What we look for in Carine, and why it differs from the suburb next door. 13.7 km from the CBD, 1.9 km from the coast, postcode 6020.
Carine is named after two swamps in the area, part of the wetland chain running from Herdsman through Gwelup and Karrinyup. It stayed largely undeveloped until the 1960s, when a high school, a caravan park and market gardens were the only features, and residential building ran progressively from 1975.
The build window is tight enough to be useful. Most of the suburb went up between 1975 and 1987, which puts the stock at roughly forty to fifty years old and moving from a first maintenance cycle toward a second.
What distinguishes Carine from its neighbours is height. A large proportion of houses were built double storey to take advantage of ocean views, and that broadens the inspection considerably. Upper floor structure. Stair construction. Any balcony waterproofing, which on a house of this age is frequently original. Roof geometry complicated enough to create junctions that leak, and safe roof access that needs arranging in advance rather than assumed on the day.
Elevation for those views also means slope on many blocks, so retaining and down slope drainage apply.
The wetlands are the ground story. Carine Regional Open Space sits within the suburb, and blocks near it carry a water table and drainage considerations. One local quirk is worth knowing. The final stage of Reid Highway in 2000 separated the southern three hundred metres, the oldest section, from the rest of the suburb. Catching the sea breeze at elevation, salt is moderate, so delignification is a fair check on original tiled roofs.
Two storey houses carry more timber in the structure than single storey ones, and more junctions where concealed damage can occur without showing. That is the practical difference here.
The wetland reserve supplies moisture on the blocks near it, and retained vegetation around the open space holds established colonies. Those two together put the reserve edge streets above the suburb average.
On stock of this age the original chemical barrier stopped working long ago and most have not been renewed. Forty and fifty years of garden has usually buried the slab edge under paving and beds. Where a two storey house has a balcony, deck or pergola, those add timber in contact with structure at levels a ground inspection does not reach, so access matters.
On a two storey house arranging safe roof and upper level access is the awkward part of any inspection, so doing it once for both assessments rather than twice is a genuine saving. Reported under AS 4349.1 and AS 4349.3.
On a double storey home, ask for roof access to be arranged before the day. Finding out on site that the roof cannot be safely reached leaves you with a partial view of the most expensive part of the building.
Forty year old stock is generating renovation and some rebuilding, which brings staged inspections while work is open and condition records where a new build goes up beside an established house on a sloping block.
Carine was built across a fairly tight window, roughly 1975 to 1987, and it carries a large share of double-storey homes put up to catch ocean views. That two-storey character matters for an inspection, because it brings upper-floor structure, stairs, balconies, and simply more roof and wall area to assess than a single-storey suburb, and that stock is now forty to fifty years old and reaching the age where those elements need real scrutiny. Balconies and the way upper-floor loads are carried are the sort of thing worth close attention on a home of this type and age.
The suburb is named for two swamps, and the Carine Regional Open Space wetland reserve sits within it, so blocks toward the wetlands carry a higher water table and drainage considerations, and the reserve edges bring termite pressure from adjoining vegetation. There is also a small older pocket to be aware of: when Reid Highway went through around 2000 it split off the oldest southern three hundred metres or so, separating a small pre-1970s pocket from the 70s-80s bulk, so establishing which part of Carine a house sits in is worth doing. Elevated for the views, the suburb has some slope and catches the sea breeze, so salt exposure is moderate and delignification is a genuine check on an older tiled roof rather than a first concern.
On a two-storey Carine home from the 70s-80s the inspection weights toward the things that era and that form throw up. Upper-floor balconies and their waterproofing are a priority, since membrane failure over a living space below is expensive and often hidden until it stains a ceiling. We check how the upper floor is framed and supported, look at the stair construction, and read the larger roof and wall area that a two-storey home presents. On blocks near the Carine wetland reserve the subfloor or slab edge is checked for the damp that a raised water table drives, and any tiled roof past its first decade gets a batten look given the suburb's moderate salt exposure.
None of it is guesswork. Reading the stock above into an inspection, these are the checks the Carine pattern pushes to the top of the list:
Carine sits on the Quindalup dune system — young calcareous sand, still mobile in places, and thin over the water table near the front. Sand this young has low bearing capacity but very little reactivity, so footing movement is uncommon and drainage problems are not. What the ground gives you here it takes back in the air.
What that means in practice, on a house in Carine:
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.
Marmion, Watermans Bay, North Beach and Karrinyup sit on the same ground as Carine, 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.
Duncraig is 2.3 km away but sits on the Spearwood dune system; Glengarry is 2.6 km away but sits on the Spearwood dune system. 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.
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Flat fee, the same in Carine 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 →
At 1.9 km from the water, Carine sits inside the coastal-salt band, in postcode 6020, the fee here is spent chasing salt. Chemical delignification in the tile battens, wall ties rusting inside the cavity, fixings going to lace where the sea air reaches them — on an older tiled roof the roof space is where most of the inspection time lands.
Pre-purchase building inspection in Carine →
Building and pest inspection in Carine →
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.
Carine is 1.9 km from the coast, inside the band where delignification should be expected in tile battens. On a tiled roof more than about ten years old it is one of the first things we look at.
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.
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