Pest Inspection report different from reality

I have a friend (seriously!), a young, hard working family man, purchased his first IP in June, did his due diligence. Building inspection and pest inspection both reported no issues. However, he was doing some work on the property recently and has discovered that it is infested with termites.
He can't afford this financially, his wife is in tears everyday and he has said this will set him back 10 years.
Has anyone else had this happen?
What options does he have against the previous owners and/or the pest inspector to recoup his losses? Thanks in advance for your advise.

 

Care to share where his IP is located? Reach out to folks here in PChat, get quotes and ideas to assess the damage.

 

Get him to speak to his settlement agent asap.

From experience Building and Pest inspectors are a waste of money, e.g. to check inside the roof for any termite activity, structural issues, they stand on top of a ladder and inspect from the manhole, apparently its to hard to get up in there for a proper look, yet insulation, sparkies, TV cable guys etc all seem to manage.
Unfortunately like accountants these so-called inspector$ have these little clauses that clear them of any negligence.

 

Would help to know what state.
Eg. in QLD you can make a complaint to QBCC.
Some people here like getting a discount on termite damaged properties, so probably a good place to ask about fixing the damage as economically as possible.

Do not agree at all.

 

Hi propstar,
If the property is infested with termites then the damage that they caused should have been apparent to the Building/Pest inspector at the time of the inspection and you should be able to seek compensation by initially contacting the Building and Pest firms involved,followed by the Department of Commerce if you cannot reach a resolution.
Professional inspection companies will carry professional indemnity insurance and disclaimers within their reports do not disqualify negligence.
West Oz that is a sweeping statement that you have blurted out there! As a professional Building inspection company our inspectors will always enter your loft space unless it is dangerous to do so where you will be informed why,digital photographs provided to justify the inspector's decision and if required we will return to carry out an invasive inspection if deemed necessary .

 

How long ago did he purchase? When was the inspection? Anything more than a couple of months and the inspector will wash their hands of it.

 

His friend purchased in June ,Scott No Mates, and you must of had some pretty poor experiences with poor Building Inspectors to immediately assume that they will "wash their hands of it".

 

Absolutely Sweeping, as said "From experience" based on three different apparent repeatable Perth business's (guess I'm a slow learner), absolutely no reason or concern of danger, as said all other trades etc incl myself have had no problem crawling around up there, I simply put it down to laziness, or instruction from management (like time permitted for task) so there's no concerns of damage or work place injury.

As your also Perth based care to share the name of your Co @mush?
Are your inspectors employee's or paid per job?
What qualifications do they or are they required to have?

 

As someone who understands a lot of the trades in a building, on my own homes I do the checks if no rush, but I have also used them to do things for me. Some are hopeless, some are good, worst one I had turned up in a business suit -- do you think he was going to check everywhere, not to mention he was probably 120+ kg and no ladder in/on his flash sedan.

anyway....

It is not possible with a normal check to catch everything, but a second set of eyes, or a first in many cases, is better than none.

So they (your friends) must work out, would it be reasonable for an inspector to find this, for instance, if they started pulling the kitchen or bathroom apart and found termites behind walls that are not easily accessible, then you would expect they would not be found, but if in an easy to see place and obvious, then, they probably have good reason to expect some help.

Also, the crying wont help, depending on where it is, it may not be much of a job to fix, first thing is to get rid of them (leave the area alone and get someone in).

 

They have thermal imaging cameras which supposedly picks them up like superman's x-ray vision.

About 10yrs ago after a breakup I checked out a place to rent through a REA, old timber frame fibro/asbestos, as soon as I walked in the front door I could see the activity, was really bad, agent was blah, what do you expect for the price? Ah not to have the roof come down on me.
Few weeks later it was demolished, still a vacant site today.

 

Hi West Oz,we are a family run Building Inspection business who are willing to "walk the walk" and not just talk the talk.
Please go to www.cap-it-allbuildinginspections.com.au to find out all you would like to know about us.
The companies you speak of are not carrying out inspections to A.S 4349 and they should be named and shamed as they tarnish the reputations of others who are working bloody hard to deliver a decent and ethical service to consumers.

