Surveyor is one word for several professions. Instructing the wrong one wastes a fee and a fortnight, and it happens constantly because the titles overlap. The quickest way through is to name the question first and let the question choose the profession.
Building surveyor
Condition, defects, home surveys, party wall appointments, dilapidations and specifications for repair. If the question is what is wrong with this building and what should be done, this is the one. They are the profession behind home surveys, party wall awards and dilapidations schedules alike.
Valuation surveyor
What a property is worth, for a lender, for probate, for tax or for a sale. A valuation is not a condition report and does not pretend to be. A valuation is an opinion of value at a date, prepared to a standard and addressed to whoever commissioned it, and it says almost nothing about the condition of the roof.
Quantity surveyor
What construction work costs and how it is paid for: budgets, tenders, valuations of work done and final accounts. Instructed on projects rather than on purchases. If your question is what the work in a survey report will cost to put right, this is the profession that answers it, and many building surveyors will decline to.
Land and geospatial surveyor
Where things are: topographical surveys, boundaries, setting out, measured building surveys and utility mapping. The output is drawings and coordinates rather than opinions about condition. Boundary questions in particular belong here rather than to a building surveyor, though the legal answer comes from the deeds.
Questions people ask about types of surveyors
Which type of surveyor do I need to buy a house?
A building surveyor, for a home survey at level 1, 2 or 3. The lender's valuer is a separate person doing a separate job.
Are all surveyors chartered?
No. Surveyor is not a protected title in the way that architect is. Chartered status is checkable on the professional body's register, and it is worth checking.
Can one firm do all of it?
Larger practices hold several disciplines, and the person attending still specialises. Ask who will do the work rather than what the firm's website lists.