HICH Ltd. - Peterhead

Edward C.

They are not even worthy of one star… The amount of recent negative reviews speaks volumes for the treatment you will receive. They are terrible (and I bet they will respond to this like they have done in a sassy way to all the other negative comments).

We had a level 3 survey done and I think a child could have spotted more than them. The report was 95 pages long, the last 15 spoke about Japanese knotweed (not at the property we had the survey done at) and radon gas. The other 80 pages were a combination of pictures and repeated text. Some things were mentioned more than 3 times being a copy and paste of the same paragraph.

With all of this, they failed to pick up any of the actual key issues noted at the property, including a chimney breast being removed from the master bedroom leading to the ceiling bowing and a hole in the exterior of the wall.

We raised our concerns with them to which they ignored for a long time until we chased multiple times and their solution was for them to attend again… Not only was this too late but also we had no faith in them, if they didnt pick up these issues the first time around then they wouldnt the second.

DO NOT USE THEM.

EDIT: I knew they would reply… They think this review is invalid due to no ‘credibility’. There were photos of the issues in the report Hich provided with no comments on them so unsure how its not credible. As a result of these issues we HAD to get a second opinion since Hich were so incompetent who provided more insight within a 10 minute window than Hich did in the hours they spent at the house.

My best advice would be to use anyone else for your survey.

Mert G.

I used HICH for two surveys, the first was passable but the second was dissapointing, with many of my queries unanswered, concerning inconsistencies, and few unhelpful images.
Our second home was non standard, but we were upfront with our expectations for the survey and paid accordingly. In the end the survey was useless and unreliable, and their costs too high for the bare minimum.
Their communication is also not good after you've paid unfortunately. Expect delays and needing to remind them for a reply.

They should be fine if your needs are standard, don't rely on HICH for anything extra in my opinion.

Thanks

Andrew B.

We purchased a full structural survey of a property we intended to purchase in August 2020. Initially the survey failed to spot that the property was not connected to any gas, stating that it was. An error I had to correct.

Then the survey failed to spot considerable rising damp which had it been spotted and reported, we would not have completed the sale on.

Rectifying the faults this company should have spotted on its survey is now pushing us into debt. Purchasing by Paypal does not offer you any protection either as any request for a refund will be refused.

We are now having to go through other channels to request a refund and have the cost of our property repairs covered. A high risk company to do business with.

**Post Hich Comment Edit**

*Since posting this review and response it has also become evident that their surveyor did not carry out the loft survey thoroughly enough as advertised either. They completely missed wood worm in the beams of a fully accessible and roof.*

Hopefully future customers will note Hich's response, not only indicating that partly because I've posted a negative review they've closed my complaint but also including the accusation that these photos of the dampness on my property are apparently staged, (when I submitted these photos to Hich via email and asked if they were sufficient I received no response). Also the potential suggestion that this is damaged possibly happened in the two months in between their carrying out their survey and when we decided that it needed further investigating.

I will leave Hich's future customers to decide if it is possible to stage the damage caused to our property or not. Do you really want to do business with a company that will exhibit bullying behaviour should you not be happy with their services?

I had always had my doubts about this area of the house, which is why I requested a full structural survey. When a report you've paid a professional company in-excess of £400 for comes back stating that there is no signs of dampness why would I not believe it? I am not a structural surveyor.

Hich may not like the fact I am posting this negative review, however, customers paying for their services are paying for financial peace of mind with respect to their property, not an ebay purchase. If you visit Trust Pilot you will find that I am not alone in this negative experience.

I did indeed respond to Hich's survey initially with "many thanks, very professional" as I believe it is good manners to thank people for their work. I then noticed that they had stated on the report that one of the services provided to our property was Gas. There is no Gas provision to this village. I had to have that corrected.

My intent was always to post a negative review after the discovery of this missed rising damp, regardless of Paypals initial decision to refuse refund. Pay Pal refused our refund on the grounds that I had not provided documentation. I was not asked by Paypal to provide this before they closed my request. I have since been in touch with them and explained that we have a registered trades person producing a dampness report for us. They are continuing to help. My attempt to retrieve my money via Paypal was at the suggestion of my solicitor as a first step prior to expending further finances getting them involved. At Paypals suggestion our next step, in order to try and avoid litigation if possible, is to approach our bank and initiate a Payment Reversal Dispute which will allow them and Pay Pal to work together on this.

