Having a building and pest inspection carried out will alert you to any potential problems with a property. It is an important step that should be taken when you are looking to buy any property. In this article, we’ll take a look a look at when the best time to carry out a building a pest inspection will be. Read more to find out more about getting an inspection carried out on a property that you are buying.  

When should you do a Building and Pest inspection? 

Getting a building and pest inspection carried out on a property that you wish to purchase is essential. The question is when should get the inspection carried out. The answer is that you should always have the inspection carried out before you enter into any form of contract. 

Of course, there will, on occasion be times when you are not able to do this. For instance, if the market is fast-moving or the property has been so popular that the agent wants to move fast. There may be times when you are not going to be able to get the opportunity to get a building and pest inspection carried out before you start your contract. If this is the case, it is essential that you have a stipulation added to the contract that works in your favour regarding having an inspection. Get your conveyancer or solicitor to help you with the wording so that you can ensure that the building and pest inspection is done to a satisfactory standard.  

If you are looking to buy a property at auction, it is essential that you get the building and pest inspection carried out before you even turn up to the auction because if you are the successful buyer when the property goes under the hammer, there is no backing out of the deal because you haven’t done your due diligence.  

Who should carry out your building and pest inspection?  

It is important that when you get your building and pest inspection carried out that it is from an independent structural engineer in Brisbane.  

In many cases, a real estate agent will go out and get a building and pest inspection carried out which they make available to prospective buyers, however, it is essential that you have an independent assessment carried out for yourself. This will give you the peace of mind that you need and you can be sure that everything has been fully disclosed to you.  

What will a building and pest inspection tell you? 

When you have a building and pest inspection carried out it will tell you a lot about the property. It will look at both the interior and the exterior of the property and will look for everything from major structural issues through to minor problems, maintenance requirements, and any safety hazards that may be present in the property,  

On the exterior of the property, it may look at cracks, rising damp, gutters and drainage, sheds, retaining walls, windows, roofing, fences, and more. On the interior of the property, it may look for cracks in the walls, uneven or spingy floors, the quality of the finishing and fitting, leaks in the ceiling and more.  

An inspection may cover an assessment of the roof spaces as well as under the flooring although these areas may be excluded from your inspection.  

A pest inspection will let you know about the presence of any timber pest activity such as from termites.  

What is relevant in your building and pest inspection?  

When you have your building and pest inspection carried out, the building inspectors will tell you absolutely everything that is wrong with the building. They’ll go into great detail and they will document everything. From this information, you should understand what is relevant and what is less relevant. For example, if you were to have an inspection carried out on a property that you were interested in buying, the report could come back and say that there is an infestation of termites and there are major structural problems. For these reasons, you probably won’t want to go ahead with the purchase. A less relevant factor may be that there are cracks in some of the wall tiles or that some of the taps need replacing. These less relevant factors won’t be a deal breaker; however, you may want to use some of them to help to negotiate a better deal.  

Your expectations about what type of problems a building and pest inspection will throw up should be influenced by the age and the type of property. For instance, if you’re looking at buying a new build, you should have higher expectations. Everything about the property is brand new and as long as the workmanship is of a high standard, then you should have a property that has no problems. For an older property, you should expect some issues. Again, you will need to distinguish between the problems that are relevant and irrelevant.  

Conclusion  

In summary, you should always ensure that you have a building and pest inspection carried out before you enter into a contract to buy a property.  

If you are buying a property at auction, make sure that you have your inspection carried out before you start to place any bids.  

Pay attention to what the building and pest inspection tells you. If there are major problems with the property, then you will probably want to look for something different. For less serious problems, make sure that you use these to help bargain a better deal.