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.
Cottesloe is old-money coastal Perth, and a pre-purchase building inspection here is really about reading age and masonry, because the suburb’s heart is a tight core of character homes from the 1890s to the 1930s. Buy one of those and you are buying solid brick built before cavity walls and damp-proof courses, close to the sea, so the building read turns on how that masonry has held up, and at Cottesloe prices what it finds is worth real money at the negotiating table.
The rising-damp read comes first on the old stock. Solid brick with no damp-proof course draws ground moisture up the wall, and near the coast the salt in that moisture crystallises in the brick and works away at the mortar and the face of the brickwork over the years. We read the base of the walls, the internal skirtings and the render for the tide-mark of damp and salt attack, because remedying it properly is expensive and belongs in your offer, not your first winter.
Above that we read the character fabric itself. Original roof structures, ceilings and cornices, timber floors over their subfloor, and the tuckpointing and render that give these homes their look all age, and a heritage listing can limit how freely you change them. A pre-purchase inspection tells you what the character home actually needs, so you know whether the price reflects a home that has been kept up or one that has been let go behind a charming front.
The other Cottesloe is the contemporary rebuild, the architect-designed home dropped where a tired bungalow used to stand. These bring the opposite read, modern flat and skillion roofs with box gutters, large areas of glazing, and rendered lightweight elements, all of which perform well when they are detailed right and leak when they are not. We read the waterproofing, the drainage and the junctions that a bold design lives or dies by.
A pre-purchase inspection gives you the building scope on its own, to AS 4349.1, with the defects that matter set out plainly and separated from the cosmetic. On a Cottesloe purchase, where the numbers are large and the homes are old, that reading is what lets you buy the character without buying a hidden bill. The report follows within 24 hours.
We run the same inspection across the area, including nearby Peppermint Grove and Claremont.
MISSING: phone number · Book online → · Flat $440 inc GST, report within 24 hours.
A building inspection to AS 4349.1 that reads the structure and fabric before you buy, which at Cottesloe usually means reading heritage masonry close to the sea.
No, it is the building scope only. If you want the timber pest check as well, the combined building and pest inspection covers both in one visit.
Because the character stock is solid brick with no damp-proof course, and near the coast the salt in ground moisture attacks the mortar and brick. We read the wall bases and skirtings for it, because the fix is costly.
It does not change the building read, but it can limit what you are allowed to change, so knowing the home's condition and its listing together helps you judge the true cost of ownership.
Those bring a different read: flat and skillion roofs, box gutters, large glazing and render, where the waterproofing and junction detailing decide whether a bold design performs.
Yes, and at Cottesloe prices it can matter a great deal. It sets out the defects that matter plainly, giving you a concrete basis to renegotiate or to proceed with confidence.
Not at all. It is simply a different read, where the value lies in knowing whether the masonry has been maintained or neglected behind an attractive front.
It draws up through undamp-coursed walls, crystallises as it dries, and breaks down the mortar and brick face over time. Left alone it worsens, so catching it before you buy is worthwhile.
Yes, where there is safe access. Subfloor ventilation, timber condition and any damp are part of the building read on the older Cottesloe homes.
Within 24 hours of the inspection, with photos and a clear read of what matters, so you can act before your offer conditions close.
Also available as a combined building and timber pest inspection in Cottesloe — 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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