Currently in the market looking to purchase a property. Today real estate agent advised that another party offered on a property without a clause subject to building inspection, nor did they get one done.
I thought it was a no brainer to get one done given the magnitude of such a purchase.
Did you get one done?
From someone who is paying off a Lemon… please have one done!!!
Genuine question, to buy a car, the car needs to pass a road worthy which is done by the seller. Why don't we make the same for housing, instead of every buyer getting one, the seller just gets 2-3 and the inspectors have a bit more responsibility?
Because a mechanically unsound car is a menace to everyone else on the road.
A house with problems is a headache only for the owner.
We hired one who was very well reviewed. He was nice enough, but the check was very surface level, and didn’t really point out anything that wasn’t immediately obvious (which sounds like a common theme). We also paid for a pest inspection at the same time, but I honestly don’t know what that achieved. He just told us to consider termite prevention, which is also a service he provided.
I will say the one thing that made it worth it was that we were invited to be present for the inspection. This gave us a solid 30+ min looking at the house in a more natural state, without the agent and owner present. Assuming you’re in your cooling off period, it’s a good opportunity to take one last detailed look and decide if you want to continue.
It is always possible to organise a private inspection where you can take your time and inspect yourself (if you have the confidence)
I've recently sold and bought, so have had the experience of being on each side. I used a building inspector who was excellent. First property I considered buying he pointed out many things I hadn't seen as well as the costs of maintaining it.
The property I purchased had a better report, and I knew what I needed to fix. He took several photos of each room and went throughout the property, pointing out the good/bad. Having a presentation like this is so much better than a written report, as it allows for questions and answers immediately.
If you are in Melbourne I can pass on his details if you wish.
I mean if your in Melbourne why would you go with anyone else but (as below) - their video evidence all over youtube and tiktok clearly shows they are a cut above the rest
Time is another factor to consider.
When you've found a property just advertised, it helps to be able to have the building inspector coordinate with the vendor/agent to do an inspection ASAP. Most auctions are 4-5 week campaigns and there was a shortage of good properties that fit what I was looking for.
Every "good" property had offers within the first week, so you can't sit idly waiting for a building inspector. I put my offer in after the inspection, and the agent arranged a mid week auction a few days later.
I also sold my home prior to Xmas, had offers the day of the first inspection, and several inspections in the first week. So we brought the auction forward, and had 4 bidders mid week.
Dont give into fomo, especially for such a significant biggest financial decision
Actually had one refunded by the sellers of property we inspected.
The REA had told them how keen we were on the property. We were the underbidders and they offered a refund to put towards the next property we went after.
A long while ago, more than 10years ago.
Looked at two properties, first was an auction property, got the inspection done pre-auction, did not get a bid in.
2nd property, got inspection done, inspector said "I am not sure how much your paying for the property, I recommend you not buy it because of the damp problems"
Pretty much ignored him and bought it anyway. Should I have listened? Maybe, damp problems suck. Did I fix any of the problems, nope.
Whats a damp problem?
When you have high humidity in your house, could be caused by drainage problems, leaking water.
In my case, it's an old house build on a minor slope, natural ground drainage is towards the house.
Stuff gets mouldy. If you store stuff say in cardboard boxes and you don't open it for a long time, the moisture gets trapped inside and stuff inside gets mouldy.
Grows on all sorts of stuff.
Probably not healthy as well.
We run dehumidifiers to try and keep it under control, downstairs where I store a lot of stuff, if you keep it there too long, you sort of don't want touch it any more, just in case.
Used to live in a house with a lot of silverfish, likes to eat your paper/cardboard products, I would say mould is worse after experiencing it.
If you collect a lot of stuff, it would not be good for you.
It's mind-boggling you still bought the place despite being warned of a damp problem… Can you explain your thinking?
@Ch34p: Hey back then, high humidity meant nothing to me, new to me. After living in the house for a year or two, you start to notice some stuff getting mouldy.
