Building Inspection Problems

I have encountered a few problems with getting pre purchase inspection reports done. One of them is cost.

Just want to create a forum where people can share about the challenges and solutions.

 

The challenge I see is that people get a pre-purchase inspection done, only to go to the auction and be significantly outbid, rendering the report useless to them. They do this several times and then find that they've spent thousands on reports on properties they don't buy.

A system needs to be put in place where either:
* The cost of a single report can be shared across multiple interested buyers.
* The vendor pays for a single report, supplies it to the interested buyers and the inspector certifies that the report is accurate.

 

I agree @Peter_Tersteeg, this could be better. I've paid for reports, spoken to the inspectors etc and was then outbid at auction a couple of times.

Interestingly, there was a B&P report supplied by the real estate agent last time I went to auction, but I just didn't trust it.

 

If I recall correctly, I remember hearing about an inspection company (maybe Geelong?) charging a minimal fee for a report if they had already conducted an inspection on the same property

 

There needs to be some sort of legislation/compliance/warranty to give purchasers confidence in reports supplied by agents.

There's a few out there that do this, but it's a long way from standard practice. In recent years there's been a lot of innovations around real estate, such as online rental applications. It wouldn't be hard to implement this, it would mostly take a culture shift.


All that said, these ideas would also serve to reduce the number of building inspections completed, so I can also see that industry bodies such as the HIA would oppose this.

 

Did your own report bring up any issues that was not in the vendor's report ?

The reports are all care and no liability - so you need to really trust the inspector.

 

I have used the same company for all my B&P inspections, not because of their pricing but because of the honesty of the inspector. He doesn't mince his words and he always calls me while he's on site if there's something he needs to bring to my attention.

I agree the actual report itself can be a little too generic in some parts, obviously to cover themselves form a liability point of view but if you find someone you can trust then stick with them.

Out of the 3 properties he inspected for me I lost out on 1 but won the other 2 auctions.

 

I think there were a few things that were missed in the agents B&P report, but they weren't major. The house was 90 years old, so I didn't want to take any chances. You're right about the reports being all care, no liability. Often they're mostly all disclaimer...

I find it's always important to talk to the B&P inspector as well. The reports can look a bit scary when you see all the listed defects, however when you talk to the B&P inspector they often say it wasn't that bad, they just had to put it in the report to cover themselves.

 

I've seen some vendors do this in Hobart. It makes a buying decision faster and means they do not need to organize access to the property for multiple inspectors. It's easier for everyone really. You could do further checks e.g. where a structural engineer is recommended but it's a good indication of whether that is worth the cost to you.

 

Even junk bonds were rated AAA by the most professional rating agencies of the world, so anything can happen.

And since building and pest inspection is not regulated, inspectors reports are not compared, how do we know if 2 reports are comparable? One's 6/10 could be another's 8/10.

 

How do you know a private inspector you procure yourself will be any different? It's not really an exact science.

End of the day, best to learn how to spot some of the basics yourself..at least that way you can always have a second opinion.

 

Do you mind passing the B&P inspectors contact details? thx

 

For my latest purchased, i skipped the B&P altogether. Got a proper termite inspection (non invasive) where they crawl in subfloor and roof and tap everything.... spend about an hour. Costs about half a usual B&P.

What do people usually find important info within the B&P's anyway? For me it was termites (hence the reason why i skipped straight to a proper termite inspector).

 

@geoffw how big was the damage? I've seen cars hit brick walls, and they do leave a pretty big ding (wall kinda caved in), but still fully intact. Easy to miss if you're not looking and just walking past, but if you are looking around you'd be hard pressed to miss it.