Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Dec 02, 2011 9:50 pm Re: To get an independent building inspector, or not 2Dec 02, 2011 10:49 pm House - Lockup completed 23rd December 2011 - Painters are in!!! https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=37261&start=0&hilit=Blaxland Re: To get an independent building inspector, or not 4Dec 02, 2011 11:27 pm I agree with the others... You definately want an ind. inspector for peace of mind... Such a large investment make sure you are getting what you paid for... This way you pick up issues while the build is in progress and can be rectified before you pay all the money - better incentive for the builder to rectify. If you check the forums, regardless of the builder you will see complaints at builders not responding to issues after the build is completed and you have paid. My recommendation is you get at least 2 inspections - 1. Preplaster so they can check framing, plumbing, wiring and insulation on the inside and brick, door and window frames etc on the outside. 2. PCI - they will check against your plans and specs to ensure you get what you paid for and they have a better eye in regards to identifying minor faults me or you will not notice... Thats my 2 cents - hope that helps... Cheers, Alpal Building PD Heathmont 40 BLOG: http://alpal-pd-heathmont40.blogspot.com/ Deposit paid 19/08/2011 Contract signing 3/10/2011 Site Start 10/11/2011 Slab 23/11/2011 Re: To get an independent building inspector, or not 5Dec 03, 2011 12:54 pm Thanks for your input guys. I imagine most would say it's worth it for peace of mind, but considering our builder offers that 25-year structural guarantee, and that we're already at lock up, these may be funds we're better off spending elsewhere. Just out of curiosity, has anyone here not had one look over their house, and if so, is it a decision you've come to regret? To get an independent building inspector, or not 6Dec 03, 2011 1:03 pm I didn't last build, 10 years ago. And I don't regret it, we've not had any issues. I did get my best friends dad to inspect roof frame before colourbond both times (he's a building inspector) and bought my engineer and very fussy dad to pci and all is sweet. I won't be getting one this time either, roof was inspected, dad will come and at this time of year/stage of building I just can't justify the costs. my new build thread- Ben Trager https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=89826 my switch build thread (2011) https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36569 Re: To get an independent building inspector, or not 7Dec 03, 2011 2:00 pm We didn't have one, with this build or the last. Just keep an eye on it, and if you have any friends in different trades, get them to look. My Sons' boss had a good look at ours, he said it all looked good. Our first house we never had any red dots, it was built to perfection. This one, we had a few issues at handover, but they have all been fixed, mostly at maintenance. The only time I wished we had an Independent Inspector was at our PCI, where you notice things and the SS, tells you it's all good, even though your not agreeing with him. It can be very stressful, just make sure you put down everything your not happy with, and don't give in. Re: To get an independent building inspector, or not 9Dec 03, 2011 9:47 pm Inspector only found minor issues when checking my first build which was at pci only. My brothers mate the inspector made them pull down a stud wall that was not straight and also replace floorboards that were scratched. A colleague from work had issues with walls that were not straight, powerpoints missing, roof insulation not installed correctly around downlights, heating unit installation, exposed steel in slab, roof tiles that were cracked etc. House - Lockup completed 23rd December 2011 - Painters are in!!! https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=37261&start=0&hilit=Blaxland Re: To get an independent building inspector, or not 10Dec 04, 2011 7:15 am I voted Yes. If not for anything else but piece of mind. I would also suggest getting inspections at other stages, not just pre-handover, eg, frame (lock up was a waste of time in our opinion). Our inspector didn't find any MAJOR issues, but a few things we would never have picked up on/noticed ourselves, other things he found were minor & quite obviously that the builder had already ear marked to be fixed. Building the Milano30 Site start: 30th June 2011 PCI: 1st December 2011 Handover: As soon as the bank pays! Approx 16th December viewtopic.php?f=31&t=44051 Re: To get an independent building inspector, or not 11Dec 04, 2011 1:06 pm morox I voted Yes. If not for anything else but piece of mind. I would also suggest getting inspections at other stages, not just pre-handover, eg, frame (lock up was a waste of time in our opinion). Our inspector didn't find any MAJOR issues, but a few things we would never have picked up on/noticed ourselves, other things he found were minor & quite obviously that the