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 Balga reads a particular kind of stock. The suburb was substantially built by the State Housing Commission through the 1960s and 70s, so much of the older housing is standardised, project-built homes of that era, plainly and solidly made, and now largely in private hands where they have been renovated or redeveloped. The building inspection to AS 4349.1 reads that stock, and the newer development replacing it, each on its own terms.
The ex-state-housing homes are read for their era and type. They are typically brick or double brick on shallow footings, with tiled roofs now brittle and their sarking perished, and hardwood framing prone to the chemical delignification that softens old timber. Asbestos is a real factor, used widely in the materials of the era, in eaves, sheeting and wet-area substrates, so suspect materials are identified and flagged by age and appearance without being disturbed, which matters greatly to a buyer planning to renovate a plainly built older home.
Successive owners have improved these homes over decades, so a Balga house often carries additions and reconfigured wet areas, not all approved. Each is read for structure and waterproofing, and for whether it was approved, because unapproved and owner-built work passes to the buyer and is common in stock of this history.
Subdivision is the other half. The generous former blocks are prime development sites, so many inspections are of a newer duplex, triplex or grouped dwelling, read for build quality: wet-area waterproofing to AS 3740, roof-space workmanship, and the shared driveways and walls grouped title creates.
The roof space takes the longest time on the older homes, read for framing condition, water entry and delignification.
Because it reports to AS 4349.1, the building inspection excludes timber pests, and on the ageing timber and established gardens the timber pest scope is worth adding in the same visit. The building inspection's value here is reading that plainly built home honestly, its asbestos, its age and its owner-built history, and the newer development beside it on its own terms.
We run the same inspection across the area, including nearby Westminster and Girrawheen.
MISSING: phone number · Book online → · Flat $440 inc GST, report within 24 hours.
The standardised older stock and the newer development. We read the project-built 1960s and 70s homes, typically brick on shallow footings, for movement, an ageing roof and asbestos-era materials, and we read any newer duplex or grouped dwelling for build quality, reported to AS 4349.1 with the areas not safely accessed.
Yes. The materials of the era used asbestos widely, in eaves, sheeting and wet-area substrates, so we identify and flag suspect materials by age and appearance without disturbing them. For a buyer planning to renovate, knowing where it is matters greatly.
The layers of work. A Balga home often carries additions and reconfigured wet areas from successive owners, not all approved, so we read each for structure and waterproofing and flag whether it was approved, because unapproved and owner-built work passes to you at settlement.
Where an original home is bought to develop, we read the existing structure and the site for what matters to that plan rather than cosmetic wear, and we still flag asbestos, because it affects demolition.
Build quality and the shared elements: wet-area waterproofing to AS 3740, roof-space workmanship, and the shared driveways and walls grouped title creates.
Often. The tiled roofs of the era are brittle with perished sarking, and the hardwood framing can show chemical delignification. We read the roof structure closely and probe for it.
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.
In most of Balga, yes. The building inspection reports to AS 4349.1 and excludes pests, and the ageing timber and established gardens here suit termites, so the two scopes are usually done together.
For meaning, not by counting. We separate cosmetic shrinkage from structural movement and read it against the shallow footings and the ground.
Yes. A clear building report separates the significant issue, asbestos, or unapproved work, or an old roof, from the cosmetic, and gives you a concrete basis to renegotiate.
Also available as a combined building and timber pest inspection in Balga — 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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