do not go on price alone. ask local estate agents for who they recommend. your mortgage company usually appoint a surveyor so you may be able to use theirs for a fee and its in both your interests to do so.
go for the full report . I had a few items picked up by the surveyor when i bought my 1st house. negotiated a lot more than the cost of the survey and the remedials for the defects picked up from the asking price.
I think this is dangerous. The surveyors who are, shall we say, 'easygoing' are known and liked by estate agents. Equally the mortgage company appointments are done on a block booking basis. Some of the people doing the surveys would be better employed flipping burgers at MaccyDs
None of what I am about to tell you is good news, so, apologies in advance. In my opinion surveyors who value houses are, by and large, rubbish. Time and time again they write things like 'couldn't lift fitted carpets'*, 'couldn't get in to loft'. And, if they are contracted to the mortgage company or building society, they can spit in your eye if their survey turns out to be pants.
My suggestion is this. Take a long, sober look at the house. Forget that you love it, forget that you've always wanted to live in that street, and spend a couple of hours going round it asking yourself what the risks are. Take a friend who is a builder if you can, and, if you have any doubts about the roof, take a roofer. Take a plumber. Look for cracks, look for deflection in the floors, look for windows and doors out of square, check the heating, look for sagging or cracks in the ceilings, look at the lighting flexes........
If you have any worries at all about the structure of the house, then get a structural engineer to survey it. I'm very fortunate, in that I know a structural engineer who will look at something and say what they think, and if he said it was a loser then I would walk away for the price of a drink. If the structural engineer sticks his or her head in the loft or points to a crack and says 'forget it' take that as good advice.
Get your list to builders and tradesmen, and ask their advice. Bear in mind the condition of the heating and the wiring - because that can be more expensive than you might reckon on.
Unless you are convinced that there are no problems with the house, go to a surveyor and say 'you're not doing this for the building society, you're doing this for me, and if you screw it up, your arse will be in court'. If they run away you will have done yourself a favour. And, as subaqua rightly says, if the surveyor turns up a bunch of problems, then you might be able to negotiate on the price.
If you have to have a mortgage company appointed survey I'd pay for a valuation survey (which is nigh on useless) and then get all the additional assurance you need from people you appoint.
You should also ask if the house has had any work done to it within the last five years. A lot can be achieved with polyfilla and wallpaper.
* I bought a flat once and the surveyor said 'couldn't lift fitted carpets'. The carpets weren't fitted.