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 Menora is usually one of two very different jobs: the structural reading of a solid but ageing mid-century home, or a build-quality check on a new house that has replaced one. The suburb's larger, leafy lots carry interwar Californian bungalows and 1950s and 60s brick homes, and increasingly those are being knocked down and rebuilt, so the building inspection to AS 4349.1 meets Menora at both ends of that cycle.
On the original homes, the structure is post-war masonry and it reads accordingly. The brick-and-tile houses of the 1950s and 60s sit on shallow period footings, and the walls are read for the cracking that movement produces, cosmetic shrinkage separated from genuine structural distress. The Californian bungalows, being solid masonry without a damp-proof course, draw ground moisture up, so rising damp is mapped with a moisture meter. Steel-framed windows of the era are read for rust and distortion, and the roof structure for sag and water entry, and the chemical delignification that turns up in the hardwood framing under old tiles.
The building inspection also reads what the era means beyond the structure. Homes of the 1950s and 60s sit squarely in the asbestos period, and while the inspection does not disturb or sample, it identifies and flags the suspect materials, in eaves and sheeting and behind the wet-area tiles, because for a buyer intending to renovate an original Menora home that map is essential before any wall comes down.
The larger lots bring additions, and additions bring junctions. Extensions and pools have been added to most original homes over the years, and each is read for how it was built, for the waterproofing of any retrofitted wet area, and for whether it was approved. Where the property is instead a recent rebuild, the inspection shifts wholly to build quality: waterproofing to AS 3740 and roof-space workmanship, articulation on the ground, and the finishing a fast build tends to rush.
The roof space takes the longest time on the older homes, read for framing condition and water entry, and for past repair and delignification under the ageing tiles.
Because it reports to AS 4349.1, the building inspection excludes timber pests, and on Menora's mature gardens and older timber the timber pest scope is worth adding in the same visit. The building inspection's value here is telling which Menora you are buying, an ageing but solid post-war home with real but knowable issues, or a new build whose questions are all about how well it was made.
We run the same inspection across the area, including nearby North Perth and Coolbinia.
MISSING: phone number · Book online → · Flat $440 inc GST, report within 24 hours.
A visual inspection to AS 4349.1 of the accessible parts of the property. On a 1950s or 60s home that means the shallow footings and wall cracking, the ageing roof structure and steel-framed windows, and any additions, reported as significant defects with the areas not safely accessed.
It identifies and flags suspect materials without disturbing them. Menora's 1950s and 60s homes sit in the peak asbestos era, with likely material in the eaves and sheeting, and behind wet-area tiles, and knowing where it is before you renovate is the point.
Yes. These solid-masonry bungalows were built without a damp-proof course, so we read the rising damp their walls draw up, along with the low-slung roof structure and original joinery. They read differently from later brick-veneer homes.
The whole focus shifts to build quality: wet-area waterproofing to AS 3740 and roof-space workmanship, along with articulation on the ground and the finishing a fast build rushes. A pre-handover look while the builder is liable is worth as much as a pre-purchase one.
It does. We read each addition for structure and for the waterproofing of any retrofitted wet area, note the pool and surrounds, and flag work that looks unapproved so it can be checked against council records.
Often. Fifty and sixty-year-old tiles 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 Menora, 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.
The emphasis changes. An original mid-century home is about asbestos, an ageing roof, damp and old services; a rebuild is about waterproofing and workmanship, and early movement. We tailor the read to which you are buying.
Yes. Whether ageing or newly built, a clear building report separates the significant structural issue from the cosmetic, and gives you a concrete basis to renegotiate.
Also available as a combined building and timber pest inspection in Menora — 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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