******* Building Inspection??

We bought our house in January and (naturally) employed the services of a building inspector. Prior to the report being carried out, I specifically mentioned my concerns with asbestos and termites and asked that they be very thorough, particularly with respect to these issues.

The report came back stating that the roof was asbestos, but that all of the internal walls are masonite. So we bought the house.

A few months ago, I called a local carpenter around to get a quote for the removal of a couple of walls within the house (having been told by our architect that none of the walls were load bearing). He told us he was fairly certain that the walls in all of the walls which we plan to change or knock down are in fact asbestos. He knew by looking at the walls and confirmed his belief by tapping on them.

I've had a couple of quotes to get this asbestos removed now and it looks like we're up for approximately $4,000 - $5,000 to get the internal asbestos removed (laundry, toilet, walk in pantry, study, bathroom).

I phoned the building inspection company back in June and they gave me the inspector's phone number. When I called him, his response was quite unsympathetic and his exact words were "What do you want me to do?".

I know that there is a lot of fine print on their reports stating that they will not be held accountable for any costs incurred as a result of their negligence.

Has anyone else on this forum had the same kind of experience? Can anyone offer any advice? At the very least, I would expect a refund of the $363 the inspection cost.

Which State are you in?

If Queensland then call the BSA to find out which jurisdiction needs to handle it.

Whatever they say, you will find that you may have a claim against his Professional Indemnity policy. We've actually done a job for an insurer that was similar but related to termite infestation that the inspector did not discover - $80,000 worth!

Thank you very much for your response. Much appreciated.

Hi Lotte,

I had a very similar experience. I had a building inspection done and was told that the inside walls in the bathroom/laundry as well as the outer cladding of the house were made of cement sheeting. So I purchased the house.

As we were knocking down internal walls we noticed the dreaded James Hardy asbestos warning sticker on the outer sheets. We called the building inspector, and he advised us that in the fine print of the contract, it stated that they were not responsible for conducting asbestos tests, and that their report was just based on their opinion from looking at it. He ended up coming to my house and picking up the sheets and taking them with him.

After that, we decided to take a sample of the outer 'cement sheeting' boards to be tested for asbestos. Sure enough, they came back positive.

It was a terrible time, we had no choice but to remove the sheets ourselves, (with the correct safety equipment as suggested on government websites) and dispose of it correctly also, which set me back quite a lot of money.

I ended up just letting the situation go, not wanting to go through the stress of dealing with it ever again. However, I have since wondered if I had legal grounds to pursue the situation.

Have you done anything since your original post? I feel your pain! It is a terrible situation to be in.

Cheers,

Mel

Hi Mel,

Sorry to hear that I'm not alone.

Yes, I have had some progress in the situation. As advised, I contacted the BSA who after a lenghty time organised for an inspection at our property. What they failed to tell me was that the inspector would also be there, which made me extremely nervous when he showed up half an hour before the BSA inspector and behaved like the big, burly bogan he is (he's one of those "youse" and "yas" people - ugh!!).

In the end, the BSA inspector said that he was not required to identify painted asbestos, however at the same time he (the BSA inspector) was able to pinpoint all of the asbestos walls in our house. Go figure. 'Luckily' for us, the pantry remained unpainted, and the decision was made that the building inspector would pay for the removal of this asbestos. We agreed that he would obtain some quotes.

After a couple of months, having head nothing from the inpsector, I phoned him. As usual, he was incredibly rude and arrogant, despite my being polite to him. He had not done anything as yet, but said he would get back to me. Within 5 minutes, he called me and said that his friend would come and do it, because he was cheaper. Not wanting a single friend of his in my house (knowing that if they were as ******* as this guy, they would no doubt do an inferior job), I declined and asked if he would be prepared to give me the money instead. He then proceeded to accuse me of just wanting the money. I hung up and have not spoken to him since, but I have told everyone I know and he can be assured that the word will spread. Unfortunately I can't divulge his details on here, which is a shame.

We have ended up taking matters into our own hands. In Qld we have to obtain a licence to remove any more than 10m² of asbestos. This licence costs $150 and takes 4 hours. My partner did this, we bought an asbestos vaccum cleaner ($600) and all the gear (mask, plastic, filters etc.) for $350. The skip is around $1,000 for 6m³. This is a lot cheaper than the $4700 and $4800 we were quoted by socalled 'professionals' to do it.

