Guides

Written from the regulator's own material, read rather than recalled, and cited so you can check us.

These are the questions buyers, sellers and owners actually ask us, answered from the Building and Energy industry bulletins and the Australian Standards rather than from general advice written for another state. Each guide cites what it draws on, so you can check the source yourself. Where a rule turns on a date — and several of the most important do — the guide gives you the date and tells you which side of it your house sits on.

They fall into three groups. Compliance at sale and transfer: smoke alarms, RCDs, and the obligations that catch sellers out. Defects and how they are read: ceilings that fail, roof tie-downs, chemical delignification, and wet areas. Termites: the management standards and the inspection zone most Perth houses build over. Start anywhere — each one links to the ones next to it.

Guides

Selling a house in WA? Your battery smoke alarms probably aren't legal

Do your smoke alarms have to be interconnected in WA?

Short-stay smoke alarm rules changed

Perth ceilings that fall down on their own

The 25mm gap that decides whether your termite barrier works

Metal roofs act like a wing. Tie-downs are what stop them leaving.

Wet areas are the most commonly failed part of a new build

A pool is the most common reason a Perth settlement gets held up

The little grille in the brickwork is doing a job

The name on the sign may not be the business building your house

Your builder has to build the house that was approved

How many houses is your builder running at once?

Building in a bushfire-prone area: what a BAL rating costs you

Buying a house backing onto bush: what to know first

Damage: one of six defect types in AS 4349.1

Distortion: the defect type most likely to be structural

Water penetration: the root of the defect family tree

Material deterioration: the defect Perth's coast accelerates

Operational: mostly minor, occasionally a warning

Installation: missing tie-downs, missing ant caps, off-plan work

Reactive-clay footing movement

Fixing footing movement: underpinning, trades and standards

Concrete spalling: when the steel inside rusts

Fixing concrete spalling: trades, methods and AS 3600

Structural timber decay: a moisture problem in a timber costume

Fixing timber decay: stop the water, then the wood

Combustible cladding: is it on the building you're buying into?

Wind classification: a structural defect hiding on a form

Home indemnity insurance: your protection if the builder fails

Hot water scald control: 50 degrees, and why it's stored hotter

Floor wastes: the fall that decides whether a bathroom leaks

Balcony waterproofing: the membrane over your living room

Ventilation, condensation and mould: the moisture a house can't get rid of

7-star NatHERS and Whole-of-Home: the new energy rule for WA homes

Lead-free plumbing: what's changing in your drinking water fittings

Building permits in WA: BA1, BA2, and when you need one

Notice of Completion: the BA7 that closes out a build

Building levies: the value of work, and the 2026 threshold change

Buying strata in WA: the 2020 reforms and your information rights

Sewer connection and drainage: where your responsibility runs to

Owner-builder rules: what you take on when you're the builder

Drainage plumbing diagram: the map of your underground drains

Roof penetration flashing: where sealant fails and formed flashing works

Roof batten connections: the critical fixing that holds your roof on

Fire separation of roofed outdoor areas: the rule your patio may trigger

Coastal corrosion: why fasteners fail before the roof they hold

Retaining walls: WA's 500mm rule catches more than owners expect

What a building inspection covers under AS 4349.1

Termite barriers for new builds under AS 3660.1

Dilapidation reports: your baseline before the works next door

Why we write these