What we look for in Success, and why it differs from the suburb next door. 22.4 km from the CBD, 3.3 km from the coast, postcode 6164.
Success is named after HMS Success, which surveyed Cockburn Sound in 1827. The suburb was developed as masterplanned estates through the 1990s and 2000s on former rural land, and it now holds the Cockburn Gateway shopping centre with a railway station on either side of it.
That retail and transport concentration has produced two different housing types in one suburb. Detached 1990s and 2000s brick and tile across most of it, and higher density and mixed use closer to the centre and the stations.
Establish which you are buying. A detached house and an apartment or townhouse near the centre have almost nothing in common as inspections. In strata the common property, the membranes and the levy position matter as much as anything inside the lot.
On the detached stock, the oldest is now around thirty years and the newest much younger, so the era decides the list. At thirty years the first round of services arrives together, with hot water, roof fixings and shower waterproofing all due. Newer stock raises handover and defect liability questions instead. Different list entirely.
The ground is coastal plain sand, generally free draining, with some low and wet pockets near the wetlands. Estate slabs were built on cleared and filled ground, so site preparation is worth understanding where movement shows. Inland. Salt and delignification are a low priority.
Free draining sand keeps general pressure moderate, and the exceptions sit in the low wet pockets near the wetlands where moisture persists.
On the 1990s and 2000s stock the original barrier has reached or passed the end of its effective life. Every house should carry a durable notice recording what was installed, so find it and check the date before assuming the house is still protected.
Then look at what thirty years of landscaping has done to the perimeter. Raised beds against walls, mulch over weep holes, paving across the slab edge, alfresco areas and patios covering the junction we need to see. In the higher density stock near the centre, exposure shifts to ground floor courtyards and planters, and termite management is usually a scheme responsibility rather than an owner's.
On a detached slab built house both inspections cover the same perimeter and roof space. On a strata lot, one set of access arrangements through the manager saves genuine time. Either way, one attendance. That is the practical choice. Reported under AS 4349.1 and AS 4349.3.
The centre and the two stations keep generating higher density, so we do handover inspections on new apartments and townhouses, and the follow up before the builder's liability period expires.
On the established detached stock, thirty year old houses are now being renovated and extended, which brings staged inspections while work is open and condition records where building happens next door.
If you are looking at higher density near the stations, read the strata minutes before the contract. The scheme's spending record tells you what the next decade holds.
Success sits on the Spearwood dune system — residual yellow and grey sand over a Tamala Limestone core, with the rock often close to the surface. Limestone near the surface makes for stable footings and expensive excavation. Where the rock is shallow, older houses often sit directly on limestone footings, and those are the ones to look at for rising damp and salt damp at the base of the wall.
What that means in practice, on a house in Success:
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.
Hammond Park, Atwell, Aubin Grove, Cockburn Central and Banjup sit on the same ground as Success, 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.
Munster is 3.3 km away but sits on the Quindalup 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 Success 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 3.3 km from the water, Success sits inside the coastal-salt band, in postcode 6164, 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 Success →
Building and pest inspection in Success →
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.
Success is 3.3 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.
PERTH