I can't help but wonder how much asbestos is removed without the prior knowledge that it is actually asbestos. There should be legislation in place, just as commercial property, whereby all homes built prior to 1990 should have an asbestos report provided at the vendor's expense, identifying all asbestos hazards in the home. I very much doubt this will ever happen, and until it does, people like you and I will continue to be ripped off by building inspectors and asbestos removal 'professionals'.

Cheers,
Lotte

You wrote:

I know that there is a lot of fine print on their reports stating that they will not be held accountable for any costs incurred as a result of their negligence.

This is usually something that can be difficult for businesses to avoid as their contracts still have to comply with relevant consumer and fair trading laws that are applicable in each state.

That is, regardless of the special clause if the legislation says they are responsible for their work then they are responsible.

For the amount of money at stake it is probably not worth going any further with it. In the end, this person has fulfilled the adage that 'happy clients often tell no-one, but unhappy ones tell everyone!'.

Thanks for sharing your story, wish we could have helped more.

We had a story with ******* building inspector but as sellers. Before we put our old house on the market we have done some reno to the house. This was not patching but really good things, like a new aircon, sealing and painting the roof, new solar hot water system and render. Originally we haven't planned to build a new house so we were sort of doing it for ourselves.

The buyer appeared very quickly, young chinese girl and with her as a trouble it came also her building inspector. She was a buyer from hell, calling and stoking our real estate all the time haggling after... the building inspection!

We heard she has already withdrawn from one contract because of the building inspection and we were very concerned about the report on our house. We knew the house is 30 years old but we have lived there and my hubby owned it for last 10 years. We didn't have asbestos problem but we were simply scared.

Anyway, the guy arrived in brand new car and started 3 hours theatre. He said that the house is structuraly sound and pointed only at some drainage problem. It seems that the water going down the property got to the bricks and inside looks like funny bubles. We haven't covered it. the bubbles haven't moved from the moment my hubby purchased the house. The inspector explained that the bricks should be painted with membrane paint inside and it will cost probably around $5k.

What was our surprise when we heard about the report. Apparently he wrote that there is a termite threat as he found something close to the rear fence 20 metres from the house?! the drainage problem was costed as $12k for fixing and he generally picked every small detail in the house.

We didn't know what to do at first. It couldn't be THAT bad?! What was worse the girl didn't want to withdraw from the contract. I don't want to sound like a rasist person as I am foreigner myself, but I will never sell or buy the house to Chinese. She was on the phone and coming to the house EVERY DAY. If you wanted to look through the window on Saturday morning, sha was already standing there with some friend. While haggling she wanted to invite her friends to our house! At some stage, few days before the contract went unconditional we asked her to withdrawn as we don't want to deal with her anymore. She promised she won't be haggling. And she did. Until 5 minutes before it went unconditional she haggled and haggled...

You would think it was the end?! NO. she started to send my huby SMSs (our agent gave her the number?!) if she can move her furniture in, then she wanted keys before the settlement. The more we said NO the harder she'd push. Her lawyer didn't show up at settlement. Arrived 2 hours later because we didn't give her keys. This wasn't the end. It looks like my patient hubby was on her list next (there was no add "man & house package ), so she started sending him some SMSs asking for the address. FInally I sent her an SMS. And THAT was the end )

At some stage she did confes to our rwal estate that the building inspector called her after a week and offered her that for a commission he will find her a house. We tried to get the copy of his report thinking about complaining but she wouldn't give us.

I think that all these authorities that supposed to protect us consumers and residents, instead o freinforcing the law they are just playing with time working on useless policies and law.

cheers
kate

Sounds like you had a buyer that was using an 'subject to inspection' clause to try and beat you down on price once the contract was signed.

By the way, did you drop the price because of all the 'defects'?

Often this is done however the onus is on the buyer to either back out of the contract if you won't renegotiate the price or for you to keep them in the contract if you do renegotiate. At the end of the day the price is the price and you don't have to sell to anyone if they find things that their own inspection missed. Also, unless it is your inspector then you don't even need to have any faith at all in the report. To put it bluntly, it is wildly biased and can sometimes even be a complete setup!

I'd be interested to know the scenario and pleased to hear that you managed to keep hubby out of the deal!

Sounds like you had a buyer that was using an 'subject to inspection' clause to try and beat you down on price once the contract was signed.

it looked to us that the inspector was discouraging the girl from buying any house. He felt he can earn more money cause she trusted him so much.

