Independent inspectors

Just wanted to gauge how many of you that didn't use an independent inspector for the final stage are still happy with their house. A lot of people say it's a must but I'm not convinced. Would love to hear about everyones thoughts for those who haven't gone with one and also for those who have!! TIA

Well anyone in the planet can be an independent inspector. Not regulated, plenty of text book people out there. In saying that I do think it's worth another set of eyes.

Yes very true Narrewarren01. We had an inspector for the frame stage and was kind of a waste of money. Only found one thing wrong...hmmm, hopefully it was good workmanship not laziness on his part!!

I think depends on how much you know about building and standards.
Our inspector has 40 years in building industry - worked with various companies as SS, construction manager etc
We knew nothing.
Inspector picked up many things that we would never have noted at frame stage, lock up and PCI. Also was able to call him between visits for advice when required due to problems that came up.
You never know quality of trades your company will use on your house even if displays are wonderful. And documentation of errors before settlement can help if you have problems down the track.
We're in Melbourne.

Private building consultants who do stage inspections need no qualifications in Victoria but regardless of this, a proper analysis of their qualifications rather than who is the cheapest is a must regardless of where you are building.

Deregulation, self certification, building surveyors paid by the builders and poor consumer protection has made using a good building consultant a statistical necessity.

Self assessment was brought in to speed up the process and reduce costs in reality it has become
1. Too specialised towards consultancies and IMO .. unworkable and costly.
2. driven up costs, as clients now have to get work certified compliant by independent source
3. regarding 2. above made non-compliance an even bigger issue
4. put people without the right qualifications approving the engineering and structure
5. Stacked the odds in the builders favour and putting the battlers at greater risk
etc,etc

OT as an engineer that does structure repairs the best advice I can offer is that the Punters & Battlers take plenty of photos..LOL..should they need them..later on even when the slabs been so called inspected..HTH

Spot on SBIMG.

Main issue in this industry is OWNERS want the biggest house, toorak quality for rock bottom prices. In reality builders CAN provide 100 quality inspections through out the build but are owners prepared to pay another 40k on their build. 99% would say no

Private inspectors have pounced on a market that needs no qualifications, no responsibility, no warranty and actually charge upto 5 times what a registered inspector charges. Industry is a joke really. Need to regulate it so we can weed out these so called private inspectors with absolutely no practical experience

I have meet a few that have actually been builders and understand what's involved and actually do help provide a better product for their clients.

Interview your inspector. Ask about their qualifications and experience prior.
I would say do the same for your surgeon, or any one you buy a significant service from.
Building surveyors appointed by the builders in my experience don't truly work for the client. i.e. Documentation indicated that the builder appointed surveyor charged extra for client to gain access to their reports from visits. That is why I employed a private inspector. I used someone recommended by friend in building trade who'd had experience with them as a private inspector on their sites and knew of their significant building experience. If the build is smooth it's likely not crucial, but if problems occur or you have questions you have someone independent to ask and advocate for you using the standards and terminology.
I hope it's good for future owners/clients in Victoria that rules are changing and VBA now states - Legislation introduced on 1 September 2016 prevents the builder from appointing the private building surveyor. The appointment of the private building surveyor must be made by the owner or an agent of the owner other than the Builder.
It'd be great if owners can pay the same person for a few additional inspections.
More independence from builder would be my hope as owner references may get them more jobs than being easy on builder.

We bought our Town House off the plan and informed the builder of all the faults within the threw month period that they set. We also decided to engage Finalinspect and Peter Limburg to do an independent inspection which was well worth the money.

The builder was very resistant to rectifying the problems that we had identified and having Peter to back us up and advise us on our rights and how to communicate with the builder was invaluable.

Almost one year in and many of the issues still remain but I feel in a much stronger position because of our private inspection.

As independent inspector myself I can only point to my experience from a large roadkill of owners who have diabolical problems or dearly wish they had inspections done. It is true that there are over 20,000 builders in Victoria and majority do a decent job and you never hear about them on this forum. However, there is several dozen that frequently pop up with problem builds. There are also many problems with OB jobs.
Statistically chances are that you will be Ok but it's like a tattslotto, chances are low but someone always wins and many win second and third division prizes.
Do you want to win a second or third rate build build? No problem, don't have independent inspections and you will be underwriting your own risk.
The benefits of having independent and competent inspector working for you are:
1 Builder will know you will have a professional working for you and it will change complexion of things. You won't be bullied, intimidated and treated like crap. I suspected for a long time that volume builders assign their best supervisors to where they know will be independent inspector. Other jobs get leftovers. But just recently one of the building managers for a large volume builder said so to me.

2 Pre-contract review- your most important inspection. If you willingly sign off on a bad deal no one can help you.
3 Pre Slab inspection- another pair of eyes going over slab preparation, levels, drawings, drainage etc before concrete is poured.
4 Frame inspection, in theory should not be required because building inspector does those for mandatory requirements but often I pickup on serious defects and omissions.
5 Pre plaster-last chance inspection to check everything before everything gets covered up, after that you cannot see and if your plaster has bows and hollows then walls have not been properly straightened.What about fire walls if you are in a unit?
6 Pre final inspection:
incomplete work
defects
non compliance
non conformance
theremal imaging scan- for insulation and roof leaks
variations overview
7 having your expert in the cloud should bring you comfort and respect from your builder, otherwise you may be treated as a pushover.

If that does not convince you, read my blogs

Couldn't agree with Gaudi more. We engaged an inspector who came highly recommended and they have found so many things that we would never have picked up. Yes it is an additional cost but when you are spending hundreds of thousands on the build in the first place, it's a really insignificant amount compared the main build expenses. I am in a facebook group in our local community and just yesterday someone uploaded 30 photos of the poor workmanship and mistakes on a house built by a reputable builder. The owners never engaged an independent inspector until after handover and now are having so many issues having the errors repaired.

I am so glad we went with an independent inspector!

what facebook group is that ?