buildinginspect.com.au
Independent · Australian English · Est. journal
The independent journal of
Building InspectIndependent reporting on Australian building inspections, defects and the houses we buy.
A unit inspection is shorter than a house inspection and not simpler. The inspector can see the lot. They cannot open the riser, walk the whole facade, or turn a noise complaint into a measurement.
Maya Chen · 13 August 2024
Ember attack, not a wall of flame, is how most houses are lost. A pre-purchase inspector can see some of the risk. A BAL assessment is a different job.
Elena Vukovic · 6 August 2024
A Queenslander, a Paddington terrace and a 1970s brick veneer fail in different ways. Inspection priorities follow the decade the house was built, not the suburb’s asking price.
Priya Nair · 9 July 2024
Most Australian brick-veneer houses move a little on reactive clay. The inspection question is whether the cracks are the usual seasonal story, or a pattern that needs an engineer before you buy.
Tom Reardon · 9 April 2024
A sunset clause is a timing problem, not an inspection problem. By the time you get the keys, the useful questions are alignment, wet areas, appliances and the common property that is still a building site. An occupancy certificate is not a clean bill of health.
Elena Vukovic · 19 November 2024
In the north, the roof is the first thing the wind tests. Inspectors look for straps, screws and rust. They do not certify the house will survive the next cyclone.
Tom Reardon · 22 October 2024
After Lacrosse and the Australian cladding audits, a visual inspector can describe a facade. They cannot clear it. Balconies fail in a quieter way — at the membrane, at the cantilever, at the glass. The useful file is already in the strata office.
Priya Nair · 8 October 2024
A treatment certificate is a record of work, not a clean bill of health. Baiting, reticulation, slab pretreatments and annual reinspections all expire in the real world — especially on the Queensland coast, in northern NSW, the Territory and WA.
James O'Halloran · 3 October 2024
Council maps show where water has been modelled. Skirtings, silt and swollen cabinets show where it has been. Neither is a complete history.
Maya Chen · 17 September 2024
A plain-English field guide to the timber problems that show up in Australian inspection reports — subterranean versus drywood termites, lyctus and anobium, the dry-rot myth, and how to tell historic damage from a live one.
Priya Nair · 17 September 2024
A building inspection looks at the lot. A strata inspection looks at the minutes, the levies and the insurance. The useful purchase is the one that reads both, because the expensive defects are often in the basement.
James O'Halloran · 10 September 2024
AS 4349.3 and AS 4349.1 are different inspections that share a roof space and a damp smell. Why a building inspector can note termite evidence and still send you to a pest specialist — and why skipping pest in Melbourne, Adelaide or Hobart is a habit, not a method.
Tom Reardon · 6 August 2024
We write about the inspection as it is actually practised: limited access, occupied rooms, weather, and a standard most buyers never read. Start with what a pre-purchase inspection covers or the AS 4349.1 explainer.
New to the masthead? Read about Building Inspect and our editorial standards.