Find a 1st Associated Chartered Surveyor in Harpenden.

To find out some interesting facts about Harpenden and places to visit in Harpenden and the surrounding areas you can click on the boxes above.

To get a quote on a survey in Harpenden, carried out by an Independent Building Surveyor, click on the 'Get a Survey Quote' box above.

We carry out residential structural surveys and commercial surveys in Harpenden. Harpenden is situated between Luton and St Albans and is a very attractive commuter town being only 30 minutes or so from London by train. Harpenden has managed to maintain a very 'villagey' atmosphere. It has a lovely tree lined High Street and a village green, period houses and a village common and the place has a rural feel about it.

The centre of the 'the village' as it is referred to, has many nice individual shops and a couple of supermarkets along with restaurants and cafes. There are also places to shop in North Harpenden and Batford. Batford has the River Lea running through it.

The attractiveness and desirability of living in Harpenden is reflected in the cost of housing which is well above the national average. Harpenden is predominantly a residential town but there are a few light industrial factories in the area.

Harpenden is first recorded in writing in a deed dated 1060, showing that Edward the Confessor granted an estate to Westminster Abbey, which contained the area around Hwaethamstede, which has since become known as Wheathampstead, and Herpedene.

This area was first settled in the first century B.C. by the Belgae who were moving inland clearing areas to set up farms. The Romans came next leaving evidence of their presence in both the river valleys and at Rothamsted and also at St Albans where they had a main settlement.

During the Anglo-Saxon era there was disputes with the Danes and an agreement seems to have been reached in 886 when the River Lea became the the agreed dividing line between them. The Saxons stayed to the west and the Danes remained to the east.

A church has been on the current site since 1217 when it was a Chapel-of-Ease and was then enlarged by adding the tower in 1470. Amendments again took place in 1861 to make the church bigger.

Little change took place to Harpenden and farming was the main work for the local people; mainly wheat was grown. This led to much demand for wheat in the area during the 1700s-1800s due to the growth in the straw plait industry which was centred around Luton .

Harpenden was not deemed to be big enough to warrant its own train station when the railways were being developed, however in 1860 Luton opened its station which passed through Harpenden and in 1868 when the Bedford to London line was opened many of the railway workers were housed in Harpenden and the village had grown enough to get its own station.

In 1882 the sale of over a thousand acres of farm land led to the building of many residential properties which increased the population of people living in Harpenden immensely.

The first area developed was Milton road and since then the residential properties have been demolished and replaced with flats. A variety of house types and styles were created and over the years the then hamlets of Southdown, Batford and Kinsbourne Green have been merged to form the town of Harpenden .

All our surveys contain lots of images, clearly showing any problems that we have identified at the property such as woodworm, rising damp or cracking to the walls. We also use sketches in our surveys which are aimed at helping you to understand how certain areas are constructed or to help show more clearly a problem that we have identified. You will also find lots of definitions of any building terminology that we may use in our surveys, as we firmly believe in 'plain English' and really want you to fully understand what we are saying in the survey report. A Quick Sale can be achieved if you clearly understand any issues with the property and we write our surveys with this in mind.

1st Associated Chartered Surveyors cover the whole of the UK including all areas of Hertfordshire for example in:

Abbots Langley Berkhamsted Bishop's Stortford Borehamwood Broxbourne Bushey Cheshunt Croxley Green Harpenden Hatfield Hertford Hitchin Hoddesdon Letchworth Potters Bar Rickmansworth Royston South Oxhey Stevenage St Albans Tring Ware Watford Welwyn Garden City

Below are some examples of surveys we have carried out in the Hertfordshire area: Commercial Survey - Property Report and Schedule of Condition on a 18th century pub and restaurant in Welwyn Garden City Residential Building Survey of an early 1900s Period Terraced Property in Letchworth Residential Building Survey of a 1960s/1970s Detached Property in Hemel Hempstead Residential Building Survey of a Modern 1990s Detached Property in Abbots Langley Residential Building Survey of a Modern Detatched 1980s Property in Tring Residential Building Survey on an Extended End of Terrace Property built in the 1960s in Welwyn Garden City Residential Building Survey of a Converted Leasehold flat, with a share of the Freehold, in a c.1900s terraced property in Hitchin Residential Building Survey of a 1960s detached property in St Albans Commercial Survey - Property Report and Schedule of Condition on a 17th / 18th Century Public House in Buntingford More examples of surveys from different eras are available to download from our downloadable surveys page.

1st Associated provide house surveys, commercial surveys, engineers reports, property training plus more all carried out by RICS surveyors in Harpenden and the surrounding areas.

Contact us today for a free, no obligation quotation, including building surveys, structural surveys, homebuyers reports and pre sales reports, for Harpenden and the surrounding towns and villages.

If you are planning to book a building survey on a property you are purchasing in Harpenden then we would like to assure you that we always send a suitably qualified and experienced surveyor to carry out the job. This ensures that you get expert advice on any issues that we may find with the property we are surveying. All our surveyors are members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors - RICS - and are Independent Chartered Surveyors. Being 'independent' means that they are working for you and you alone; they do not work for a mortgage company or an estate agents, so they have your best interests at heart.

Get a survey quote:

Residential Building Survey Quote

Commercial Building Survey Quote or Schedule of Condition Quote

We carry out Structural Surveys, Structural Building Surveys on Residential properties and Commercial properties throughout Hertfordshire.

Our Residential Building Surveys and our Commercial Building Surveys are tailor made to suit your requirements. When you book your survey we will ask you to grade your property knowledge from 1 - 4, with 1 being 'next to no property knowledge' and 4 being 'excellent property knowledge'. From this we can tailor make your survey. Depending upon your knowledge level we will add additional photographs to the survey or will give you more definitions of building terminology, or add extra sketches to help describe particular areas of concern or to show you for example what type of roof your proposed property has or what type of brickwork the property is built in. By doing this we can make sure that you completely understand the property you are buying and that you understand what the issues are.