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.
Kelmscott is one of the four initial townsites gazetted in the Swan River Colony in 1830, named after Kelmscott in Oxfordshire and established as a military outpost garrisoned by seventeen men of the 63rd Regiment. The 1830 township core has been overlaid with nearly two centuries of growth, and the suburb is now bisected by the Canning River with flat coastal plain to the west and land rising into the Darling Scarp to the east. In 2011 the Kelmscott-Roleystone bushfire on a total fire ban day destroyed 72 homes and damaged 37 more in Kelmscott and Roleystone combined — the largest single-fire house loss in WA history — and the rebuilt homes and damaged homes that survived sit alongside the older stock in a suburb whose building ages span two hundred years. A building and timber pest inspection at Kelmscott reads across all of those layers.
The bushfire rebuild stock is the specific Kelmscott read that does not appear anywhere else in this coverage area. Homes rebuilt after the 2011 fire are now fourteen years old and approaching the age where the first estate-generation waterproofing read begins, built on lots that were cleared and rebuilt after a major bushfire on the Darling Scarp edge. We read those homes at their current build age and note the fire-rebuild context. Homes that survived the fire but were damaged earn the additional read of what a significant fire event has done to the fabric of an older home: heat damage to roofing, melted sealants, affected services.
The Darling Scarp edge to the east adds the scarp read for homes on the rising ground. Retaining structures on steep lots, site drainage managing scarp winter runoff, and the subfloor on sloping ground are all structural reads that the flat western parts of the suburb do not require.
The Canning River bisects the suburb and maintains a river-foreshore moisture and exposure context on both banks. The 1830 heritage township core carries the oldest intact building fabric in the Armadale local government area, and any homes from or adjacent to that heritage precinct earn the heritage-era construction read.
The timber pest side follows the bush edge and the river. Native bush at the scarp edge, the Canning River foreshore and the established older gardens of a 200-year-old township give termites the conditions they use. We read subfloor, roof timbers and the perimeter carefully, with particular attention near the bush-edge properties.
What you get is a plain reading of the Kelmscott home in its era — fire-rebuilt, heritage, scarp-edge or river-flat — with the report inside 24 hours and the real defects separated clearly from the cosmetic.
We run the same two-scope visit across the area, including nearby Armadale and Seville Grove.
MISSING: phone number · Book online → · Flat $616 inc GST for both scopes, report within 24 hours.
Three things: the 2011 bushfire rebuilt stock (72 homes destroyed in WA's largest single-fire house loss), the Darling Scarp edge on the eastern side, and a heritage township core from 1830 — one of the Swan River Colony's original four townsites.
Homes rebuilt after the 2011 Kelmscott-Roleystone fire are now fourteen years old, approaching the age where the first waterproofing read begins, on lots cleared and rebuilt after a major bushfire event.
Fire events damage the roofing, melt sealants and affect services in ways that a walk-through does not reveal. We read the surviving fabric for evidence of that heat and fire exposure.
The eastern parts of Kelmscott rise into the scarp, and on steep lots the retaining structures, site drainage and subfloor all carry the gradient load. We read these as structural concerns rather than peripheral notes.
The river bisects the suburb and maintains river-foreshore moisture and exposure on both banks, aging external fixings and seals faster than sheltered inland positions.
The 1830 Colonial military outpost core carries some of the oldest intact building fabric in the Armadale LGA. Heritage-era homes near the original township earn the construction-era read of their age.
Yes. Native bush at the scarp edge, the Canning River foreshore and established old gardens give termites the conditions they use. We read the bush-edge properties with particular care.
Yes. The building inspection to AS 4349.1 and the timber pest inspection to AS 4349.3 are done in one visit, with a single report within 24 hours.
A flat $616 inc GST for both scopes, report within 24 hours.
In terms of single-fire house loss, yes. The Kelmscott-Roleystone fire on 6 February 2011 destroyed 72 homes — the largest single-fire house loss in WA history.
Buying in Kelmscott? 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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