BEFORE YOU VIEW - FIRST EDITION

Before You View: A Structural Engineer’s Pocket Field Guide (First Edition)

Stop walking into viewings blind. Start looking with the eye of an expert.

You are about to walk into someone’s house and decide—in roughly thirty minutes—whether to spend more money than you have ever spent. The agent is polished, the kitchen smells like coffee, and you are likely exhausted. This booklet is the fast, sharp intervention you need before you step through the door.

Written by Marcin Krawucki, a Senior Structural Engineer and Chartered Construction Manager, this "Pocket Edition" is the abridged, action-focused companion to the full Before You Buy guide. It is designed to be read the night before a viewing so you can leave the property knowing exactly what to look for—and what to ignore.

What’s Inside:

• The Three Buckets: Learn to instantly categorize every defect as Priceable (a spreadsheet line item), Negotiable (a reason to lower your offer), or Fatal (a reason to walk away).

• A 90-Second History: Guess a house’s structural personality based on its era, from Victorian terraces to 1930s semis.

• The 20-Minute Desk Check: How to use the Land Registry, planning portals, and "Street View archaeology" to find out more than the estate agent tells you.

• The Outside-In Walkthrough: Why you should start at the gate and the roofline, not the kitchen.

• Seven Red Flags in Ten Minutes: Learn how to spot step-cracks, bowing walls, and bay window separation without any specialist equipment.

• The Tear-Out Checklist: A structured on-site inspection sheet to ensure you don't trust your memory—you trust the page.

Why You Need This:

The cost of a missed crack at a viewing is a four-figure bill at the survey or a five-figure bill after you move in. This guide teaches you that "beauty isn’t structure" and "surface isn't substance," helping you avoid the common trap of rejecting an old kitchen while buying a "renovated" house that's hiding a catastrophe.

Walk into your next viewing better equipped, take sharper photographs, and ask the questions that matter.

Note: Before You View is an educational guide and does not replace a formal RICS Level 3 survey or a professional inspection. Use it to sharpen your eye and know when to pay for expert help.

About the Author: Marcin Krawucki (BSc Hons, MCIOB, MIET, ACABE, GMICE) is a Senior Structural Engineer who has spent years performing structural surveys on the houses first-time buyers actually look at.