builder had already ear marked to be fixed. would you mind telling what sort of things he found that you would have never picked up. Re: To get an independent building inspector, or not 12Dec 04, 2011 2:59 pm CC101 morox I voted Yes. If not for anything else but piece of mind. I would also suggest getting inspections at other stages, not just pre-handover, eg, frame (lock up was a waste of time in our opinion). Our inspector didn't find any MAJOR issues, but a few things we would never have picked up on/noticed ourselves, other things he found were minor & quite obviously that the builder had already ear marked to be fixed. would you mind telling what sort of things he found that you would have never picked up. This mainly referred to the frame inspection - but: various studs for lintel supports & internal lintels spanning over a certain measurement missing, sewer pipe off centre (only became fully noticeable at plaster stage to us), slab not level. Pre Handover: some paint items, especially outside, like end of timber quad not painted completely and a gap around a downlight. As first time builders we would rather be safe than sorry. Building the Milano30 Site start: 30th June 2011 PCI: 1st December 2011 Handover: As soon as the bank pays! Approx 16th December viewtopic.php?f=31&t=44051 Re: To get an independent building inspector, or not 14Mar 24, 2012 5:49 pm I have done hundreds of independent building inspections and the reasons why you should do it are set out on my web site and the blog. Real cases, real problems.www.buildingexpert.net.au People that end up with serious issues tell me they did not know this type of service existed Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: To get an independent building inspector, or not 15Mar 25, 2012 10:45 am Changed my mind on this one, Yes get one. It really was our worse mistake, not getting one. It's the problems you see after you move in. The money you pay for the inspections, will be allot less than the money you pay fixing things later on. Re: To get an independent building inspector, or not 16Mar 25, 2012 12:02 pm I imagine few people would say not to get one, but I expect in practice many don't. Particularly if on a tight budget, have confidence in builder etc. We were going to get two (frame and PCI) but have decided now just to get frame. We trust our builder and have a good relationship with him, so it was a bit touchy when we said we wanted an inspection. We haven't had it yet. We decided on the frame because that is the bones of the house and will hopefully pick up any structural defects. We are expecting to pay $550 for the frame inspection. SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 Re: To get an independent building inspector, or not 17Mar 25, 2012 12:15 pm SunshineT I imagine few people would say not to get one, but I expect in practice many don't. Particularly if on a tight budget, have confidence in builder etc. We were going to get two (frame and PCI) but have decided now just to get frame. We trust our builder and have a good relationship with him, so it was a bit touchy when we said we wanted an inspection. We haven't had it yet. We decided on the frame because that is the bones of the house and will hopefully pick up any structural defects. We are expecting to pay $550 for the frame inspection. If the builder has a good relationship with you then they should be encouraging you to get one for your own peace of mind like our SS did - it was his opinion that the more sets of eyes that go over a job the better. To be all cordial when it appears that you're happy to let things just roll along and then get shirty about you exercising your right to have an independent inspector come through for your own peace of mind might indicate that your builder isn't being quite as reciprocal in terms of maintaining that "good relationship" as you may have previously thought. I would of course encourage you to not go down the nit-picking path for every little thing that you see as builders aren't blind and there are often things that you see during the construction process which are rectified as the job progresses as part of the natural course of a build (after all mistakes happen and sometimes something that is done can go awry despite the best laid plans of mice and men), but at the same time it is you that are making the large financial outlay in the end - not the builder - and they should be keeping that in mind in all of their dealings with you. Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Re: To get an independent building inspector, or not 18Mar 25, 2012 12:22 pm I didn't vote, because my answer is yes and no. Yes at frame stage, this is really the only time a trained eye will pick up structual defects that can be fixed. Yes at handover if you dont know what quality looks like. Because this is basicly all an independent will pick up on. No if have gone through the display and looked at the quality of the house not how well that lounge goes with the paint colour. Go back to the display just before handover and look at the paint and plaster quality, take photo's, now look at the finish of your house and compare. Bang, you just saved yourself $300 so someone could tell you there's airbubbles in the plaster behind the WC door, and the margin on your LH vanity door is different to the RH. There seems to be this growing trend that we are made to believe the majority of houses are lemons and if you dont get an independant in it will fall down. Truth is the majority of houses are well built, houses are not built in factories by robots and computers so there is always a human factor in the quality. Re: To get an independent building inspector, or not 19Mar 25, 2012 12:52 pm Having said that mistakes can be made and things can be easily overlooked by laymen if they don't know what they should be looking for - having someone who is experienced come in who knows what the should be looking for in the fit and finish of a completed home (as well as being able to identify minor issues which may be hard to pick up initially but which over time could lead to not-so-minor problems) is not necessarily such a bad thing. You need to again remember that not everybody is as capable of understanding what they should be looking for - some buyers may not be as fortunate as you may be to have the eye to be able to spot things that need attention for themselves. I too also have a reasonable idea of what I should be looking for in most areas, but we will still be getting an independent inspector to come through again at PCI (we also had one at frame and lockup stages) because A) the whole thing with finally seeing the house close to completion may be a little overwhelming and B) the independent inspector has the benefit of experience in knowing what to look for in terms of common problems that occur in finished houses. It's a big investment and paying a few hundred bucks to mitigate the risk of unidentified issues becoming bigger problems down the track and having to go through the warranty process to get things fixed (which affects your quality of life in a negative way at a time when you should be enjoying a new home) is not necessarily a bad idea. People seem like their analogies on H1 so I'll throw one in for good measure. It would not be unreasonable to think of inspections in the same way as getting car insurance - you could make a case about not getting car insurance by saying that you are in control of your own circumstances and actions and thus you'll never be in a car accident, but what happens if one day the stars align and despite all of your best efforts to drive carefully you find yourself in one? Of course if you are not at fault then there is recourse for you even without an insurer to go into bat for you, but it is a much more difficult process which will have more of a negative impact on your quality of life. Now extrapolate that to being in control of your own circumstances and thinking you'll be able to spot all of the issues which need to be rectified in your new home - what will happen if you miss something and it becomes an issue later on? Again you do have recourse in terms of getting the builder to rectify said issues after taking possession of the home but it can be a much more difficult and drawn-out process which again will have more of a negative effect on your quality of life. It is up to the individual in the end to decide whether they want to pay for independent inspections or not - my personal choice is to pay an extra $400 to give us peace of mind at PCI that nothing has been overlooked by us and you need to respect people that may feel the same way, just as we respect your opinion that it not probably isn't necessary for you given your confidence that you'll be able to spot any issues that need rectifying yourself. Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Re: To get an independent building inspector, or not 20Mar 27, 2012 7:07 am Hi all, The thread is very helpful for us_very first time builder (before this knockdown and rebuild project, we have never done/researched anything relating to construction) . I consider to have 2 inspections in which 1 inspection is for structure matter and another is for PCI. Regarding an inspection for structure matter, I'm still not sure which one I should go for framing inspection or pre-plaster inspection Can you share your experiences, opinion... under which concern you will go for the framing inspection and under which concern you will skip frame stage and choose inspection at pre-plaster stage? Thanks for your help. I would send it to the certifier who is technically your representative and working on your behalf not the builder's 1 2665 That is a really good attitude Akin to you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. I do enjoy watching that tik tok inspector from Victoria but he does go a little… 12 82685 It is true that a builder can ignore your independent inspection report as it is not part of the contractual arrangement but that is stupid because he cannot avoid fixing… 9 47372 |