Oh that's what he meant. If have not experienced it you would not understand.
Anyway we control the humidity with dehumidifiers, but should put one downstairs though. Or get some fans under the house…
Got used to it, manageable now.
Bought the house when the market was bad. Place is worth way more now (triple maybe now).
Financially I do not regret it, definately would not afford the same house now.
I am pretty sure in the last few years when houses at auction, most buyers would not get an inspection done so they would not know about the problem.
It's just the house, could replace it or fix the problem. I see people here knock down a perfectly good house and put a new one up these days.
The previous house I did the inspection at, I had a look for the house this year, I could not find it, I think they knocked it down and rebuilt. You get many buying just for the land, they don't care so much about the house. You get people paying 2million now to knock the house down and rebuilding, that boggles my mind.
Problem is when you have a lot of clutter (a bit of a horder), and back then didn't really try and air out the room frequently did not help.
Moved into the house with nothing, now it is so cluttered.
I did for an apartment, but I was unsure of what use it really was and wouldn’t do so again.
Reading over the report found a laundry list of defects. But I wasn’t buying new, it was a 10 year old building. I expect a laundry list of defects. Water damage here, cracks there, that’s the nature of an old building. Reading the report only made me more confused than had I not had an expert. Particularly as regards to common areas in the property which look so expensive to fix, but end up getting shared among the owners corp… and you see such things in the strata report.
I mainly got the report so I could show the bank the building didn’t have flammable cladding, which they required to service a loan. Of course, however, the inspector said “I can’t certify if the cladding is not flammable. You’ll have to take a sample to a lab and pay some thousands more…” So that was useless.
classic useless building inspector.
picks up basic as.f shit like you mentioned, but failed on the stuff you actually need to know
After watching these videos, im amazed at the quality of new homes nowadays. But he also says that a lot of building inspectors are in bed with the builder or REA, therefore its really a 50/50 crapshoot to get a good trusted one or none at all.
ive noticed most of his videos are inspecting volume builders or previously built volume homes.
All the same kinda defects as well; water proofing wrong, roof flashing wrong, gutters with no fall, rainwater sumps designed wrong, broken tiles, roof cavities a brothel, general messiness and building rubbish everywhere, house not build as per the plan, swapping out finishes with other finishes because why not, leaking wet areas into adjoining areas, coverups - like over hangs or concrete thickness, questionable quality building products with no AS/NZS certifications stamped on them and just generally poor workmanship
I mean the list goes on, but generally they all feature in every volume build house he inspects
I am a builder in Sydney and have never seen anything remotely as bad as what he inspects.
Admittedly I have very little first hand experience with volume builds but I wonder if its the same deal in Sydney.
Got a B&P done using a company recommended by our solicitor. This was for an older apartment in a very small block i.e. significant strata entitlement/responsibility.
Would absolutely get it done again - the PDF report was extensive including pics within the roof cavity, roof exterior (or as best they could do from our top floor balcony), gutters, carport structure, fences, driveway, etc. Picked up plenty we already knew from strata report, plus some things we didn't know - both positive and negative.
Cost $559 including a $50 referral discount from our solicitor.
Heya sb9,
Out of interest, which city was this in? Some friends are on the hunt.
Cheers :)
Sydney - EyeOn Property Inspections.
There's a sample report here to give an idea of what's received, mine was very similar in detail: https://www.eyeon.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Sample-B…
For the 2 properties I’ve bought yes I got a building inspection
First time was fine. Small issues that didn’t impact purchase
2nd time was approx 5 years ago. Moved into an older home as family was growing and plan was to improve overtime.
Got the building inspection, recommended from my solicitor. No big issues and seemed to have done a thorough job. The day we moved in I noticed issue after issue that were blatantly missed by inspector. Things started happening and I would go under house etc and find things missed that would have been picked up if they crawled more than 2 meters in. Plenty of room.
