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.
Willagee is one of the most unusual suburbs in Perth to inspect, because some of what you might be buying is not like anything else in the city. The suburb was created in 1950 as a State Housing Commission estate to house workers in Fremantle’s new industrial area, and a number of its early dwellings were prefabricated homes imported from Austria, known locally as ‘spearies’, timber-framed cottages built on stilts. A building and timber pest inspection here has to be ready for stock that does not follow the standard Perth-brick script.
The Austrian prefab cottages are the most distinctive read. A demountable timber-framed home on stilts has a subfloor that is open and exposed in a way a brick home on a slab is not, and the timber frame, the cladding, the stumps or pier supports and the connections between them are all things that age, and that termites can reach. Where a spearie survives, or where a home on the street has grown from one, we read the frame, the subfloor and the perimeter with extra care, because the construction is simply different.
The broader Willagee read is about a suburb in active transition. The State Housing Commission stock has been undergoing sweeping redevelopment, with older homes replaced and blocks infilled, so the suburb now holds a wide range of construction ages side by side. A 1950s original sitting next to a brand-new infill townhouse is a normal Willagee streetscape, and each of those homes asks a different question. The older Commission homes earn the age read, roofs, wet areas and services approaching the end of their life, and the new infill earns the modern read, waterproofing and roof plumbing, on a block that may have been cleared and rebuilt more than once.
The working-class origins and the ongoing redevelopment mean that Willagee also has its share of investor-held and rental stock, and we read for the patched-over rather than the properly repaired.
The timber pest side leans on the older timber-framed stock. A subfloor on stilts, damp ground in a low-lying street, and established gardens against older walls all create the pathways termites use, so the subfloor and perimeter read is particularly careful here.
What you get is a plain reading of the Willagee home as it actually was built, spearie or brick, original or infill, 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 Melville and Myaree.
MISSING: phone number · Book online → · Flat $616 inc GST for both scopes, report within 24 hours.
Its unusual stock. The suburb was built in 1950 as an SHC estate and includes imported Austrian prefabricated 'spearie' cottages on stilts, so some homes here are built nothing like the standard Perth brick house.
A demountable timber-framed prefabricated cottage imported from Austria, built on stilts, used to house Fremantle industrial workers quickly after 1950. Some survive or have been extended.
Because a timber-framed home on stilts has an open, exposed subfloor, and the frame, cladding, stumps and connections all age and are more accessible to termites than a brick-on-slab construction.
New infill earns the modern read: waterproofing, roof plumbing and first-years settlement, on a block that may have been cleared and rebuilt more than once.
Yes. The SHC stock has been undergoing sweeping replacement and infill, so the suburb holds a wide range of construction ages side by side, each of which asks a different question.
It adds a different read. Investment stock often carries deferred maintenance and quick fixes, so we look for the patched-over rather than the properly repaired.
Yes. A subfloor on stilts, damp ground in a low-lying street and established gardens against walls all create the paths termites use, so we read the subfloor and perimeter particularly carefully.
Yes. We read the frame, the subfloor and the perimeter as the construction demands, and report what we find in plain terms.
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 Willagee? 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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