Buying a Home: Pest & Building Reports
The purchase of a home is a huge decision for people and buyers are always advised to do their due diligence on the property before exchanging contracts and committing themselves to the purchase.
One of the things your Solicitor will most certainly advise you to do is to obtain a Pre-Purchase Building and Timber Pest Report, so Michael recently sat down with Dave Dillon of Westinspect to discuss why that is so important.
Michael Wright:
Hi. Michael, from Peter Fisher. Today, I’m with Dave Dillon, from Westinspect. Dave, what do you do?
David Dillon:
Good question, Michael. Westinspect carry out pre-purchase, building, and timber pest inspections.
Michael Wright:
Okay. Dave, why is it important to get a pest and building inspection when you purchase a property?
David Dillon:
Look, it’s a great, it’s a big investment for people to buy a house. What they should do is get some independent advice as to the condition of the property, at the time that we inspect it, so that they can make an informed decision about their purchase.
Michael Wright:
Okay. What do you learn from a pest and building report?
David Dillon:
Well, the normal purchaser won’t crawl under the floor. They won’t go up in the roof. So they won’t know whether it’s got insulation in the roof, or what type of insulation it is. They won’t know whether the shower is leaking in the subfloor, so you learn those sorts of things.
Michael Wright:
Okay, so if you find a problem, do you take photos?
David Dillon:
Absolutely. We take a lot of photos, and the photos do a couple of things. The photos that we put in the report are really handy to communicate with the purchaser. Once they get the report, they can give me a ring. We can go through the report over the phone, refer to the photos, and there, they get the whole picture.
Michael Wright:
Fantastic. What do you look for, when choosing someone to do a pest and building report?
David Dillon:
Well, that’s, again, a very interesting question, because-
Michael Wright:
I mean, do you get a friend? Or should you get somebody qualified?
David Dillon:
Well, it’s very interesting that there is no regulation in regard to who can carry out pre-purchase building inspections.
Michael Wright:
Okay.
David Dillon:
But in my situation, I started my apprenticeship when I was 16. I have over 40 years’ experience in the building industry. I’ve got 28 years’ experience as a licensed builder. I have 26 years’ experience in inspecting, carrying out pre-purchase building inspections, and the like.
So my view would be, it’s essential that you get somebody that has been, or is, a licensed builder, that has done some further training, and is an accredited timber pest inspector, and probably most of all, it’s important that they have professional indemnity insurance.
Michael Wright:
Okay. I guess one of the really big pluses of someone with a background like yourself is that if there is a problem, you can maybe give them a practical solution, and a bit of an idea of what it may or may not cost to fix the house.
David Dillon:
Absolutely. If you’ve got somebody that has built houses, they know what has gone into creating the house, and therefore, they’ve got an idea, if they see something, what may be behind the scenes, so to speak.
So we can give them an indication as to what is required to rectify, and even, in some cases, a ball park figure for that rectification cost.
Michael Wright:
Fantastic. All right. Thank you very much for your time today. It is a very important topic, because every house that we sell normally gets a pest and building report, so I hope that’s given you a little bit of an insight into our industry. Thanks for your time, Dave.
David Dillon:
Thanks, Michael.
Michael Wright:
Cheers.
