Structural Report for an Insurance Claim: What It Has to Contain

The letter is usually short. Before we can proceed with your claim, please provide a report from a structural engineer. It rarely says what the report should contain, who is qualified to write it, or what the insurer intends to do with it once it arrives.

That vagueness costs people money. A report written to the wrong brief gets sent back, the claim stalls, and the second report is paid for out of the same pocket as the first.

This guide sets out what a structural report for an insurance claim has to establish, who can produce one, and the handful of things that cause insurers to reject them.

What a structural report for an insurance claim actually is

It is a written opinion, by a qualified engineer, on three questions: what the damage is, what caused it, and what it will take to put right. The insurer is not asking whether your house is in good order. They are asking whether the damage falls inside the policy.

That distinction governs the whole document. A general condition survey describes everything it finds. A structural report for an insurance claim is built around causation, because causation is what the policy pays on. Damage from a leaking drain, a nearby tree or a heave event is usually covered. Damage from ordinary settlement, poor original construction, or wear over decades usually is not.

So the report does not simply record a crack. It has to say what put it there, and give the insurer enough evidence to agree or disagree.

Who can write one

Insurers will normally accept a report from a chartered structural engineer, or from a chartered building surveyor where the damage is clearly not structural. The qualification matters because the insurer may rely on it, and because the report can end up in front of a loss adjuster who will check who wrote it.

Two practical points. First, the engineer should be independent of whoever will carry out the repairs — a report from a contractor who then quotes for the work invites an obvious question. Second, the engineer needs professional indemnity insurance, and the insurer may ask to see it.

If you are unsure whether you need an engineer or a surveyor at all, our guide to what happens during a structural investigation covers where the line falls.

What the report has to contain

A report that gets accepted first time generally does these things.

• Describes the damage factually. Location, length, width in millimetres, direction, and which elements are affected. Crack width is measured, not estimated.
• Dates the damage where possible. Fresh fracture faces, paint lines, filled-and-reopened cracks and decorator’s history all help establish whether this is new movement or an old scar.
• States a cause, and the reasoning behind it. Not “possible subsidence” but what was found, what was ruled out, and why the remaining explanation fits the pattern of damage.
• Records what was ruled out. Insurers trust a report more when it shows the engineer considered thermal movement, shrinkage, lintel failure and wall-tie corrosion before landing on something expensive.
• Classifies the damage. Most UK reports use the BRE Digest 251 categories, 0 to 5. That shared scale lets the insurer compare your damage with every other claim on their desk.
• Recommends a course of action. Monitoring, further investigation, or repair — with a reason for the choice.
• Includes dated photographs and a sketch. A plan marked with crack locations is worth several pages of description.

The three reasons insurers send reports back

1. It describes without concluding

A report that lists damage and stops short of naming a cause gives the insurer nothing to decide on. If the cause genuinely cannot be established without further work, the report should say that explicitly and set out what the next step is.

2. The cause is asserted rather than evidenced

“The cracking is consistent with subsidence” is an opinion. “The cracking is consistent with subsidence; a trial pit at the front elevation found the foundation bearing on shrinkable clay at 600mm with desiccation to that depth, and a mature oak stands 7m from the corner” is evidence. The second gets paid.

3. It answers a different question

A homebuyer’s survey, a condition report, or a certificate written for a lender is not a structural report for a claim. They were commissioned for other purposes and their conclusions are framed accordingly. A certificate of structural adequacy is a different document again — it confirms that completed work is sound, not that damage is covered.

Subsidence claims work differently

If the suspected cause is subsidence, expect the process to be longer and the evidence requirement higher. Subsidence claims are expensive, so insurers investigate them properly.

A full subsidence investigation usually involves trial pits to establish foundation depth and the soil beneath, soil sampling where clay is suspected, drainage testing by CCTV, and a period of level monitoring — commonly six to twelve months — to establish whether movement is ongoing or has stopped.

Vegetation is the single most common trigger in clay areas. Our guides to trees and subsidence and shrubs, drains and subsidence explain how the mechanism works and why the distance that matters depends on the species.

Monitoring is not the insurer stalling. Clay shrinks in summer and recovers in winter, so a crack photographed in September looks different in March. Without a seasonal cycle, nobody can separate ongoing subsidence from normal seasonal movement.

What it costs, and how long it takes

A single-visit structural report on a straightforward case — one property, a defined area of damage, a clear cause — is typically a few hundred pounds and arrives within a week or two of the inspection. There is no national fixed fee; it depends on property size, how much of the damage is accessible, and whether anything needs opening up.

Where trial pits, drainage surveys or monitoring are required, the cost rises and the timeline moves into months. In many cases the insurer appoints and pays for that stage once a preliminary report has established a plausible covered cause, which is a good reason to get the preliminary report right.

Check your policy before instructing anyone. Some policies cover the cost of the engineer’s report where the claim is accepted; some will only reimburse a report they have approved in advance.

What to do before you instruct anyone

Four things, none of which cost anything, and all of which make the report better.

• Photograph the damage with a scale and a date. A coin or a tape measure in frame, and the date visible or recorded. Repeat monthly.
• Mark the ends of each crack in pencil and date the marks. If a crack extends past the mark, you have evidence of ongoing movement that no retrospective inspection can give you.
• Write down when you first noticed it, and what else was happening. A new extension, a dry summer, a burst pipe, work next door, a tree removed or planted.
• Do not redecorate over it. Filling and painting a crack before the engineer sees it removes the evidence that tells them how old it is.

If you want to understand what you are looking at first, our guide on how to read a crack in a wall explains what width, direction and pattern are telling you.

Structural reports in Peterborough and London

Ora Labora Structural Engineers prepare structural reports for insurance claims across Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and the surrounding area, and across London. We inspect, establish the cause, and write to the standard insurers and loss adjusters expect — measured damage, reasoning set out, BRE classification, and a clear recommendation.

We are independent of any repair contractor, so the report says what we found and nothing else. If the damage turns out not to be a claim, we will tell you that too, and explain what it actually is.

If you have had a letter asking for an engineer’s report, get in touch and we will tell you what the inspection will involve and what it will cost before you commit to anything.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a structural report for an insurance claim cost?

For a straightforward single-property inspection with a defined area of damage, typically a few hundred pounds. Costs rise where trial pits, drainage investigation or monitoring are needed. Some policies reimburse the fee if the claim is accepted, so check before you instruct.

Can I use my homebuyer’s survey instead?

No. A homebuyer’s survey is written to flag risk to a purchaser, not to establish causation for an insurer. It will usually recommend that a structural engineer be consulted, which is the point you have now reached.

How long does a structural report take?

Usually one to two weeks from inspection to written report for a straightforward case. Where monitoring is required to establish whether movement is ongoing, expect six to twelve months before a final conclusion.

Will the engineer tell the insurer my claim is valid?

No, and a report that tried to would be doing the insurer’s job. The engineer establishes the damage, the cause and the remedy. Whether that cause falls inside your policy is the insurer’s decision.

What if the report says the damage is not covered?

You still have something useful: a qualified opinion on what is actually wrong and what it will take to fix. Most non-claim findings — thermal cracking, shrinkage, a failed lintel — are far cheaper to resolve than subsidence, which is worth knowing before you worry further.