Anyhow I got a secondary inspection after that and come back night and day n comparison.
Some things missed should have been picked up. One thing is they didn’t point out a leak I missed when going through the house or broken ducts in roof or under house amongst many other things but if they did a job less than thorough they still would have picked it up.
Let’s say I got lawyers involved and after the company dragged their feet for over a year and got there own independent reviewer in, I settled on a 5 Figure $$$ I gave them and they agreed to. In hindsight should have asked for a bit more but I wanted to move on.
If the job is done right then it’s worth its weight in gold. One thing I suggest is walk through with them. At least u can ask questions and point out anything too. Whereas if u call them later after seeing report they probably can’t remember half the items listed.
Do the inspection, go with them. Don’t believe you can’t get lawyers in later.
I got my money and have used it to fix things which would have put the house back to the state I thought I was purchasing at. So I haven’t lost out apart from stress and time
So building inspector can be sued if the report they wrote is not up to standard?
I used BPI Building and Pest in Brisbane when I bought a few years back. Yes, I will name and shame because (profanity)'em thats why. The guy proceeded to tell me how he turns on all showers for 7 minutes in any new build. If he had done that the house would have flooded because the dumbass builder installed all the drains wrong. That was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of problems noticed that should have been picked up.
I wanna hear from the ppl that voted NO
Yes, but shouldn't have. $600 for 15 pages of disclaimers. They didn't pick up on anything that a layperson couldn't observe with their own eyes. This was only one particular inspection so I won't generalise at all. I'd be likely to fork out the money again with a different provider in the future just in case
In answer to the question, yes. The money spent with be far less than the repair on a significant issue.
A good OzB story re inspectors: On the the items my inspector found was the need to replace hanging curtain cords to fixed cords. OzBargain post later had free cable holders from government department. I obtained and sent link to inspector. Inspector's wife called me to thank me saying he always includes the recommendation and, via a friend, had personal knowledge of a tragedy due to curtain cords. The link originally sourced from OzB would now be included in his reports.
Nice one, OzB! :-)
My first home that I bought in 2021 - I engaged a building inspector. I made the mistake of not being there when he did the inspection.
As someone pointed out above, the report was 95% pre-written & contained very generic sentences about basic home maintenance.
Then at the end of each section, there was a sentence saying something along the lines of:
"Could not check this part, recommend engaging a specialist for further investigation"
"Could not check this, could not check that"
It was a get out of jail clause for the inspector.
The first page of the report stated the roof was colourbond roof sheeting and that my door frames were wooden. In actual fact my roof is concrete tile and the door frames are metal. It was clearly a copy+paste report that hadn't been proof read and had just been populated with pictures of each room.
A property purchase is the likely the biggest purchase you will make. If you agent is asking you to waive the subject to building inspection clause then there is something to hide.
I did, and regret choosing the inspector that we did but would still get a building inspection done in future.
Yes and what a joke it was. Bastards cover their arses well and it's essentially a fluffy report of no value.
Building inspectors most not much better than a used car salesmen. If I had to do it again and had time would ask a Structual Engineer to check instead, they would be more qualified. If going through building inspector make sure they have indemnity insurance and be prepared to get a 2nd report & engage with lawyers if 1st building inspector did a sub standard job. Dont get building inspector from a franchise (can be lazy and just say couldnt access here or there) make sure its owner operated as owner of the business would have a vested interest in doing a good thorough job. Dont pick building inspectors recommended by REA, they would most likely be recommended since they tend to overlook things to get properties a glowing report hence why REA would probably like them more.
It's not a no brainer.
If it's a shit box house no one wants then yes. Get inspection clauses.
If you really want the house and there's a lot of interest someone with an unconditional will get it.
I have my dream home because I went unconditional, I beat someone who was offering more but had clauses.
The person selling will always go with the most attractive guaranteed offer.