 

As @dabbler @mush have said, there are remedies available to fix the problem. You also haven't stated, what, where, or why the work was being done on the property by your friend.. It is also possible, his report may contain the words, "dormant" and "not active". When was his report done, have him read the fine print, (again) find out what were the terms of the inspection, was any treatment recommended, supplied, applied or outlined to be applied now or later in the report.

Remember: A pest inspection report is not a report on any eradication work carried out by his inspector, it is simply a report of what was found on the property, or what maybe present, but not visible to the naked eye, including thermal or invasive inspection.

A recommendation by the inspector to apply a pest application to rid what was found, or maybe present is totally different. Cockroach stations wont harm termites, termite bait wont kill wasp nests. Was an application performed and for what.???

If your friend has disturbed the nest and aggravated them, they will seek alternative accommodation elsewhere. By that I mean his neighbours homes up the street and down the street, including over his back fence. If that is the case, then your last sentence will apply to him, from his neighbours taking action, if the nest is found to be on his property.

Your best bet, as has been said, is leave it alone and get the professionals in to rid it, or if the above has happened, you'll really need a bloody big box of tissue's for his wife.

 

Yep. What he said.
Propstar, tell your friend (and his wife) to get a grip. Termites are not going to 'set him back ten years'. Every house I have owned in Sydney has had termite damage.
He needs to stop trying to work out who to blame, get the termites treated, and then look at what structural work needs to be done. It might not be a big deal.

 

Can you elaborate on what you mean by infested with termites? What is the extent of the damage? Are there live termites or just previous damage?
As advised they need to be treated asap.
Which state is the property in?

 

Not sure if they are now required to use this technology, someone else can answer that, but wont pick up past damage from what I know ..

 

Thermal imaging measures surface temperature dabbler so will normally pick up the difference in temperature radiated by the termites' bodies as they munch away inside the timber. If they have retreated or been eradicated the damage may still be evident due to the differing temperatures in the density of the damaged timber compared to any surrounding undisturbed timber.
The Termatrac T3i is a great tool for finding current termite activity,however you can't beat the good old donger/sounding tool/ball on a stick for revealing timber that has been subject to historic termite attack.

 

lol 1st pic I see on the page is the inspector crouching in the roof.
Haven't seen that site before, when looking for someone from memory I did a google search including the word Mandurah, some sites will have "servicing Yanchep to Mandurah" etc

Apologies for the "Sweeping" comment, a very raw topic for me.
I can check most things myself, being a concrete slab, double brick walls my main concern was to ensure the termite food in the roof was all-ok for pre-approval.
Having paid another company previously to check it out "as requested" only to later read in the report something along the lines of "roof space deemed unreasonable/unsafe access" this time I used a different one, fully explained my main requirements/concerns over the phone and followed it in email, I then receive the report with similar excuses, so annoyed I yet again wasted my $'s.

Unfortunately there's far too many dodgy mobs out there in all industries making burnt consumers second guess everyone.

Will keep you in-mind for my next purchase

 

Cheers West Oz,the crouching inspector is me!
To be fair we also hear about some dodgy dealers, it just aggravates me as we put our all into every inspection we do and will spend 4 hours on site if that is what it takes to ensure that a thorough inspection is completed and our client is well represented.
We also contact every single client around 48 hours after they receive their report to give them time to absorb the content and prepare any questions they may have.
Also we will talk to their settlement agent,the vendors real estate agent,(can be interesting ! ),and continue to support them in any way we can.
Do call us prior to making your next purchase as my daughter is a licensed real estate agent who is now part of our team,and we may be able to suggest inclusions that can be added to your contract to ensure that you receive the maximum benefit from our inspection.
I have been around the building game most of my life West Oz and when we get clients who are also quite building savvy we find that working together normally produces great outcomes.
To conclude,we all wear our hearts on our sleeves and if we felt that we were at fault in some way for an unsatisfactory inspection we would not sleep well until some kind of resolution had been found.
If the service is good the reward will normally follow along behind in my experience......

 

That's my philosophy also

 

I had a poor building inspection experience also Propstar. The inspector refunded me his $500 fee but wouldn't admit to not picking a fault up that cost me $3000 in repairs. Taking it to court would have probably cost me a year and at least $3000 so not much I could do about it.