Independent inspection to AS 4349.1 by a registered building contractor. What you are buying, read by someone who has built. Report within 24 hours.
A pre-purchase building inspection in Ashfield begins with the ground. This modest suburb sits low on the Swan beside the Ashfield Flats wetland, and low ground by a river and wetland brings reactive soils, a high water table and, on the lowest blocks, a real flood consideration. The building inspection to AS 4349.1 reads that floodplain ground as the first and largest factor.
The floodplain defines the work. The alluvial soils tend to be reactive clay with a high water table, a difficult footing combination, because reactive clay swells and shrinks with moisture and drives the differential movement that cracks walls, while a high water table pushes damp up into subfloors and slabs. On the lowest, wetland-edge blocks the building inspection also reads for inundation: it notes the finished floor level relative to the surrounds and looks for tide marks and past water damage in subfloors and lower walls, and it reads the drainage, so a buyer understands where the property sits, though a formal flood level is a matter for the local authority's mapping.
The subfloor takes particular weight, read hard for standing moisture, ventilation and evidence of past inundation on this low, damp ground.
The housing is modest and mixed, read for its era: post-war and later homes on shallow footings, brittle tiled roofs and delignified framing, and asbestos in the eaves and sheeting of the post-war stock, identified and flagged. Renovation runs through it, so additions and reconfigured wet areas are each read for structure and waterproofing, and for whether they were approved.
Because it reports to AS 4349.1, the building inspection excludes timber pests, and on Ashfield's damp, wetland-edge ground the timber pest scope is well worth adding, because the moisture and high water table create strong conducive conditions. The building inspection's value here is reading the flood-liable, reactive ground and the damp it drives as the first order of business.
We run the same inspection across the area, including nearby Bassendean and Bayswater.
MISSING: phone number · Book online → · Flat $440 inc GST, report within 24 hours.
Because it sits low on the Swan beside the Ashfield Flats wetland, so the ground is the largest factor. Low ground by a river and wetland tends to be reactive clay with a high water table, and on the lowest blocks flooding is a real consideration. We read the ground, the finished floor level and the drainage with that in mind, reported to AS 4349.1 with the areas not safely accessed.
On the lowest, wetland-edge blocks it can be. We note the finished floor level relative to the surrounds, look for tide marks and past water damage in subfloors and lower walls, and read the drainage, though a formal flood level is a matter for the local authority's mapping.
Reactive alluvial clay swells and shrinks with moisture and drives the differential movement that cracks walls, and a high water table pushes damp up into subfloors and slabs. We read the floor levels and crack patterns, the subfloor and the drainage, with the ground in mind.
Yes. On Ashfield's low, damp ground the subfloor is where the water table and any past inundation show, so we read it hard for standing moisture and ventilation, and evidence of water having been there.
It identifies and flags suspect materials without disturbing them. The post-war Ashfield stock can contain asbestos in eaves and sheeting, and knowing where it is before you renovate is the point.
With the ground in mind. On reactive alluvial clay we expect some seasonal movement, so we separate that from structural distress and read it against the footings and the high water table.
A flat $440 including GST for the pre-purchase building inspection, or $616 including GST with the timber pest scope added in the same visit. The fee is the same in every suburb, and you have the report within 24 hours.
On Ashfield's damp, wetland-edge ground, yes. The building inspection reports to AS 4349.1 and excludes pests, and the moisture and high water table create strong conducive conditions for termites, so the two scopes are well worth doing together.
It is a factor to understand, not necessarily a reason to walk away. We help you see where the property sits, how it has coped with damp and water, and what that means, so you can make an informed decision.
Yes. A clear building report separates the significant issue, reactive-clay movement or subfloor damp, from the cosmetic, and gives you a concrete basis to renegotiate.
Also available as a combined building and timber pest inspection in Ashfield — both scopes in one visit to AS 4349.1 and AS 4349.3, one report within 24 hours.
Combined B&P 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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