Both scopes in one visit — building to AS 4349.1, timber pest to AS 4349.3. The fuller check, by a registered building contractor. Report within 24 hours.
Inglewood holds one of Perth's finest concentrations of interwar housing: streets of consistent 1920s and 1930s character homes, Californian bungalows and Spanish Mission and art deco, running back off the Beaufort Street strip. It is a tightly held, blue-chip character suburb, and a building and timber pest inspection here is shaped by the specific way homes of that era were built, and by the renovation that a suburb this sought-after attracts.
The interwar home has its own signature, distinct from both the Federation stock before it and the brick-veneer decades after. The walls are typically tuck-pointed double brick, often finished in decorative render at the parapets and entries, and that render is the first thing the inspection reads: it cracks, it detaches from the masonry behind it, and near the ground it frets under salt. The windows are steel-framed casements and leadlight, which rust and drop and let water in at the reveals. And the roofs are the classic Marseille terracotta tile of the period, now close to a century old, porous and brittle, over battens and framing that have carried them a long time.
Those roofs deserve particular attention in Inglewood. Under the old terracotta, the hardwood framing and battens are read for chemical delignification, the slow surface breakdown that leaves the timber soft and fibrous and reduces what it can carry, along with the sagging and water entry that a century-old tiled roof accumulates. Treating delignification is a particular area of ours, and the Inglewood roof stock is exactly where it appears.
Damp-proofing in these homes is transitional. The earliest interwar houses were built without a damp-proof course and the later ones with an early version of one, so the inspection reads the base of the walls for rising and salt damp and works out which era of construction it is dealing with, because that changes what the damp means and how it is fixed. Original jarrah floors and picture rails and lath-and-plaster all come with the period and are read for condition.
Renovation is near-universal here, but the pattern is particular: owners keep the character front and extend to the rear, so the inspection concentrates on the junction where the preserved original meets the new addition, on the waterproofing of retrofitted wet areas, and on whether the work was approved, since unapproved building becomes the buyer's liability. Along Beaufort Street the stock shifts to apartments and mixed-use, where the strata records and the condition of the concrete and balconies matter as much as the walls.
On the timber pest side, Inglewood's mature, established gardens and the old, accessible timber of these homes give subterranean termites what they want. The subfloor is read for damp and ventilation. The perimeter is read for soil-to-timber contact and the deep garden beds these homes favour, plus suspect timber by sounding, with movement detection where a gallery is suspected behind an intact wall. Termite management follows AS 3660.
Inglewood is an interwar suburb of real consistency and character, and the report earns its value by reading the era accurately, the render and the terracotta, the casements and the transitional damp-proofing, and by being clear about what preserving that character will cost.
We run the same two-scope visit across the area, including nearby Bedford and Mount Lawley.
MISSING: phone number · Book online → · Flat $616 inc GST for both scopes, report within 24 hours.
The era. Inglewood is one of Perth's best interwar precincts, so we read the specific 1920s and 30s construction: tuck-pointed double brick, decorative render, Marseille terracotta tile roofs and steel casement windows. Each of those fails in its own way, and the inspection is built around them.
It can be. The render at parapets and entries cracks, detaches from the masonry behind it, and frets under salt near the ground. We tap it for drummy, detached sections and read where it has let water into the wall, because rendered detailing is expensive to restore.
They need close attention. Marseille terracotta tiles near a century old are porous and brittle, and under them the hardwood framing and battens can show chemical delignification, a surface breakdown that leaves timber soft. We read the roof for that, for sag and for water entry, and treating delignification is a particular area of ours.
It is transitional. The earliest interwar homes were built without one and the later ones with an early version, so we read the base of the walls for rising and salt damp and work out which era of construction it is, because that changes what the damp means and how it is fixed.
The junction. Inglewood owners typically keep the character front and extend behind, so we concentrate on where the preserved original meets the new addition, on the waterproofing of retrofitted wet areas, and on whether the work was approved.
The strata records and the concrete. The minutes reveal levies and known defects, and in older buildings we read for spalling and balcony and podium waterproofing failure, using a thermal camera and moisture meter. Residential-above-retail buildings add fire-separation questions.
Yes. The mature, established gardens and the old, accessible timber of these homes suit subterranean termites. We read the subfloor for damp and ventilation, the perimeter for conducive conditions, and suspect timber by sounding, with movement detection where needed. Termite management follows AS 3660.
A flat $616 including GST for both scopes together, the same in every suburb. A character interwar home takes time to read properly, and you have the written report, with photos, within 24 hours.
Yes, and it is worth it, because Inglewood homes often sell at unconditional auction. An inspection beforehand means you bid knowing what a character home actually needs, rather than finding out with no recourse.
That is much of its value. A character interwar home carries many notes, and a clear report separates the significant issue, failing render, a delignified roof or transitional damp, from the cosmetic, giving you a concrete basis to negotiate.
Buying in Inglewood? A pre-purchase building inspection — building scope only, report within 24 hours — gives you the documented record before exchange.
Pre-purchase inspection →Our office is at Suite 55, 15 Labouchere Road, South Perth WA 6151 — on the Swan River foreshore near the Perth Zoo.
Tell us about the property and what you need. We'll come back to you with a firm quote and a time.
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