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 Scarborough is defined by exposure. This is a beachfront suburb of high-rise and mid-rise apartments, older beach shacks and post-war homes, all taking the Indian Ocean weather head-on, and the building inspection to AS 4349.1 reads the salt-battered building envelope, whether an apartment facade or a cottage roof, as its first order of business.
For an apartment, the structural picture is the building envelope and the records. At the beachfront the building inspection reads the balcony and podium waterproofing and the facade and window systems that face wind-driven rain, and the salt corrosion that attacks fixings and exposed steel far faster than inland, and it reads the concrete for spalling, where rusting reinforcement forces the cover off, with a thermal camera and moisture meter. The strata records are part of that read, because a beachfront building's envelope-maintenance history can point to major, recurring cost that dwarfs the lot itself.
For the older houses, the structure is post-war brick and timber, often built cheaply for a harsh climate. The building inspection reads the salt-driven corrosion of any steel and the weathering of exposed timber and render, the movement of shallow footings, and the asbestos, brittle roofs and delignified framing of the era, the asbestos identified and flagged. Many are redevelopment sites, so where a shack is bought to replace, the inspection focuses on the site and any structure being retained.
The ground is limestone dune, so where a home is founded on or built of limestone, the footings are read for undermining and the base for salt attack near the ground, and any retaining on the dune slopes for its condition and drainage.
Because it reports to AS 4349.1, the building inspection excludes timber pests, and on the older houses and their watered gardens the timber pest scope is worth adding, while the apartments are lower risk on that front. The building inspection's value here is reading how the salt and the sea have treated the envelope, because on the Scarborough foreshore that is what determines the real condition.
We run the same inspection across the area, including nearby Doubleview and Wembley Downs.
MISSING: phone number · Book online → · Flat $440 inc GST, report within 24 hours.
A read of the lot and accessible common property, focused on the building envelope that takes a beating at the beachfront: balcony and podium waterproofing and facade and window systems under wind-driven rain, salt corrosion of fixings and steel, and concrete spalling, weighed against the strata records and the envelope's maintenance history.
Considerably. The foreshore salt air attacks fixings, railings and exposed steel far faster than inland, and it drives the concrete spalling we read on balconies and facades. On a beachfront building, corrosion is the first structural question.
These were often built cheaply for the climate. We read the salt-driven corrosion of any steel and the weathering of exposed timber and render, the movement of shallow footings, and the asbestos, brittle roofs and delignified framing of the era.
Many older Scarborough shacks are. Where one is bought to knock down, we focus on the site and any structure being retained, and we still flag asbestos, because it affects demolition.
Where a home is founded on or built of limestone, we read the footings for undermining and the base for salt attack near the ground, and any retaining on the dune slopes for condition and drainage.
Because the envelope drives the cost. A beachfront building's history of waterproofing, facade and corrosion repairs can point to major, recurring works, which matters far more to your decision than a mark in the lot.
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.
On the older houses, yes; the apartments are lower risk, being concrete and elevated. The building inspection reports to AS 4349.1 and excludes pests, so for a house the two scopes are usually done together.
We can inspect the lot and accessible common property, but at the beachfront the records are central, so we recommend obtaining them and tell you plainly what the physical inspection could and could not cover.
Yes. Whether it is a tower apartment or a beach cottage, a clear building report separates the significant issue from the cosmetic, and gives you a concrete basis to renegotiate.
Also available as a combined building and timber pest inspection in Scarborough — 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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