Case studies from real inspections, and guides for buyers navigating Swiss and German property. Written by the surveyor who does the work, not a marketing department.
01
Case Study
The apartment looked perfect. The building didn’t.
An Altbau flat in good order, and, two floors up, mould, a saturated wall, and a rejected insurance claim buried in the owners’ minutes. Collective repairs of €20,000+ heading for every owner.
02
Case Study
The renovation was flawless. The wall was still wet.
A burst riser, an insurance repair, a gleaming new bathroom, and peeling paint on the other side of the same wall. Thermal imaging raised it; the pin meter proved it.
03
Field Note
Thermal imaging: what the colours actually say
Real FLIR captures from our inspections, what a thermal camera reveals about moisture, insulation and pipework, and the honest limits of what it can prove on its own.
04
Buyer’s Guide
Damp & mould: what the wall is trying to tell you
The four ways water enters a building, what to notice at a viewing, and how a damp patch becomes a number you can negotiate with. Including the Swiss Erneuerungsfonds angle.
05
Buyer’s Guide
What a building survey actually is
Survey, valuation or agent’s appraisal, what each one tells you, what happens on the day, which one you need before signing, and what a survey cannot establish.
06
Buyer’s Guide
Is the flat as big as they say it is?
How floor area is calculated under SIA 416, what counts and what doesn’t, and why a five-percent error in Zürich is a five-figure mistake that follows you for years.
Want to see the output rather than read about it? Open a full sample report, real structure, fictional property.