What we look for in Bickley, and why it differs from the suburb next door. 22.3 km from the CBD, 30.8 km from the coast, postcode 6076.
Bickley was never allowed to become a town. That was deliberate. Because of its proximity to water catchment country, settlement was not encouraged and no named townsite was ever formed. That deliberate limitation is why the place looks the way it does today, with around seven hundred people spread across the scarp at 384 metres.
Catchment rules outlast the policy that made them. They run with the land. Not with the owner. Land in or near a public drinking water catchment carries restrictions on what may be done with it, including effluent disposal and development intensity, and those need checking against a specific parcel rather than assumed.
At 384 metres this is among the higher ground in the metropolitan area. Elevation brings genuine slope. Retaining walls and cut and fill platforms. Stormwater that must be managed down and off a property rather than simply released onto the next one. On a steep site retaining is the expensive item, and access for plant to replace one is poor by definition.
Bickley Brook runs through, entering the Canning River, and brook side land is low and wet in a way the slopes above it are not. Where a block sits between those two conditions matters a great deal.
Properties here are unsewered. Septic or aerobic treatment systems, with bore or tank water. Those form part of what is being bought and none is covered by an inspection of the dwelling.
The forested scarp setting means serious bushfire exposure and long distances from services.
Forested scarp country carries high termite pressure permanently, and on holdings of this size the house sits within the bush rather than at its edge.
Bickley Brook adds moisture on the low ground, which is the one condition a colony cannot manage without. The combination of continuous habitat and a watercourse puts brook side properties at the higher end.
Aerobic and septic systems keep a patch of ground permanently damp near the house, and on sloping sites that moisture travels downhill rather than staying put.
Timber retaining, firewood stacked against walls, and sheds sitting directly on soil complete the picture. Subfloor and undercroft access on a steep block varies from generous to impossible, and we report which we managed.
Travel into the hills and the size of these properties make one combined attendance the only sensible arrangement. It also means one person assesses the slope, the drainage, the effluent system and the timber together. Reported under AS 4349.1 and AS 4349.3.
Check the catchment position for the specific parcel early. It governs what may be done with the land, it is not obvious from looking at it, and the information is public.
Buyers want the water supply and effluent system assessed as separate items, which on unsewered hills properties is sensible. Where building is permitted, staged inspections cover retaining and drainage while they are still visible.
Bickley Brook is the dividing line here. Ask which side of it a block sits on. Ask which side of it a block sits on, and how far above it. Those two answers shape the whole report.
Bickley sits on the laterite foothills of the Darling Scarp — lateritic gravel and clay over granite, with rock close to the surface and real slope. Slope is the defining feature. Cut and fill, split levels, and retaining walls are normal here rather than exceptional, and retaining is where the money goes wrong. Rock near the surface also means surface water runs rather than soaks.
What that means in practice, on a house in Bickley:
Landform is assigned from the suburb's position on the Swan Coastal Plain rather than from a site soil test. It tells you what to expect, not what you have. A site classification to AS 2870 is a different exercise and a different report.
Walliston, Carmel, Kalamunda, Lesmurdie and Gooseberry Hill sit on the same ground as Bickley, so the footing behaviour and the drainage problems tend to repeat across all of them. If you are comparing houses across those suburbs, you are largely comparing the same site conditions.
Orange Grove is 7.2 km away but sits on the Guildford Formation. That is the useful thing about this part of Perth: the ground can change inside a few kilometres, and with it what an inspection is looking for.
On site classification: any soil zone quoted for a suburb is indicative, inferred from geography rather than surveyed. A real AS 2870 classification comes from geotechnical work on your actual block and can differ from the one next door. We report what we observe; we do not read your soil class off a map.
The inspection is visual and non-invasive, over the readily accessible areas, reported to AS 4349.1. Our inspectors physically enter the roof space, as long as there is sufficient access. Report within 24 hours of the inspection.
MISSING: phone number · Book an inspection in Bickley →
Flat fee, the same in Bickley as anywhere: $440 inc. GST for a pre-purchase building inspection, or $616 inc. GST with the timber pest scope added in the same visit. Full price list →
Well inland at 30.8 km from the coast, out in Kalamunda, the inland setting changes what the fee buys in Bickley: footing and slab movement, drainage and the reactive soils of the South East belt come first, and coastal delignification is a lower priority away from the arterial corridors.
Pre-purchase building inspection in Bickley →
Building and pest inspection in Bickley →
Yes. Our inspectors physically enter and inspect the roof space, as long as there is sufficient access to do so safely. Where access is restricted, the report says so plainly rather than implying we saw more than we did.
At 30.8 km inland, Bickley carries lower coastal-salt exposure, so delignification is not the first thing we would expect. It remains possible near heavy arterial corridors or industrial emissions.
Within 24 hours of the inspection itself, not 24 hours from booking. On a pre-purchase or pre-settlement job that timing is the whole point, because your leverage disappears once you are committed.
We would rather you checked than took our word for it. These are the bodies that actually hold the records and set the rules:
Tell us about the property and what you need. We'll come back to you with a firm quote and a time.
PERTH