FAQ

For peace of mind,  A house is the largest purchased most people will ever make.  For a relatively small fee, it makes sense to have as much unbiased information as possible about the house you’re about to buy or build.  Do you like the expensive surprises? 

It is better to know about certain issues before they become your cost to repair, when you find out about them months after you have been living in the house. 

Very often you will need to spend thousands of dollars (even tens of thousands) to put the house in proper safe condition. Here is a list of concerns that we find on a regular basis during home inspections:

In Australia, there are no licensing, registration or minimum requirements for building inspectors.  So always do your homework before engaging an inspector to ensure they are suitable qualified to give appropriate advice.

The ideal property inspector is a fully licensed builder who is associated with a well-structured and fully insured building inspection company (both public liability & professional indemnity insurances). 

That they have the necessary experience to act as a neutral third party with requisite experience and expertise in the building trades. Because a good property inspection professional has no financial stake in the findings of the report, you can rest assured the data included is fair, unbiased and accurate.

Look for a building inspector who specialises in the assessment of new constructions. Some companies may focus only on pre-sale inspections & not be across all current standards. With the right building professionals and an exceptional building inspector, you can ensure the home of your dreams is structurally sound, well-constructed and of the utmost quality.

When you’re looking over your options to engage a building inspector what’s the difference between the various inspections… My guess is you’ll receive a broad range of quotes, some cheaper & some more expensive than ours… so why should you consider using us for your inspection program?

We have several major points of difference to our competitors… We will be with you through the whole build,  we dont just send reports. We are your personal building consultant & advocate the whole way through, you can contact us for over the phone advice at any point something doesn’t seem right or if you need a second opinion.  Not to mention our final report includes a return trip – that no one else does – to make sure everything is sorted out.  On top of all that,  we are actively building ourselves, a varied array of types of construction, this keeps us in touch with current methods, pricing & industry pressures.   We are also members of various industry & regulatory bodies, to ensure we are constantly kept up to date with all code, regulation & Australian Standards updates & when they happen.  

Secondly, the majority of inspection programs only visit & conduct 3 or 4 inspections over the course of a build,  where our full packages have between 7 & 9 inspections / reports.  So that’s double the visits included in our full program by us, meaning your whole home is accurately assessed & monitored for defects & improvements over the whole build… we won’t miss a thing. 

Did we mention, we’re also here for you the whole way through?  Any Variations, changes, problems or questions we’re available the whole time, we are only a phone call or email away.  We’ve got your back!

Honestly, with a new build…  The earlier the better… The earlier that we can get in & inspect a new home build, the bigger the impact we can have on the quality outcome of the whole build.  

If we can catch issues as & when they arise, they can generally be rectified more easily & with a better result, rather than waiting till the end, when fixing something may give a worse result than the original fault.

That being said, we can & do help people at all stages of construction, as a lot of people don’t realise they need our help till something goes wrong.  We will always advise on what will give the best end result for our clients to make sure that you receive the best home you possible can… after all, we’re here to protect your investment.

For pre-purchase inspections, please get in contact as soon as possible after making an offer.  Generally there is quite a small window of opportunity from finance approval to have the home inspected, so the more notice we have the easier it is to find a time that suits the seller & the agent for us to gain access to complete the inspection.  

Certainly, we are more than just inspectors… We can assist you from the moment you decide to build right through till 6 years after your homes completed. 

We are well versed in the Home Building Contracts Act, and have many years of experience with the many contracts available to builders.  We can provide you with general advice & explanations of contract conditions, as well as assess variations, specifications & addendas for validity & fairness. 

We can also help you to review & compare quotes.  We can help make sure you ask the right questions & get clear answers before signing with a builder… so as not to get any nasty & expensive surprises when your underway.  After all you are making one of the biggest investments you ever will, you want to be sure.

Have a read & give us a call or email with any questions you may have.  We write all our reports in plain English wherever possible, but we may have to resort to industry terms when referencing faults against a standard. 

We’re here to explain the contents of your building report in detail, so that you have a better understanding of any response from your builder.  Then send the report directly to your builder or sales agent to have any items of concern addressed promptly.  

Once they respond & if you have any questions or concerns about it, call us & have a chat.  We’re there, right beside you the whole way through to make sure all of the issues raised are dealt with.  If you’re building or buying a home, you deserve to know that your investment is sound.  That you won’t have to be fixing other people’s mistakes.  That your home is SAFE… That is why we are here…

All of our reports are fact based, referencing National Construction Codes, Australian standards & manufacturer specifications so that there is no argument over opinion on defects.  

This means that your builder is far less likely to decline to correct their mistakes, however occasionally some will refuse to act regardless of the evidence presented.  

When this happens there is a process that we can pursue through the Building Commission to make sure the defects are addressed.

We can help guide you through the complaints process of the Building Commission to make sure your defects are remedied.  

There is a specific process that needs to be followed in order for the complaint to be heard by the commission & we can assist to ensure the procedures are followed correctly.  

This helps reduce any time lost through the commission seeking additional info & makes sure that any remedies are ordered & actioned as soon as possible.

Provided your home is under 6 years old, you will have an indemnity insurance (otherwise known as a builder’s warranty insurance) policy in place. 

This covers you not only for your build but also for a period of 6 years from completion as a warranty against defective building work.

We can help by assessing the defects, and assisting you in getting the repairs quoted by suitable contractors so that you can lodge a claim to the insurance policy in place. 

Once your claim is approved & your contractors have completed the repairs, we can assess these to make sure the defects have been repaired correctly.