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.
Lesmurdie was established in 1897 as a fruit-growing and rural-retreat property by Archibald Sanderson, and the orchard and retreat origins of the suburb run deeper into the ground than many buyers realise. Homes here have been built on former orchard blocks for over a century, and the ground those blocks left behind, old root systems from long-cleared fruit trees, old irrigation channels, old terracing and the retaining walls built to hold orchard slopes, can all affect how the ground behaves under a modern home standing on it. A building and timber pest inspection at Lesmurdie reads for that legacy as much as for the building above it.
The orchard-era ground is the distinctive lead. A block that held an established fruit orchard for decades has ground that was regularly irrigated, terraced and worked, and when those trees are cleared and a home is built, the root voids left as old roots decay, the remnant irrigation channels, and the compaction differences between the worked and the unworked soil can all produce uneven settlement. We read the slab and footing behaviour, the crack patterns in brickwork and the fall of floors, with the orchard history in mind as the context for what we find.
Old orchard retaining walls are the other legacy. Dry-stone or early concrete retaining walls built for orchard terracing are often well over a century old, and they carry a different structural standard from a modern engineered retaining wall. We read these for movement, for the mortar and the face, and for whether they are still doing the job they were built for, because a failing orchard-era retainer on a sloping block is a real structural cost.
The housing stock ranges from early orchard and retreat homes through to mid-century and modern large hills homes on treed lots. The older retreat and orchard homes are the most interesting read, original fabric in a cool, moist hills climate, with the layered additions and improvements that a long-held rural property accumulates. The newer homes earn the standard hills read of modern construction on a sloping site, with the orchard ground history beneath them.
The timber pest side is genuine in a leafy, established hills suburb. Large treed lots, established gardens, old orchard timber and the moist conditions near Lesmurdie Falls give termites what they need, so we read the subfloor, roof timbers and the perimeter of the home carefully.
What you get is a plain reading of the Lesmurdie home on its orchard ground, its history and its slope, 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 Kalamunda and Gooseberry Hill.
MISSING: phone number · Book online → · Flat $616 inc GST for both scopes, report within 24 hours.
Its orchard-era ground. The suburb was established in 1897 as a fruit-growing property, and the root systems, irrigation channels and terracing those orchards left behind can all affect how the ground behaves under a modern home.
As old root systems from cleared fruit trees decay, they leave voids in the soil that can cause uneven settlement. Combined with old irrigation channels and compaction differences, this produces ground behaviour that reads in the slab and the brickwork.
We read the crack patterns, the fall of floors and the gaps at reveals with the orchard history in mind, to tell settlement from that ground legacy from something in the structure itself.
Dry-stone or early concrete terracing walls can be over a century old and carry a different standard from a modern engineered retainer. We read them for movement and structural integrity, because a failing old wall is a real cost.
Yes. Original fabric in a cool, moist hills climate, with a century of layers and additions, is a distinctive read on its own terms alongside the ground history beneath.
Yes. Large treed lots, established gardens, the moist conditions near the falls and any old orchard timber give termites the cover and damp they use, so we read subfloor, roof timbers and the perimeter carefully.
They should be part of the decision. A retaining wall over a century old on a sloping block that shows signs of movement is a structural finding, not a cosmetic one.
Yes. On sloping blocks we read the retaining structures, site drainage and the subfloor for what the slope and the ground are doing, in addition to the standard building read.
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.
Buying in Lesmurdie? 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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