabric itself shows
The cause established for each defect, distinguishing symptom from source
Where cause could not be established without opening up, and what that investigation involves
The remediation scope, described as buildable work rather than general recommendation
The material specification for each element, and why it has been selected
The costed schedule, broken down so that items can be separated in negotiation
The sequence of work, including drying, curing and any consent intervals
Work that is urgent, work that is prudent within a few years, and work that is discretionary
The limitations of the report, and what remains unverified

Where evidence is insufficient to support a figure, the report states that plainly rather than presenting an allowance as an estimate.

We Diagnose Before We Prescribe

This is the principle the whole report rests on. A remedy specified against a symptom will fail, and the purchaser will have paid twice: once for the work, and again when the defect returns.

Damp at the base of a bungaroosh wall is the clearest example. It may be a raised external ground level, a blocked or missing sub-floor ventilation route, a cement render holding moisture in the wall, a defective rainwater goods discharge, a bridged threshold, or hygroscopic salts left by an earlier failed treatment. Each has a different remedy and a materially different cost. Treating all of them as rising damp produces an injected damp-proof course and a cement backing, which resolves none of them.

Our diagnostic sequence for a costing report is:

Identify the construction and any historic alteration or previous repair
Record the moisture pattern and follow it to its source
Establish the condition of renders, plasters, mortars and wall cores
Distinguish historic, stabilised movement from progressive movement
Map incompatible previous repairs and the damage attributable to them
Determine what can be retained and consolidated, and what must be renewed
Specify compatible materials appropriate to the wall and its exposure
Sequence the work realistically, including drying and curing

Only at that point is the work costed. The scope precedes the figure, and the diagnosis precedes the scope.

Read about our damp and moisture investigation approach

Compatible, Breathable Specifications Only

Traditional walls in Brighton and Hove were built to manage moisture by allowing it to evaporate. Bungaroosh, solid brick in lime, flint and chalk all depend on that capability, and the finishes applied to them were vapour-open for that reason.

We specify only material-compatible, breathable systems: lime mortars gauged to the surviving work, lime renders and plasters selected for the substrate and exposure, and finishes that permit the wall to continue drying. We do not specify cement renders, hard cementitious plasters, injected chemical damp-proof courses or impermeable coatings on traditional fabric, because each of them retains moisture in the wall and displaces decay into the historic material behind.

This has a direct bearing on a purchase. Where a property has already received cement render or an injected treatment, the honest cost of correction is often the removal of that work and the reinstatement of a breathable system, and a costing report that omits it understates what the building requires.

Our specifications are governed by:

Compatibility of strength, so the repair remains weaker than the fabric it serves
Vapour openness, so the wall retains its capacity to dry
Reversibility, so future work is not made more difficult
Appropriateness to exposure, particularly on coastal and weather elevations
Matching of aggregate, colour and finish to the surviving original work

View our lime and traditional finishes

Consent and Curing Time

Two constraints are frequently absent from general costings, and both affect what a purchaser is committing to.

The first is consent. Where a property is listed, curtilage-listed or within a conservation area, the acceptable specification and the extent of permissible intervention may be determined by Listed Building Consent or conservation-area control rather than by preference. We identify where consent is likely to be engaged and note where it may shape the specification. Establishing the position with the local authority is a matter for the purchaser and their advisers.

The second is time. Lime-based work cures slowly and requires protection, saturated walls need to dry before their condition can be judged, and coats cannot be rushed one onto another. Our programmes state those intervals rather than compressing them, because work carried out against the material's requirements does not last.

Read our listed building consent guide

Who the Report Is For

The report is prepared for purchasers and their advisers who need to understand a building's repair liability before they are committed to it.

It is typically commissioned by:

Buyers of bungaroosh property whose survey has recommended specialist advice
Purchasers of listed or conservation-area property in Brighton and Hove
Buyers whose survey reports damp, failed render or movement without establishing a cause
Purchasers who have identified previous cement or injected damp-proofing work
Owners reconsidering a property already under offer, where the survey has raised heritage fabric concerns

We report on the building as we find it. We do not advise on whether to proceed with a purchase, and we do not act as a party to the transaction.

Photographic Evidence

[DIRECTOR: INSERT BEFORE-AND-AFTER PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE HERE — a property where a pre-purchase costing report was prepared. Include the condition found, the diagnosed cause, the specification adopted and the completed work on the same elevation.]

Placeholder: Original Safe-Bricks photography of local Brighton bungaroosh architecture

BEFORE: original Safe-Bricks photography of the condition recorded during a pre-purchase inspection — failed cement render or damp at low level on a bungaroosh elevation.

Placeholder: Original Safe-Bricks photography of local Brighton bungaroosh architecture

AFTER: original Safe-Bricks photography of the same elevation following the specified remediation — cement removed and breathable lime render reinstated.

Requesting a Report

If you are buying a period or bungaroosh property in Brighton and Hove and the survey has left you without a reliable figure, send Safe-Bricks the survey and photographs for an initial technical review.

The most useful material to provide is:

The building survey or homebuyer report in full
Photographs of each elevation, taken square on where possible
Close-ups of any render cracking, hollow areas or spalling
Internal photographs of damp staining, blown plaster or salting
External ground levels, thresholds, sub-floor vents and rainwater goods
Any evidence of previous cement repair or injected damp-proofing
The property's approximate age, and its listed or conservation-area status if known

From that we can normally confirm the construction, indicate where the survey findings require closer examination, and advise whether an inspection is needed before a costed scope can be prepared.

Contact Safe-Bricks about a pre-purchase report

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Technical Questions

Pre-purchase costing reports: common technical questions

First step

Not sure where to start?

Send us photographs of the area of concern. It is the most straightforward first step — we will look at what you can see and advise on the appropriate next steps.

Send Us Photographs