One can often find things wrong after a surveyor.
Much like buying a brand new boat, defects and issues can be out of sight and impossible to detect without days of use or taking things apart.
It would be the rare owner that will permit the surveyor to take core samples from many parts of the boat (even if he repairs them or pays to). Also taking things apart or being able to get into well sealed blind compartment areas are not often common things done.
An example of what a surveyor might do but many don't.... would be take the faceplate off a 110V wall outlet. Not doing it and just checking it with a tester just often shows it works. Yes.... a low voltage might show a high resistance connection, or using a thermal imager may show heat if left on long enough. However, it doesn't show already discolored wires, or poor connections/connectors, possibly undersized/unapproved wires, etc that all could lead to issues the day/week after the survey.
So I have a suspicion that many surveyors follow a simple rule of thumb. Start with the year/make/model and that gives them a head start on known problem areas. Then move on to general maintenance....high to low....how will that affect long term problems arising? Then it's methodically checking for operation of on/off items and things that need to move. If any warning signs pop up during the inspection it's hit or miss if they just note it or dig deep enough to say whether it's cosmetic, the start of a problem or maybe a showstopper for the average purchaser.
A survey is something like an annual health check. The doc looks for all the normal indicators of a healthy person...but there are many tests not done unless there is a reason to.... like a symptom or complaint If a lot of obvious indicators make you look healthy and questions and basic tests say you are probably healthy....most of the time you get a lollypop and off ya go.
Don't worry, I often don't discuss other professions, but one can apply this to any profession that requires diagnostics. They all are limited in some ways to guarantee any diagnosis to be 100%.