New Home Inspections Melbourne

Whilst building a new house, there are typically six stages or milestones that your Builder will work towards and invoice for.

These stages include:

1. Deposit / Site Pre-Works
2. Slab
3. Frame
4. Lock up
5. Fix
6. PCI or Final or Handover Inspection

As part of your building Contract and a requirement under the Building Act, certain stages are required to be inspected by a Licensed Registered Building Surveyor which are called ‘mandatory’ inspections. These mandatory inspections are designed to ensure the structural integrity of the building and the safety of inhabitants. The typical stages for mandatory inspections in domestic construction are Pre-Slab, Frame and Handover.

It is common knowledge within the industry that Surveyors expect that Builders actually take some responsibility to ensure that all parts of the building meet the minimum requirement. Large and small items are often, if not always, overlooked by the large majority of Building Surveyors and that is why people engage independent Building Consultants to protect their investment and ensure the home is built to a compliant state.

Independent inspections provide a complete check of the entire build at every possible stage. The level of security is provided by the number of stage inspections selected, but if push comes to shove some inspections are better than none at all.

At the completion of each staged inspection, a fully documented report with photographs is supplied via email to our client which intern is provided to the Site Supervisor. The Builder will typically provide a written response to the report listing the items that they agree to rectify and the items that fall within their Builders Specification or Alternative Solution and therefore will not rectify.

Should there be a differing of opinion further action can be taken and advice will be supplied to our client.

At every opportunity, we will supply the inspection Report within 24 hours of the inspection time to ensure delays to the build cycle are kept to an absolute minimum.

During the next staged inspection, the previous identified defects wherever visible, will be checked for rectification and compliance to the applicable standard or code.

All reports are site specific, handwritten and documented against the applicable Australian Standard, Manufacturers specifications or installation requirements, BCA/NCC or the Standards & Tolerances Guide.

No matter the age, style or condition of a home, a Pre-Purchase Building Inspection is cheap insurance based on the hundreds of thousands of dollars of investment you are making.

The inspection must, as far as practicable, cover all visual parts of the Structure wherever accessible. The process that is required and the areas and inclusions are defined in the Australian Standard AS4349.

The Australian Standard AS4349 states that:

The purchase of residential property is an important decision and should be supported by knowledge of the physical state of the property. Independent and objective advice is often required to enable informed decisions.

It is implicit in this Standard that the inspection includes subjective appraisal by an Inspector competent to assess the condition of residential buildings.

The inspection shall cover all accessible areas.

Significant items to be reported are as follows:

(a) Major defects.
(b) A general impression regarding the extent of minor defects.
(c) Any major defect that is an urgent and serious safety hazard.

A Building and Timber Pest Inspection on a typical three bedroom home should be around $640.00 inclusive of GST. That inspection should be performed by an Inspector with a credible and lengthy building background as an actual Domestic Unlimited Builder.

The report to support the inspection, should meet the minimum requirement of the Australian Standard and not some ‘check the box’ styled one page summary. The report should also be filled with details about not only the serious issues affecting the home, but also the long-term maintenance items required to ensure the home withstands the rigours of time. The inspection and report should be backed by a minimum of $1,000,000 of professional indemnity insurance which the large majority of cheap and cheerful operators do not possess due to its high cost.