Buying a home is a huge financial decision. For most people, it’s the biggest purchase they’ll ever make in their life. Taking this into consideration, it makes sense to do everything possible to ensure that you’re making the right decision and are buying a structurally sound, fully functional home that you’ll love living in for years and years to come. As one of the most trusted providers of building inspections in Perth, we can help make that happen.

A pre-purchase building inspection is absolutely vital for anyone considering purchasing a pre-existing property. Looks can be deceiving, so even if you’ve found a house you love and it all seems fantastic, getting a trained professional to take a deeper look can save you from making a decision that could haunt you for the rest of your life.

Check out the rest of this blog to learn more about the top five issues found during pre-purchase building inspections. As we’re one of the most experienced providers of pre-purchase building inspections in Perth, we know how to spot them and how financially damaging they can be.

1. Unsound Structures

While it may make you feel better, knocking on a few walls is not an adequate way of assessing the structural integrity of a house. 

Unless you know exactly what to look out for, you might end up dealing with significant structural weaknesses that could potentially make the home unsafe to live in. Some of these issues include subsiding stumps and concrete slabs, fractured brickwork and termite damaged roof structures – all of which can be very expensive to remedy.

2. Issues With Electrical Wiring

Electrical safety is hugely important for a number of reasons. Not only does it relate to critical household elements like smoke alarms and safety switches, but electrical wiring defects also represent an electrocution risk. 

In addition to this, faulty wiring also represents a fire hazard, so it definitely pays to have an expert thoroughly inspect the electrical system of any home you’re considering purchasing.

3. Water Damage & Cracks

Unfortunately, unscrupulous people often to apply a fresh coat of paint or perform other minor aesthetic repairs to cover over water damage and cracks when they put their home on the market.

However, an experienced building inspector in Perth will be able to see past the facade and identify cracks and water damage – both minor and major – that might render the property unsafe. 

Structural cracking can be extremely expensive to fix, so it’s vital that they’re identified early on.

4. Illegal Alterations & BCA Non-Compliance

If the property your considering buying has been around for a while, it’s not uncommon for previous owners to have built additions such as extra rooms, garages and extensions. 

The question is: do these changes comply with official building standards? If they weren’t, and you find out that they didn’t receive the proper approvals, you could face the possibility of having to demolish them or perform expensive repairs or modifications to bring them up to standard.

It’s also worth noting that BCA (Building Code of Australia) non-compliance isn’t considered a major structural defect, so might not be covered in your building inspection in Perth. Asking your building inspector to factor it into their inspection and changing your sales contract to include the term ‘Building Code Non-compliance’ or a building inspection ‘to your satisfaction’ is a great way of protecting yourself.

5. Spalling on Clay Roof Tiles

Unfortunately, older clay roof tiles are prone to spalling, a process in which the layers of clay in the tiles begin to separate and crumble away, breaking and overall deterioration.

This has obvious implications for the safety and integrity of the home you’re considering buying, however – as with the BCA non-compliance we mentioned above – it’s not actually considered a major structural defect. As such, we recommend taking the same course of action – asking your building inspector to factor it in and changing the sales contract terminology.

When purchasing a property, the old adage of not judging a book by its cover definitely applies. Getting a quality pre-purchase building inspection can help you look past the aesthetic aspects of the property you’re considering and give you the information you need to avoid a potentially disastrous financial situation.

If you’re looking for a building inspection in Perth that you can rely on, get in touch with us today!