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KNOP Bauunternehmen Mönchengladbach
02165 171 666 Ask for an appointment
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Property check Mönchengladbach

A second opinion, before you sign

A sales brochure is a sales document. We walk the property with you, look at structure, damp and building services, and tell you on the spot what stands out and what it means for your decision.

Viktor Knop is a master mason and concrete construction master, and KNOP is a Meisterbetrieb, a German master craftsman firm. What a house got right or wrong at the shell stage shows up years later, in very particular places.

Houses along a residential street in Mönchengladbach
Houses from several building periods. A site visit always begins outside, at the roof, the base course and the facade.
Cross checkSection 02

What the brochure says. What we look at on site.

None of it has to be untrue. But a sentence in a sales document and a look at the thing itself are two different matters.

  1. 01

    Well maintained condition

    We look at what has been maintained and what has merely been painted over. Fresh paint in the cellar is information, not reassurance.

  2. 02

    Roof recovered a few years ago

    We ask for the invoices and look at the roof space from inside. New tiles on old battens are not the same thing as a new roof.

  3. 03

    Heating modernised

    We read the type plate and the year, look at the distribution and the pipework, and set out what is still outstanding.

  4. 04

    Dry cellar

    We look for tide marks, efflorescence and smell. Dry on the day of the viewing does not mean dry in November.

  5. 05

    Only cosmetic work needed

    We separate cosmetics from substance. Wallpaper is a weekend. A crack above a window lintel is another matter.

  6. 06

    The layout is easy to open up

    We check which walls carry load and what an opening would mean for the beam above it, its bearings and the structure.

What we checkSection 03

Where we look

Not a checklist to tick off, but the places where, in our experience, money is decided when a house changes hands.

01

Structure and substance

  • crack patterns and above all their direction
  • settlement, deformation, floors out of level
  • floor slabs, beams and window lintels
  • load bearing walls and later openings
02

Damp

  • cellar, base course and cellar entrance
  • junctions at balcony, terrace and garage
  • bathroom, shower and sealed joints
  • smell, tide marks and salt efflorescence
03

Building envelope

  • roof covering, gutters, junctions
  • roof space from inside, where it can be entered
  • windows, joints, fittings, shutter boxes
  • facade, render and insulation, where visible
04

Services and documents

  • heating, distribution, year, condition
  • consumer unit and meter position
  • water and drainage, where accessible
  • the plans, invoices and certificates that exist

Appointment

Call as soon as the viewing is fixed

There is often only a week between the viewing and the notary. The earlier you get in touch, the more likely a site visit can be fitted in. We will tell you straight away, and honestly, whether we can manage it.

Ask for an appointmentCall us directly, 02165 171 666
How it worksSection 05

How a site visit runs

Three steps, with no detour through a quotation form and no waiting for a document.

  1. A first call

    You describe the property, the year it was built and what worries you. We tell you whether a site visit makes sense and what it covers.

  2. Through the house together

    We work from the outside in, from the cellar to the roof space. You are there the whole time, listening and asking. We photograph anything that stands out.

  3. A plain language assessment

    At the end we sort it out: what needs attention now, what can wait, and what cannot honestly be judged without opening up, measuring or a specialist engineer.

Close upSection 06

Six places where a site visit takes its time

These pictures show situations typical of residential buildings, not individual properties belonging to our customers.

Plain wordsSection 07

What this appointment does, and what it does not

What you get

An experienced look at the fabric of the building, an assessment in ordinary language, and photographs of the places we talked about. Afterwards you know what still needs discussing with the seller.

What it is not

Not a valuation, not a market value report and not evidence for a court or a bank. Where something can only be settled by opening up, measuring or a specialist engineer, we say so rather than guess.

AppointmentSection 08

Ask for an appointment

Tell us briefly which property it is and when the viewing takes place. We will call you back.

required

required

optional
optional

For example: terraced house built 1968, Rheydt

required

Year built, type of property, date of the viewing, what worries you.

We use your details only to answer your enquiry.

QuestionsSection 09

What buyers ask us beforehand

That depends on what is running on the building sites. Call as soon as your viewing is fixed. We will tell you straight away whether we can fit it in, and if we cannot, we will say that too.

Yes. You need access to the property, and that is arranged by the seller or the agent. Simply say that you are bringing someone from the trade. It is common and rarely a problem.

The site visit is an assessment given in conversation, with photographs of the places we discussed. A formal report is a different thing: it needs its own instruction and considerably more time.

Whatever documents the seller has: floor plans, the energy certificate, invoices for the roof, the heating or the windows, and for a flat the minutes of the owners meetings. The more there is, the less we have to assume.

Yes. With a flat we also look at the common parts, as far as they are accessible: roof, cellar, stairwell, facade and services. That is exactly where the future service charges come from.

Yes, we come to the neighbouring towns as well. Just tell us where the property is and we will say whether it can be arranged.
Area coveredSection 10

Mönchengladbach and around it

Mönchengladbach is an independent city, and its districts differ from one another more than many a rural district differs within itself. Late nineteenth century around the centre, post war rebuilding of the fifties, estates of the seventies, new build at the edges. Each of those periods has its own weak points, and they turn up in different places.

In the city

  • Innenstadt
  • Rheydt
  • Odenkirchen
  • Giesenkirchen
  • Hardt
  • Wickrath
  • Neuwerk
  • Holt

In the neighbourhood

  • Mönchengladbach
  • Korschenbroich
  • Viersen
  • Jüchen
  • Willich
  • Grevenbroich
  • Erkelenz
  • Wegberg
  • Schwalmtal
  • Nettetal