Only Use A Qualified Licenced Building & Pest Inspector

Home buyers are being offered cut-priced building inspection and pest inspection reports by vendors, agents & middlemen companies. Make sure they have adequate insurance cover or provide a warranty otherwise; you could be left out of pocket.

The risks involved in using these reports to base your decision to purchase the property include:

⦁ If the report is in the name of a vendor, then there is no insurance warranty available if a claim arises from a termite or building issue in the future.
⦁ The agents that sign up to use these middle men companies actually get given the choice of who they want to use to carry out the inspection… conflict of interest.
⦁ The buyers haven’t had the chance to meet the inspector on site and follow him through the property (most buyers want the opportunity to do this) and we strongly recommend this.

When considering buying a home, particularly if you’re a first home buyer, you don’t have the experience to know what warning signs to look for before buying and an inexperienced inspector could miss the warning signs for these problems, reporting to you that there is nothing wrong with the home but in actual fact may have these issues:

⦁ structural damage
⦁ termite infestations
⦁ water damage
⦁ other defects

It can end up costing thousands in repairs. This is a cost that falls on the buyer if their inspector is not licensed.

To be able to do the job, building and pest inspectors need to have an experienced understanding of all building trades. It’s from a position of experience and training that an inspector knows the warning signs to look for when it comes to potentially costly defects in a home or signs of pest infestations and likely termite activity.

In the event that something is missed, a fully licensed building inspector is covered by professional indemnity insurance, protecting both the buyer and the inspector, giving you peace of mind.