By the way, did you drop the price because of all the 'defects'?

We haven't reduced the price even for a dolar. We didn't want to pay any money that is why we wanted her to withdraw. At some stage the real estate said we should reduce price about $500 just to let her haggle. We said clearly NO and then they ask: do you want to risk $350k for $500?
This shows that agents are on the buyer side. It does not matter what price they get, they just want to sell it as soon as possible to send the letter to the neighbourhood: Hey, we sold the house in 3 days!!!
We lost so much power for that girl. She came to us first time with a price of $310. then she told us she doesn't have any more. then she came, she opened every window, looked everywhere and asked how many beds she can fit... and then she offered.... $320. Don't want to think about it.

Anyway I organised a quote for fixing the bricks from inside. The quote from the builder was $3500. Because she put our OLD fridge, microwave, toster and old cutlery and plates ON CONTRACT we said we will not give any further reduction. Meantime she asked us to leave some furniture behind because we don't need it in new house. She was very pushy and grrrrrr... still makes my blood pressure up!

I'd be interested to know the scenario and pleased to hear that you managed to keep hubby out of the deal!

Well... let's say... HE is my mortgage payer and I will not give him to anybody ... alive

From the moment I left her a message I will be dealing with her only she "got" the message and left us alone. As far as I can see she is renting out the room to freshly arriving Chinese.

cheers
Kate

Just thought I might add here…the best person to get to inspect your home would be a good builder!

Not sure how that stacks up to having a proper report done, but they will tell you straight up what’s going on.

I wouldn’t think to get a building inspector; I would just want a builder.

Sorry to hear about the reports and the miss leading info……unbelievable!

And I wonder how much identified asbestos is just removed by the owners and chucked in the skip or wheelie bin?

I wish I'd known and done that at the time. Now that we've done so much renovating, I'm pretty sure that in future, we'll check the construction of the property ourselves, but get a professional pest inspection carried out.

It has definitely left a bitter taste in my mouth, though. Clearly, there is not enough legislation in place to manage asbestos, not to mention other hazardous materials such as lead.



Exactly!!

Cheers,
Lotte

If you happen to get busted for dumping asbestos the fines are HUGE!!!!
If the skip people get busted, they will pass it on to you.
BEWARE

http://www.prsc.qld.gov.au/c/prsc?a=da&did=1070075&pid=1190845782&sid=

http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/dec_media_070404_01

http://www.mackay.qld.gov.au/services/Waste_and_recycling/illegal_dumping

I wonder if anyone has actually incurred any of these fines as yet. That's even scarier if you ask me....

Lotte

Just to let you all know, you cant tell if a wall is asbestos just by looking at it, or knocking on it with your knuckles. The only way is to do a lab test for asbestos (labs that do these tests can be found in the yellow pages)

If in doubt over an old house, I'd get the tests done.

If it's bare, in some cases you can tell. If you can see the back of it, again sometimes, you can tell. Also, the age of your home will give you a fair indication if it would have been used or not.

The stuff at my place had small blue flecks through it. Hence, blue asbestos.

Everyone pelase note, asbestos itself is not dangerous. It become an issue once you disturb it and breathe the dust. If it is there and doesn't need to be moved, leave it alone. The eaves the front of my house are asbestos and seeing as I have no plans to drill, break, disturb or eat any of it, I am not the least bit worried about it.

It's not hard to tell the asbestos walls in our house apart from the masonite walls... the asbestos walls have a slight textured pattern to them, are nailed in with flat nails and sound completely different to the rest of the walls. Further to this, it's not hard to remove a power point which easily identifies it...



Ours has white flecks I believe??



I'm with you. Our eaves are 60 years old and still far better than those in most 10 year old houses. Asbestos is good stuff if undisturbed. The reason we are removing the internal asbestos is that we are carrying out substantial renovations, involving only the rooms containing asbestos (isn't this typical). The roof was in a bad state and had to be replaced, regardless of material. But the eaves will stay.

On that note, the eaves are posing quite a problem for us. The paint is peeling off them and given that you can't sand, waterblast or scrape the asbestos eaves for ease of preparation, we will probably end up using a product called "Peel Away" in order to remove the paint and start afresh with good undercoating etc.

Anyone else have any ideas? My neighbour reckons his painters just came in and sanded their eaves - always nice to know.

Cheers,
Lotte