7 Facts to Consider When Choosing a Building Inspector

Buying a home is one of the huge investments you’ll ever make. We understand that not everyone knows what to consider when choosing a building inspector.

Since buying a property means spending thousands of dollars, it’s best to choose a building inspector who knows what he is doing to check your property’s state.

A building inspection is an important step of the buying and negotiating process. The building inspector’s role is to analyse all the various property systems (roofing, insulation, heating, plumbing) to detect all the issues and hidden defects.

After the inspection, he will give you a comprehensive report on all the findings. If you are transacting with a real estate agent, you can renegotiate the terms. In bad cases, holding a report may also help you to cancel the transaction.

Issues related to foundations, iron rocher, asbestos, and radon are all aspects that should opt you to buying the property. However, by choosing a certified building inspector who has extensive years of experience, these hidden defects can be identified.

7 Criteria When Choosing a Building Inspector

When you search for a building inspector in Sydney, you will find dozens of professionals in your area. But, how do you gauge the trusted and experienced building inspector? 

In this section, we will share the criteria to meet the perfect building inspector for your needs.

1. Not Referred by a Real Estate Agent

Don’t hire a building inspector that a real estate agent refers to avoid any conflict of interest. Since the agent is paid only if he sells the property, it would be nonsense to hire an inspector whose purpose is to accommodate a friend and make a commission.

2. Should Be Covered by a Professional Indemnity Insurance

Since 2009, the building inspector license has been discontinued. Therefore, since you cannot assess their actual skills, it’s a must to have professional indemnity insurance, which covers errors and omissions, when choosing a building inspector.

3. Has Referrals from Past Clients

Typically, a licensed building inspector spends about 1-3 hours for each inspection site. As a result, any inspector should provide you with referrals from at least ten clients who hired them. All referrals are considerable, even the oldest since you can check if hidden defects can be found after several years. 

Do you wonder how much does it cost to hire a building inspector? Check our article here.

4. Deliver the Building Inspection Report On Time

The inspector must be able to provide you with a building inspection report in a reasonable timeframe. This means that it should not take too long or too short.

Hence if the inspector offers to deliver a report after the end of the inspection, beware. A comprehensive building inspection report is delivered within 48 hours. This allows the expert to assess all the photos taken during the visit and conduct further research on suspicious elements.

Usually, the clients have at least 3-4 days after the inspection to declare satisfaction, renegotiate the offer to purchase, or withdraw from the transaction. There’s no need to rush.

5. No Record of Lawsuits and Convictions

Before you hire, investigate first whether a building inspector is convicted for a poor inspection. If you find any information and these are backed with facts, there’s no point in hiring him.

6. Has Relevant Experience and Proof of Certification and Training as a Building Inspector

Because being a building inspector doesn’t require any prerequisites, you need to extra careful in making choices. When choosing a building inspector, make sure that he has a college or university education in the building sector and check if his professional experience is qualified for the project.

7. Member of Australian Society of Building Consultants

All building inspectors and consultants should also be members of the Australian Society of Building Consultants and pass the NSW Fair Trading to become a registered certifier. These organisations whose mission is to protect the public by supervising their members.

Questions to Ask When Hiring and Choosing a Building Inspector

• What’s included in the inspection?
• How many hours does an inspection take?
• How much is the price of inspection?
• Can we be present during the inspection?

In efforts to choosing a building inspection, Effective Building & Consultancy can help you as we have the top-rated building inspectors in Sydney. Call us on 02 9613 3353, so we can discuss.

For more information about our building inspection services, visit our Help Centre.