House is worth having someone else look over it. House is what probably 500k or more? Inspection is going to be 1k max. I would personally walk away if they are pushing for no inspection (unless I was prepared to knock it down and rebuild).
If you want it to be worth your time, find one that will allow you to come with them and ask questions as others have mentioned.
I am surprised at so many Yes votes.
Most properties are auction, so you can’t put in a building inspection clause. I guess you could use the report to inform your choice.
But you may go through 10+ properties and get out bid every time, the cost of inspections can really add up! I always thought most people didn’t get an inspection done and just went ham at the auction. Could even bank that inspection money and use it to fix faults?
I would say get good at picking up defects and potential problems yourself (understand this isn’t always practical). There isn’t that much which “can’t be fixed” in reality, but very good to be informed.
10x 500 is 5000, drop in the ocean in context to the million odd house you may be buying. Major structural/waterproofing/drainage/termite issues will cost you easily 10-50x that
Genuinely curious since - what kinda problems warrant 100-250k repair bills?
few properties i have todate, the new built one is costing me a lot of money, leaks here and there. so many dodgy builders cut corners. lesson learned
Partner had an inspection done on a new build and came back with 2 pages long of faults that had to be rectified, the worst being a hairline crack in the kitchen marble benchtops we wouldn't have seen, not a cheap replacement either if it cracked further down the line and we had to replace.
I've just purchased an existing house but didn't get one, but I bought the house from a relative who downsized and I know they've taken good care of the house (10yr old house).
if a hairline crack on a kitchen benchtop is the worse thing for a new build, consider yourself lucky.
Yes and no, mine saved us 50k off the price due to termites in the logs out in back yard. But the house is steel structured without any obvious wood that I can see so bought anyways.
However they missed that one of the bathroom is leaking badly and not usable…blatantly obvious if water is turned on but they only relied on the wet meter thing which didn’t pick it up. We only picked it up half year in as it’s a guest bathroom and there are 3 other working bathrooms around the house. They basically said it could have happened after we bought the house so no recourse given.
Yes, found an issue that needed rectification and saved a few k on purchase price.
When I was a 1st time home buyer back in early early/mid 2000 all the rage with pre contract building inspections.
Totally waste of money mainly because we are buying at established suburb with 30-40 years old houses…
Anytime you get a building inspection u get a list of problems and you start doubting yourself should I buy and then few years later you missed the boat..
If it's a relative new house. ie. you are paying for the build as much as for the land then yeah I suppose its ok.
I have never and will never buy a property. What I don't understand is why the seller chooses not to have the property fully inspected. Same with car sales.
Yes, I know real-estate agents and used car sellers are the scum of the earth, but.. um, yeah. =(
I paid for one.
He mixed up rooms on opposite ends of the house when talking about past water damage.
He said he couldn't get past the manhole and just took a photo from the hole for the roof.
He said he couldn't get past duct work under the house and didn't check over 1/2 of it.
I'm 190cm and 150kg. I got past both things reasonably easily and checked myself to confirm.
It adds up when it's like $6-700 a pop and you keep being unsuccessful at auctions! Only get one done if you are really serious about bidding.
Tip is to ask the real estate agent if anyone's had it done because if you were only getting a copy (i.e. not the first to buy one) you end up paying $200 less to half the price. That's what we ended up doing for the house we ended up buying.
On the day of the auction the house got passed in, and another party put in a conditional offer of getting a building inspection done, that was already at our max budget, and the vendor accepted the same price from us but unconditional.
I've never bothered.
But I've only bought 2 properties - one was only a few years old and the other was 140 years old and ready to fall down. If the older property fell over the day after I bought it I would have been indifferent. It was land value only.
Hell yes. I have a mirvac house, and it is so full of defects and yes off the plan and their inspector report etc.
Radio ad put me off by saying they don’t need to be qualified.
Oh geez I wonder why there was an advert on the radio pointing that out.
