Disastrous building inspection

I had just fell in love with a property for my first home and made my mind up to run hard on it, subject to the reports coming up clean. Limited competition as it was offmarket so I was feeling excited and was far ahead of the other interested parties as I was moving very quick. I'll admit I got overconfident and have packed 6 boxes already and sourced some free outdoor furniture on Gumtree (yes, counting eggs before hatched - lessons learned, now my garage will be full of furniture I can't fit in my tiny apartment courtyard).

I had a building report that came up pretty clean, stated no structural damage, just damp issues from stormwater run off that looked like a quick $10K fix and a bit of overdue maintenance. There was a miscommunication error where I had ordered a building and pest, and only found out afterwards that he doesn't do pest but he hadn't explained that to me until after I received the report and queried it. Fortunately I picked this up before signing and handing over the bank cheque I'd arranged and ordered a separate pest inspection for good order, feeling pretty impatient that this was giving the other buyers a day to catch up.

Thank.
The.
Stars.

Apparently it's about to fall down from extensive termite damage and I was told its basically a knock down job. In the pest inspectors words 'run away and don't look back.' He was incredulous it had passed a building inspection saying there was clear structural damage from the termites although a lot had been covered up and that the laundry was leaking so bad the timber was completely soaked through (no mention of this from building inspector). It looked in great condition to a layperson, we all stomped on the decks and commented how solid and well maintained everything looked.

I'm frustrated with the building inspector and wondering if anyone has successfully claimed their fee back from one and what the most effective way will be to go about it will be? It's $650 so worth my time to go for it, even beyond the principal of the thing. I think better for him than if I'd bought it and raised insurance claim against their policy as well.

 

Strange the building inspector said its fine but pest said its about to fall down. Doesnt really add up unless one of them is incompetent.

Call the building inspector and say you had a pest one done which totally contradicts his, and see what he says

Otherwise get another inspection by someone qualified in both... I use Steve from Ausinspect in Sydney who is excellent.

 

Did the inspectors both attend the correct property?

 

I was going to say that but assumed there were photos to back both up

 

It's strange you would post this today @LouiseJ. I was chatting to my parents last night and they have just gone unconditional selling an IP in Ringwood. The building inspector there supposedly tapped on some architraves and claimed the house had termites but someone else supposedly went under the house and claimed there were no termites. I don't really know what happened but that is the story and the buyers didn't pull out.

I always thought B&P should be very reliable. My parents were at the B&P on the house they sold in Adelaide and the inspector had equipment to test and measure various aspects of the building. No 'tapping' architraves

In your case, I would investigate further and pursue this if it seems like the first inspector botched the report. It's very concerning they would be so slack.

 

Something sounds peculiar.

All building inspections we had the inspector used a gadget to measure moisture in all the walls. A laundry so wet that it was completely soaked through should have been clearly evident.

Did you attend either inspection?

At the moment you have two differing reports. Both will stand by his/her report and blame the other. Without a third, independent report, which is throwing good money after bad, you may struggle to get a refund from anyone.
Marg

 

I was on site when the building inspector was there but I was mostly measuring rooms and looking around, not following him about although we did have a chat at the end where he ran through the (insignificant) issues. Mostly I heard a lot of stamping and wall thumping which sounded like things were happening. He did go under the house at once point although all up he was on site for an hour I'm not sure if that's normal as this is my first home.
I'm going to trust the pest inspector because his report includes photos (unlike the building one) and the damage is obvious to the naked eye. Rotting support beams in particular. A lot of the damage is categorised as severe.
I've provided a copy to the vendors as a favour. I feel really bad for them, looks like their house is going to be a complete money pit and they were wanting to downsize to release cash. What a horrible Christmas present for them.

 

Yep, photos of the front to back it up (and I was there when Building inspector was onsite). Both came out with wildly different opinions though that's for sure.

 

Something fishy for sure

 

Just wondering whether that building inspector was recommended by the rea?

 

It seems as though the pest inspector has saved the bacon of the building inspector.. other than a very close shave for you, you're not really out of pocket?

If you wanted to 'teach the building inspector a lesson' you could demand a refund, failing that apply through the small claims tribunal. Based on your description, you should get a refund as it sounds like gross negligence?

 

The termites may have bypassed the hardwood and come up for the tasty softwood architraves

 

Except, brick stumps...

 

They will happily mud tunnel up brick piers, and also over ant cappings.

See it a lot in Adelaide where they ignore the hardwood bearers and joists and munch across the pine floorboards and architraves/skirts

 

Quick update- I sent a short email to the building inspector advising I was unhappy with their report and providing a short list of the major defects identified by the pest inspector that were visibly obvious noting I'd seen photos to confirm it.
I requested a refund and it appeared the next day with a brief apology from the accounts department so pretty simple all up.
Now I just need to wait for more houses to come on the market. Frustrating that when you have holidays and maximum time to look no-one is selling.

 

Did you end up engaging a BA?

 

Yes I did in the end and happy so far. I'll have more to say when we're done but we work well together and he's dug up some very promising unlisted places in our short engagement.
I expect the quick refund was because he gave him a blasting on the phone before I emailed. He knows I'm too much of a softy.
BI wasn't his recommendation, I think I'll just stick with those from now on. Too terrified about walking into a financial nightmare after that close call and I'm glad he convinced me to get a pest inspection when I thought perhaps the building report was enough.

 

Sounds like you've got a good one there.