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 Joondanna reads a character suburb on elevated ground. This small, tightly held pocket sits on one of the inner north's higher points, its interwar and post-war homes on blocks that fall away toward the surrounding suburbs, and the building inspection to AS 4349.1 reads that period stock while giving weight to the slope, retaining and drainage the elevation brings.
The character housing is the core. Joondanna's interwar and post-war homes are solid brick, and the older ones, built before a damp-proof course, draw ground moisture up their walls, so rising damp is assessed at the base of the walls and separated from the leaks and condensation it mimics. The tiled roofs of the era are read for brittleness and perished sarking, and the hardwood framing beneath for chemical delignification, and post-war materials bring asbestos in eaves and sheeting, identified and flagged.
The elevation is the distinctive factor. On the blocks that fall away from the ridge, retaining walls often hold the levels, and the building inspection reads them for bulging, drainage and whether they were built for the load, and follows the site drainage, because water moving down a sloping block undermines footings and feeds damp over time. Split levels and under-house areas, where a home steps down the slope, are read for how they were formed and drained.
Joondanna is tightly held and much improved, so additions and second storeys are common, read at the junction of old and new and for the load a second floor puts on original footings, and each is checked for whether it was approved, because unapproved building passes to the buyer.
The roof space takes the longest time, read for framing condition, water entry, past repair and delignification under the ageing tiles.
Because it reports to AS 4349.1, the building inspection excludes timber pests, and on Joondanna's mature gardens and older timber the timber pest scope is worth adding in the same visit. The building inspection's value here is reading the period home and the sloping block it sits on together.
We run the same inspection across the area, including nearby Coolbinia and Yokine.
MISSING: phone number · Book online → · Flat $440 inc GST, report within 24 hours.
The period stock and the slope. Joondanna's interwar and post-war homes are solid brick on elevated ground, so we read the rising damp of the older walls, the ageing roof, and the retaining and drainage the sloping blocks bring, reported to AS 4349.1 with the areas not safely accessed.
It can. On blocks that fall away from the ridge, retaining walls often hold the levels, which we read for bulging, drainage and whether they were built for the load, and we follow the site drainage, because water moving down a slope undermines footings and feeds damp over time.
In the stock built before a damp-proof course, yes. We assess how high it reaches at the base of the walls and separate rising damp from a leak or condensation, because each is fixed differently.
How it was formed and drained. Split levels and under-house areas are read for structure and drainage, because an under-house area on a slope gathers moisture and needs ventilation.
Because a second floor loads footings and walls sized for a single storey. We read the new structure for deflection and the original beneath for overloading, flag whether it looks engineered and approved, and note the extra drainage questions a second storey raises on a slope.
In the post-war stock, yes, in eaves and sheeting. We identify and flag suspect materials without disturbing them, which matters most if you plan to renovate.
Often. The tiled roofs of the era are brittle with perished sarking, and the hardwood framing can show chemical delignification, which reduces what it can carry. 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 Joondanna, yes. The building inspection reports to AS 4349.1 and excludes pests, and the mature gardens and older timber here suit termites, so the two scopes are usually done together.
Yes. A clear building report separates the significant issue, failing retaining or slope drainage, from the cosmetic, and gives you a concrete basis to renegotiate.
Also available as a combined building and timber pest inspection in Joondanna — 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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