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 Kinross keeps the ground in view. This 1990s and 2000s estate is built on the deep sand of the coastal plain, which is, in most ways, good ground to build on, stable and largely free of the reactive-clay movement that troubles homes further inland. But sand has one particular weakness, and the building inspection to AS 4349.1 reads a Kinross home with it in mind.
The sand foundation is the distinctive factor. Deep, uniform sand does not swell and shrink with moisture the way clay does, so Kinross homes are generally spared the seasonal heave-and-settle cracking of reactive sites. What sand does do, though, is wash away: a plumbing leak, a downpipe discharging against the footings, or poor site drainage can erode sand out from under a slab edge or footing, leaving it unsupported and letting that part of the home settle. So the building inspection reads the slab edge and any settlement in that light, and pays close attention to where water is being directed, because on sand the danger is not the ground moving of its own accord but water carrying it away.
The construction is read for its era. Kinross's homes are a timber frame behind a single brick skin on a concrete slab, read through the roof space for movement and moisture, at the wall ties and weep holes, and at the roof plumbing of a volume build. Asbestos is largely absent in stock of this era, and where a home is newer a builder's warranty may still apply.
Site drainage takes particular attention, because on sand it is the discharge of water, from downpipes, soakwells and paving, that most often undermines a footing.
Because it reports to AS 4349.1, the building inspection excludes timber pests, which matter here because subterranean termites move readily through sandy soils, so the timber pest scope is worth adding. The building inspection's value here is reading how water moves around a home, because on this ground it is washed-out sand, not reactive clay, that undermines a footing.
We run the same inspection across the area, including nearby Currambine and Burns Beach.
MISSING: phone number · Book online → · Flat $440 inc GST, report within 24 hours.
Its ground. Kinross is built on the deep sand of the coastal plain, which is good ground in most ways, stable and free of reactive-clay movement, but it has one particular weakness we keep in view: sand washes away. Reported to AS 4349.1 with the areas not safely accessed.
Mostly good. Deep, uniform sand does not swell and shrink with moisture the way clay does, so Kinross homes are generally spared the seasonal heave-and-settle cracking that troubles reactive sites further inland.
That water can wash it out. A plumbing leak, a downpipe discharging against the footings, or poor drainage can erode sand from under a slab edge or footing, leaving it unsupported and letting that part of the home settle. We read the slab edge and any settlement in that light.
Because on sand the danger is not the ground moving of its own accord but water carrying it away. So we pay close attention to where water is being directed, from downpipes, soakwells and paving, since that discharge is what most often undermines a footing.
For its era: a timber frame behind a single brick skin on a slab, read through the roof space for movement and moisture, at the wall ties and weep holes, and at the roof plumbing of a volume build.
It identifies and flags any suspect materials without disturbing them, though asbestos is largely absent in stock of this era, so it is not the concern it is in older stock.
Some of the newer ones may be. Where a home is newer we note that a builder's statutory warranty may still apply, worth understanding when timing an inspection.
Yes. The building inspection reports to AS 4349.1 and excludes pests, and subterranean termites move readily through sandy soils, so the two scopes are worth doing together.
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.
Yes. A clear building report separates the significant issue, a footing undermined by water or a drainage fault, from the cosmetic, and gives you a concrete basis to renegotiate.
Also available as a combined building and timber pest inspection in Kinross — 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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