Hi all,
I have recently agreed to purchase a 3-br property worth around 35k that passes the 11 second test. The property is around 50 years old and the last I checked, it’s basically satisfactory.
I must admit that I have absolutely no idea about building inspection, and I do realise the importance of making that very investment. I have shopped around and found this guy who will go 200km with me for a travelling fee of AU$300.00 and inspection fee of AU$250.00, totalling AU$550.00. Does anyone have any idea if this is reasonable, or should this amount of money be spent on a low cost property ($35,000)?
Any extra information/discussion will be well appreciated. Thanks!
Jimmy
Well the $250 is what I paid for my last inspection – for that I got a detailed written report and a guided tour of the property where he pointed out each defect and advised me of the seriousness and necessary action.
$300 for approx 4 hours travel sounds at the high end of reasonable to me.
I think I would try to negotiate here. Is there not a local builder who meet you there?
It would be wrong to think it too much to spend on a cheap property. Major repairs cost the same regardless of the value of the property indeed by your reasoning it would be proportionally more expensive to have $5 000 worth of repais done on this place than on a $200 000 place – if you get my drift.
Add to this the 200km each way for the tradesman…..
Could be a very costly move not to have it done and it does form part of your purchase costs for taxation purposes.
Cheers,
Simon Macks
Mortgage Broker
[email protected]
0425 228 985Comments may not be relevant to individual circumstances. If you intend making any investment, financial or taxation decision you should consult a professional adviser.
IS there not a builder in the area u can use? I have recently bought a property where there are no building inspectors, however there is a builder in the area that does inspections, but is not qualified to do bank reports, and at the same time as the inspection he gives a quote on the work to be done. I would check if there isn’t a local in your area that was willing to do this.
I hope this helps
Regards Bear
PS IF he does any repairs this builder takes the price of the inspection off of the price of the repairs. Sounds like a good deal to me.
I think you be a lot better off looking for someone living close to the house who can meet you there like Mortgage Hunter said, you may pay a little more but your probably better off.
Matt“If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always had.”
“Isn’t it time for a change?”
Hello all,
I really appreciate the feedbacks from you guys. Tried looking but still no positive results. Will continue to look for a local builder either for this property if time allows or just be more well-prepared for the next property.
Thanks heaps guys!
Jimmy
Hi there,
just ask the RE agent who they use for builder’s reports locally? that’s how i found mine! Even a retired builder could be OK. Seems unusual to have to get one from 4 hours away. However i did have to get one from 30K away for one of my properties…have done that for all my properties and they were under 30K or under 20K. In fact the cheaper the property the more you really need to get a BR in my opinion!
I paid $330 incl GST for my reports, NZdollars.
I agree with the comments that if you need something done and you’ll have to pay mileage every time you need a tradesman, that would be bad! there’s gotta be some locally i would think???
cheers-
miniHi Mini
‘just ask the RE agent who they use for builder’s reports locally?’
The suspicious side of me wonders about whether the guy they suggest is really independent or a ‘yes man’ getting undisclosed kickbacks!!!
I have contacted the local council building inspector to ask some ideas (when I’ve been asking about floods or bad soils) or rung around local building companies.
Peter
peter,
yes good point,
however as you can imagine the RE agents have to give the keys to the BR people so basically they know them all. they have to be accredited or whatever the term is, they are actually liable for the info they give you, so I think you’re pretty safe actually. i mean, the RE agents weren’t recommending me retired builders (though i wouldn’t rule out using one – go the ‘grey army’!) they were recommending me proper reputable firms.The first one was recommended to me as someone who does nothing but building reports, and he was so good that i pulled out of buying the house! So no kickbacks there!
Second time, also used a recommendation from the Re agent, and have since passed on his details to other investors in the area who think he’s fabulous too. very detailed report. written.
third guy, he was called ‘his name’ building services. He was even more than fabulous – and ended up project managing the renovations i did, pulling tradesmen off jobs by using his contacts to do my jobs, sourcing labourers, and supervising the job. he didn’t charge much either! That is, he was 45 per hour, but he wasn’t charging for many hours considering that the value of what he did was in making calls and stuff rather than hours. Anyway, he’s done two building reports for me and he’s so excellent that I’m keen toinvest in that town again just because having him and the ‘team’ make it so easy, even by ‘remote control’. however I did get in that position with him by actually going over and doing one reno myself with my partner’s help, the second one my partner did himself with the dude’s help, and it all went really smoothly.
I know people who take a thousand years to do renos but we got it all done fast.All i’m saying is that all the building inspectors i’ve used have been recommended by the RE agents and they were all fabulous.
cheers-
mini
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