The specialist who came and surveyed our home has been carrying out other work on our property, prior to moving onto correcting this specific area. The work we've been having done over the past two months was booked in prior to discovering the rising damp Hich missed and as such takes priority over providing them with documentation proving their poor work. Rest assured, having had the damp survey carried out we are getting to the report and corrective work needed. We are however working to our timescale now, not Hich's.

Adam S.

Having multiple problems within our loft/roof/ventilation of a newly built London property, I was looking for a reliable and professional surveyor.
I came across Hich Ltd. online and checked their reviews. All looked pretty good, although most jobs seemed easy and straightforward. I decided to give Hich Ltd. a chance and sent them an inquiry, which was met with a quick response.

After further research, I found out that:

Hich Ltd. is a Scotland-based business with no office in England.
Moreover, their website says: "surveyor network platform," which indicates they outsource jobs.
Hich Ltd. is registered with Companies House as a "Web portals" business, not a surveying company.
Additionally, all available online information suggests that Hich Ltd. is a micro company (few employees), so they can't be employing all the surveyors who conduct surveys. According to their website, they cover "all postcode areas" in the UK—that's hundreds of surveyors.
Finally, I came across a LinkedIn profile where Hich Ltd. was recruiting back in July 2023. The advert read: "We are looking for freelance Building Surveyors in all postcode areas and regions throughout the UK."
My research indicated that my inquiry would be outsourced to a subcontractor/freelancer, so I wanted to know who it would be so I could check up on the chosen surveyor. I asked Hich Ltd. to provide his/her details.

And here, their interest ended.

I do not know why they suddenly lost interest, but here are some possible reasons:

The project is too complicated.
There are no good surveyors of theirs in the London area.
They don't want to disclose details of their freelancers (hiding something?).
Other.
I leave it to the readers to decide whether to contact Hich Ltd. or not. I'm not happy with the "radio silence" ending to my inquiry, so one star from me.
I told Hich Ltd. that we are time-sensitive and expected good communication—even if they decided to drop the prospect, they should just let people know.

A reply to Hich's response:

I have revised my original review and concluded that it required more details. You are right. So, I have changed it by adding more facts. I hope you will find it less defamatory this time around.

Accepting an inquiry and providing an estimate is part of your business activity, which means we were engaged in business, even though no contract was provided. So, I have every right to give my opinion.
I've checked Google's terms for reviews too. All good.

I've gathered all information available online, including screenshots of your website and the recruitment advert on LinkedIn—hard facts.
You would do better by apologizing and officially rejecting the job (for whatever reason) rather than threatening me with your legal team. I'm here, you have my email.

I'm really sorry you feel disappointed. I'm disappointed too.

A year on, I’m still waiting for their legal team to contact me…

Alex L.

Appaling Company, avoid at all costs. Please read this review, as it has cost us thousands to resolve issues HICH should have picked up easily in a survey. They lie about being RICS and CIOB affiliated on their website - ask them directly and the will lie to you. They were cancelled in 2015 but their website still tells you otherwise. You will have no issue resolution with governing bodies.
We bought a grade 2 listed house so went for the full level 3 survey. This company wasn't the cheapest, but promised a lot. The survey came back with small areas of damp, to be expected with a 300 year old stone built property. We directly asked which areas were affected and was told one wall and a chimney breast. Accepting this and being able to cope with it, we moved in. The day we moved in, we opened the kitchen cupboards and found massive damp. Please see pictures, bear in mind there was no shelf or backboard on the cupboard, so it was clearly on show. HICHs get out clause was: we do non intrusive surveys. It didn't need to be intrusive, you can see it clearly and also the smell was horrendous. 10 weeks on we still don't use the cupboards due to the smell. Cleaning products on the bottom of the cupboard do not block the view of the wall!! Having contacted HICH on the day of moving, I asked for someone to revisit to advise us as to the cause of the damp. They refused. A simple revisit to give us guidance on something they missed. They told us to get plumbers and other surveyors out if we weren't happy! We were forced to get damp proof specialists out, with all 5 diagnosing rising damp. The cause was a path outside being higher than the damp proof course in the kitchen extension. All 5 commented on how shocking the fact it wasn't picked up on a level 3 survey. This cupboard contains the stop cock too, which you would expect the surveyor to assess. Marking on the kitchen flooring, which was not picked up on in the survey, is also due to moisture damage. So far, we have spent £1000 on damp proofing, the cheapest quote for the kitchen units is £1600 with £1000 fitting. Cheap replacement flooring is £450. We are having to scour for the cheapest solution as it's all costs we weren't expecting to have to pay. We were supposed to be moving into our dream home and 10 weeks on, it has been a nightmare. All because of HICH and their lax survey. Simply, they use drones to look at the roof but won't even open kitchen cupboards! The damp issue is obvious through sight and smell. I could understand slightly more if there was a backboard and shelf in the cupboard. But it was plain to see (and smell). The surveyor replied with a lie saying there was no damage to the cupboards / plinth at the time of the survey. Clearly, this damage didn't happen in the 6 weeks between the survey and moving in. He also, laughingly, said that the vendor hadn't mentioned anything.... Why would he? He's trying to sell his house. Having followed HICHs complaints procedure, we got back a load of excuses about about invasive surveys and lack of proto meter reading pictures as evidence. Your response that I was looking for financial compensation is also a joke. £700 carcasses? I offered for them to come back out and have a look themselves. Having got the same old excuses from them, I decided to contact their regulatory bodies their website suggests and claims they are associated with. I was shocked to find RICS have had nothing to do with them as a company since 2015 and the CIOB also denied having any association with HICH.
We contacted HICH directly and asked the specific question if the are part of RICS and recieved a lie back. Later, stated weren't meant to mislead!!
Their website has Philip Milne spouting about his progress as a company, yet won't hold their hands up when they have made a mistake. Having read other negative reviews, I can only assume I will receive a reply from Mr Milne with more excuses and lies. Please look at the photos I will provide and make your own mind up. My advice is go elsewhere and avoid HICH, their lies and excuses.

