If you want to learn how to organise a building inspection, choose an expert who will work and offer you the best services you need.
In this post, I will teach you how to organise a building inspection so you can prepare your situation before the inspector comes to your house.
Tips on How to Organise a Building Inspection
1. Choose an Experienced Inspector
So, how do you ensure the process runs smoothly and avoid some traps? There are several building inspectors that promote their services as being the best in town, so how do you hire the inspector who will inspect your property objectively?
The key here is to choose an experienced inspector with the right qualifications. Make sure they have insurance.
2. Have the Property Inspected Before Signing the Contract
After choosing your building inspector, have the property inspected before signing any contracts. Real estate contracts have limited time clauses that allow you to withdraw from the sale contract subject to a building and pest inspection. This is usually 1 to 2 weeks in which you have to notify the selling agent of your withdrawal from the contract.
For example, you have seven days from the date of the acceptance of the offer by the seller. Within the 1-week-period, you need to find an inspector who can inspect within the next few days.
The inspector needs to contact the agent and schedule a time to do a property inspection. This isn’t usually a problem as it is in everybody’s interest to complete the building inspection as soon as possible.
However, the process may take 1 to 4 days, depending on the circumstances and accessibility to the property. Some tenants need at least 24 hours’ notice.
3. Read the Building Inspection Report
You will usually receive the report from the inspector in 24 hours. The building inspection report contains a bit of information about the property, which you need to look through. However, you may still need to contact the inspector to provide clarification on some areas.
No home is perfect, hence, expect that there will be defects. Some properties are well-maintained than others. Some buyers aren’t aware that there are defects hidden from the view and can only be seen through special equipment.
This can be tricky for the buyers as they may think that there are only minor repairs, but then the report states more defects than what they know. It’s important that the buyer is aware of this and know the estimated cost of repairs.
Why Organise a Building Inspection?
“Imagine you sign a contract, then you find out that you can’t withdraw because of the standard contract wording. Having a property subject to major structural defect doesn’t allow you to withdraw despite several costly repairs.”
How can you avoid this situation?
As discussed above, organise a building inspection before you sign any contracts of sale. This can be quite complicated in the current market as vendors are in the box seat and may accept another in the time you organise a building inspection.
However, this method will place you in the box seat depending on the findings you can negotiate the repair of some or all the defects before signing any contracts. Most times vendors agree to a price reduction or any repairs they can carry out before the settlement.
- Sign the contract subject to a “satisfactory building and pest inspection” will allow you to withdraw from the sale contract if it didn’t meet your expectations.
- Organise a building inspection to be completed within the 3-day cooling-off period. However, this still depends as it can be tricky with tenanted properties, who require 24 hours’ notice.
- Some professional real estate agents or brokers will try to talk you not to consider a building inspection as there’s somebody who also wants to make an offer and push you to decide quickly.
This should be a red light to you because the agent is preventing you to conduct your own due diligence. This may make you think, what could they be hiding?
Remember, the agent is working for the vendor, not you. They aren’t obligated to disclose any property’s real information. If there’s a reduction in the property sale, then the pay is also cut to them.
Before you sign a contract of sale, organise a building inspection should be carried out first. The best part about this is that it allows you to understand the buildings fully. At the same time, having a building inspection report will place you in a stronger bargaining position before purchasing.
All of our Sydney building inspections are carried out to Australian standards. We have a team of qualified inspectors trained in all aspects of building defects. Our experience inspecting properties may reveal several building defects or termite damage that can be costly to repair.
Book a Building and Pest Inspection with EBC Today
Don’t go for a bad investment, organise a building inspection with Effective Building & Consultancy today. We offer you the most detailed reports reasonably priced conducted by a team of professional experts.
We provide you peace of mind when it comes to understanding a property to help you make a well-informed purchase decision.
For more information about building and pest inspection, visit our Help Centre.
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