If you know what you are looking at its a waste of money, I wish I didnt bother as the old house I got inspected has so many problems (that I knew about anyway) and wasnt even on the report….
I didnt care anyway as the house was cheap and we gutted the kitchen and bathroom.
If you buy a house without a building and pest inspection done by a quality inspector, you're an idiot.
What if you only live there for 5 year and die, without having anyone to leave it to so it doesn't matter what happens with it anyway?
Why? Most of the time they pick up absolutely nothing and just provide a generic report with nothing that the average person wouldn't have noticed. They typically only point out the obvious things and have like a a dozen clauses about how they can't be held liable for missing things.
My first house I didn't bother, house seemed fine, needed some work but was completely livable and had no signs of any damage, no signs of any water leaks, mold, house looked like it had been re-stumped at some point. What was the building and pest inspector going to do but take my money? The people who bought it off me also didn't bother with an inspection.
Second house, where I currently live, again, again no obvious problems. What would an inspector do but take my money and tell me they couldn't find anything obvious? It's been a decade and no hidden problems have surfaced.
I bet if the poll was changed to Yes, No, 'Yes - but I wouldn't bother next time' then you would probably find most people wouldn't do it again.
That is weird, most REA are getting these done prior to selling in Perth, as they have the advantage of selling faster. They use companies like Beforeyoubid.
Potential buyers can then pay a small fee to view the inspection report before buying, and if they go ahead and purchase, they get charged the full inspection fee, around $499.
It also helps speed up the process, as you don't have to get this done prior to settling.
Off the topic OP but sometimes its best to go through buyer's agent. Headache you save is worth it.
Hmmm … pre-purchase building inspections are notoriously flimsy.
I would (and have) paid for them on properties I am considering purchasing, but really they are simply not going to pick up all issues with the property. I've done it for some sort of peace of mind more than anything as I figure if anything they'll pick up something I wouldn't, but at the same time I factor in the potential for a least of couple of percentage points on top of the purchase price for remedial work being necessary within 12 months of acquisition.
In your specific case, the REA may or may not being telling you porkies about the other bidder. The only way you'll find out is if you say, "OK, I'm out", and then see what happens. If the property is then sold, they weren't telling porkies, but then you have no right to be aggrieved … if they come back to you in a week's time when the other bidder has "stumbled", then you might find a few fibs in their story that you may or may not be able to exploit.
Getting a building inspection is the norm, but subject to a satisfactory inspection is not, in NSW at least. Other states, more acceptance of such clause.
In NSW (especially metro area) when you buy a property generally speaking, you take it or leave it.
Any recommendations for a reliable building and pest inspector in Melbourne?
I bought an old property in 2020 without B&P inspection. Dont regret the buy. Just want to get an health check done on the bldg now
A friend recommended mrinspector. Seemingly great reviews on Google and I understand you can ask as many questions as you like up until a certain time past the inspection. I’ve seen his sample reports too - it looks very thorough, however I haven’t personally used his services.
Keen to hear recommendations too if any.
Having said that about the thoroughness, it seems that a lot of building reports are template copy and paste.
So, there's a few laws that govern how our universe turns.
1. What goes up, must come down.
2. things get hot, then cold.
3. Always get cash for selling something 2ndhand
4. Always get the building inspection.
If it was good enough for ensteinhowser its good enough for you
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-12/erika-almost-bought-a…
Inspection report obtained by vendor says no worries. Potential buyer gets her own inspection anyway - house better suited to demolition.
Anyone recommend a good inspector in Perth?
Oh yeah, I found this Australian site helpful for property and inspection-related topics. Their blog covers everything from house inspections to compliance tips: https://www.buildinginspectionapp.com/blog/house-inspection-…
Always do an inspection!!!
It's like 0.03% of the price of a house.
Imagine skimping on that, only to find your house is falling apart in a few years time.
didnt know that, in SA theres no fee