Sid K.

The survey was done on the 30th of July and I received the report on the 8th of August. The report is 60% information from Google and other sources. 10% of it is actual findings. The rest photos.The strange thing about the report is it's layout and editing. There should have been a statement about a part of the property with a picture from it explaining it. However you get all the statements and findings bundled together first and then pictures from all over the property bundled at the bottom of the report. You don't get a clue which statement is for which photo or part of the property. It's like blindly giving directions.
Their website mentioned price for 3 bed house survey as £595. I was quoted £635. When I called in to enquire, the receptionist completely denied £595 being on the website and accused me of visiting fake sites. I said I'm calling from the number taken from the same site, and I'm looking at the site right this moment,how can it be fake. She started to quarrel with me. The price was later changed from £595 to £635 on the site. I don't know why was she denying it.

Their website says that typically
the report would be emailed 2-4 days after inspection. After survey was done on my property, I enquired about the date of the report, I was told that the report would be emailed 2-4 days after the surveyor sends data over to the office, not after the date of inspection.
I called to ask regarding this and came across the same receptionist having clear anger issues. I'm wondering why would someone with that behaviour be a receptionist and why would they be hired? Instead of explaining to me the reason of the statement in the website, she completely denied it being there and started shouting at me and handed the phone to another person. I'm assuming she is either family member or business partner,otherwise a company would never hire such person to be receptionist.
The second person explained the statement and I agreed. Although I still believe the statement on the website is misleading.
I was literally left in tears. Not every person has a heart mad of rock. I'm not used to being shouted at and being humiliated for asking simple questions.
I work as a customer advisor and answer 10s of questions of customers everyday.

They have the recordings of the both calls. I would request the manager to listen to those calls and apologize to me for the receptionist's behaviour.

Please avoid them and instead go with RICS certified surveyors who knows how to treat customers and answer their queries.

I have uploaded a few screenshots, please see the discrepancy in what they claim on their website and what they wrote me in the email.

Kaf T.

Engaged HICH to carry out a heat loss survey on our new home. We had no issues in arranging the survey and the visit itself was very straightforward. However, the report produced was very disappointing. As well as containing a number of (very basic) factual errors much of the commentary and analysis looked like it had just been cut and pasted in from another report. On this basis it is difficult not to question the quality of the work performed. Anyway, we requested that all the factual errors were corrected, seemingly a quick and simple job. However, weeks later this still hasn't been done, after many emails and telephone calls. We keep being told that someone will get back to us. Not much that can be concluded except that the quality of their work is questionable and they are unprofessional. Buyer beware.

Daniel L.

I found HICH ltd from a "go compare" type quote. They came in cheapest of three companies. I contacted the company and my case was dealt with by Philip Milne.

Philip has been absolutely fantastic. I've been particularly impressed with the speed that he responds to queries. I'm very much a laymen here, and Philip has been able to make all information very clear and concise.

Philip as able to book in and arrange the survey, and the full detailed report came back to me approx. 1 week after the survey was carried out, with very clear notes and recommendations.

Again - couldn't recommend the company enough - an easy 5 star review!