Step 2 - Building Your Team
Flexible team member - Building and Pest Inspectors
A building and pest inspector is a qualified professional who checks a property for structural issues, safety concerns, and pest infestations (like termites).
In particular, a building and pest inspector will provide you an independent report (usually within 24hrs) which will outline the results of the following inspections:
Building inspection:
Assess the structural integrity of the home (foundations, roof, walls, floors).
Identify defects (cracks, dampness, leaks, safety hazards, poor workmanship).
Highlight maintenance issues that may need attention.
Pest inspection:
Flag any signs of termites, borers, or other timber pests.
Identify past or current infestations and potential areas of risk.
We will discuss how to interpret building and pest reports later on in this website at Step 6, but I am mentioning them here as it is important that you reach out to building and pest inspectors who cover your suburb/s before you start putting offers on properties.
This is because sometimes you only have a few days or a day to schedule a building and pest inspection so you don't want to be wasting time searching for inspectors and introducing yourself. This will also give you the opportunity to see if any inspectors have particularly long-lead times currently which will allow you to plan ahead or use a different inspector with more capacity for urgent requests - so make sure you ask the question, how much notice do I need to give you and how long does it generally take you do produce reports - can you make exceptions in urgent circumstances?
Just give them a call before you start making offers, then send them a very casual email after to confirm what you talked about - nothing fancy.