If someone has offered to “survey” your spray foam for free, one question matters before you let them into the loft: are they there to assess your roof — or to sell you a removal?
There’s nothing wrong with a removal company inspecting work it hopes to quote for — that’s how quotes happen. The problem is when a sales visit is dressed up as an independent survey. Because the “findings” of a salesman’s survey have a way of always pointing at the most expensive answer — and homeowners who’ve just been told their sale or mortgage is stuck are in exactly the frame of mind to say yes to anything that sounds like rescue.
Spray foam in the UK — the key numbers
Who will lend where spray foam was retrofitted?
Sources: House of Commons Library briefing CBP-10658 · PCA & HomeOwners Alliance joint letter (May 2025) · BBC research (Nov 2024) — full detail on our spray foam statistics page.
Why the free-survey pitch exists
Spray foam removal is significant work with a significant price tag, there’s no government help towards the cost (confirmed March 2025), and roughly 250,000 UK homes have foam installed. That’s a large market of worried homeowners — and worried people, sold to at the right moment, don’t shop around. A “free survey” is the cheapest possible way to get a seller into the most persuasive possible position: standing in your loft, delivering bad news, with a contract in the van.
None of this means everyone offering a free inspection is a rogue. It means the format rewards pressure — so you should know the signs.
The red flags, one by one
The verdict arrives instantly. A genuine assessment has to consider what type of foam is present, how it was applied, and what condition the timbers and ventilation are in. If “it all has to come out” is announced within minutes of the ladder going up, you’ve heard a script, not a survey.
Fear and urgency do the talking. “It’s getting worse by the week.” “Your home is unsellable until this is gone.” “We can only hold this price today.” Pressure has no place in a professional assessment — and the published evidence doesn’t support the fear. Of more than 500 properties inspected by the Property Care Association and the HomeOwners Alliance, 35% had one or more defect from the installation. Serious — and a minority. A professional talks about your roof, calmly; a salesman talks about catastrophe, urgently.
No interest in your paperwork. This one is telling. The government’s position is that spray foam correctly installed to the relevant standards shouldn’t need removing at all — so any honest assessor’s first questions are about installation certificates, the product used and the installer. If nobody asks, it may be because the answer might spoil the pitch.
The “surveyor” and the removal firm are the same people. However decent they may be, someone whose income depends on removals is not independent on the question of whether you need one. That’s not an accusation — it’s just what independence means. RICS and the Property Care Association both recommend an independent professional assessment for exactly this reason.
It started with a cold call. Unsolicited contact about your loft is its own warning sign — we’ve covered how cold-call insulation approaches work separately, and the same caution applies when the doorstep call comes with a clipboard.
The word “surveyor” is doing heavy lifting. “Surveyor” isn’t a protected job title. A chartered surveyor (MRICS/FRICS) has qualifications, a code of conduct and a complaints regime behind them. A salesman with a torch has a torch. It is entirely fair to ask which one is standing in your hallway.
Talk it through with a free, independent adviser — no obligation, and we carry out no removals ourselves.
Six questions to ask anyone before they go up your ladder
Who do you work for, and does that company carry out removals? · Are you a chartered surveyor or professionally qualified — and with whom? · Will I get a written report I can show to someone else? · What type of foam do I have, and how does that change things? · What would make you conclude removal isn’t needed? · Can I have a copy of everything you find, whatever I decide?
An independent professional will answer all six comfortably. A salesman will be halfway through question two before steering back to the contract. (Our homeowner checklists include a printable version of this list.)
What a genuine assessment actually covers
A proper look at spray foam considers: whether the foam is open-cell or closed-cell (open-cell stays soft and allows some vapour movement; closed-cell sets rigid and blocks it — a meaningful difference to condensation risk) · how it was applied, since RICS notes poorly applied foam with gaps can permit air leakage and condensation · the condition of visible timbers and ventilation · and what documentation exists. Sometimes the honest conclusion is that removal is needed. Sometimes it’s that the installation is sound and what you actually need is the paperwork to prove it. A process that can only ever reach one conclusion isn’t an assessment. (This is different from the survey that happens when you sell or remortgage — if a lender’s survey has flagged your foam, start here instead.)
If you’ve already signed something under pressure
Don’t panic, and don’t assume you’re committed. Many contracts signed in your home carry cancellation rights — often a 14-day cooling-off period — so check your paperwork and act promptly. And before any work goes ahead, get a second opinion from someone with no stake in the answer. If the work genuinely is needed, a fortnight’s pause costs you nothing; if it isn’t, that pause is worth thousands.
Where we stand
We don’t carry out removals — and that’s the point. When you come to us, the first step is confirming whether removal is genuinely needed at all; the government’s own position says correctly installed foam shouldn’t need to come out. If removal is the right answer, you choose from vetted companies, your details go only to the company you pick, the finished work is inspected alongside you, and you pay nothing until it’s signed off. If removal isn’t needed, we’ll tell you that too — we have nothing to sell you either way.
Had a “survey” that’s left you worried? Before you sign anything, get a free second opinion — it costs nothing to check.
Dealing with spray foam in your own home?
Talk it through with an independent advisor first — free, no obligation, and in many cases removal isn’t even needed.
Get Free Advice →Call Free: 0800 494 7163
Helpful guides: what removal costs · selling with spray foam · real homeowner cases
Worried about spray foam problems in your home? Call us free on 0800 494 7163 or leave a message about your situation and we will give you the advice you need to resolve it — and a full understanding of the guidance around spray foam and how it applies to your home. We are a free, independent advisory service and we carry out no removals ourselves.