Pre Purchase Pest Inspection WA 2026 - Get Quotes

What the Inspection Actually Covers

A timber pest inspection looks for four things across the property, which are live termite activity, evidence of past activity and the damage it left, other timber pests such as borers, and wood decay fungi. On top of that the inspector records conducive conditions, meaning the things about the property that make future attack more likely. That last category is often the most useful part of the report for a buyer, because it describes what you would need to change after settlement. The termite inspection page covers what an ongoing inspection regime involves once you own the place. Reading that list against the property as you actually walked it is worth doing, because a buyer who has stood in the back garden will recognise the retaining wall or the mulch bed the inspector is describing.

Physically the inspector covers the interior of the dwelling, the exterior and the perimeter, the roof space where it is accessible, the subfloor on a suspended floor, the garden and fences within the boundary, and outbuildings such as sheds, garages and patios. Tapping timber, probing where it is safe to do so, moisture meter readings and a visual assessment of the slab edge or the subfloor are the core methods. Thermal imaging and radar style detection tools are used by some inspectors as aids. None of them see through timber, which is a point worth holding onto.

A timber pest inspection is not a building inspection and the two answer different questions. A building inspection assesses the structure, defects, safety issues and general condition, while a timber pest inspection assesses biological attack on timber. Neither substitutes for the other, and a report that finds no termites says nothing about the roof, the wiring or the footings. Most WA buyers order both together, and the building inspection page covers the structural side. The two reports also sit behind different qualifications and different professional indemnity cover, which is part of why a single merged document is a weaker product than two proper ones. Where the building side reports water entry at a shower or a leaking gutter line, the pest side almost always has something to say about the timber sitting near it.

Booking them as a combined inspection is usually the sensible approach. Many firms offer both, either with two inspectors attending together or one qualified in both disciplines, and the combined price is lower than booking separately because there is a single mobilisation. You should still receive two distinct reports at the end of it. Where a property raises structural concerns as well, the structural inspection page covers a more specialised assessment. Ask when you book whether one person or two will attend and what each is qualified in, since the answer tells you how much genuine pest expertise is in the price.

What the report gives you is a snapshot on the day, not a warranty about the future. Termites can be active in a property one month and not detectable the next, and an inspection that finds nothing is a statement about what was visible at that time and in those conditions. That is not a weakness in the process, it is the nature of a visual inspection on a concealed pest. It is also why ongoing annual inspections matter once you own the property.

Timing the inspection matters more than buyers expect. Booking it early in the conditional period gives room to obtain a second opinion, arrange an invasive inspection or get a treatment quote before the deadline arrives. Leaving it until the last few days means you are making decisions under time pressure with no options. In a fast moving Perth market this is one of the more common mistakes buyers make. Inspectors in Perth are frequently booked several days out during a busy spring, and a Monday call for a Tuesday inspection is not always something anyone can honour. Ringing on the day the offer is accepted, before the paperwork has even been distributed, costs nothing and preserves every option you have.

Termite Risk in Western Australia

Perth and much of the south west carry a genuinely high termite hazard, and the reason sits in the ground, not in the buildings. Sandy soils across the Swan Coastal Plain are easy for subterranean colonies to move through, so foraging tunnels can extend a long way from a nest that may be under a tree in a neighbouring street. Warm conditions for most of the year mean the foraging season barely pauses. Between them, that means proximity to a nest is not something a buyer can assess by looking at the block. Reticulation running through those sandy soils keeps moisture available in a way that suits foraging, particularly where a head sprays directly onto a wall or a garden bed sits permanently damp against the slab edge.

Two groups account for most of the structural damage in this state. Coptotermes acinaciformis is responsible for the majority of serious damage across Australia and is well established in Perth, nesting in tree stumps, root crowns and occasionally inside a building. Schedorhinotermes species are also common across the metropolitan area. Both are subterranean and both build mud leads to reach timber, which is one of the things an inspector is looking for around the slab edge and in the subfloor.

Construction type shapes where the risk sits without removing it. Perth's dominant double brick construction still has a timber roof structure above it, and roof framing is a common place for damage to be found precisely because nobody looks there. Slab on ground homes are entered at the slab edge or through penetrations, while suspended timber floors give access up the piers and through the subfloor. None of these constructions is immune and each simply presents differently to an inspector. Older Fremantle and inner Perth stock with suspended jarrah floors sits differently again, since the entry points are the piers and the bearers instead of a slab penetration. An inspector who works the suburb will usually tell you which of those patterns they see most often in the local housing stock.

Beyond termites, the inspection covers other timber pests that matter less often but still matter. Borers affect certain timbers, particularly older hardwood flooring and joinery, and wood decay fungi cause rot where timber has been persistently damp. In WA the decay issues usually trace back to a leaking shower, a poorly drained subfloor, a reticulation head spraying a wall or paving built up over the damp course. Those findings often overlap with what a building inspector reports, which is another argument for booking both. Persistent damp behind a wall can also produce rising damp symptoms that need separate assessment, and the rising damp assessment page covers what that involves.

Conducive conditions are the part of the report a buyer can act on most easily. Garden beds and mulch against the wall covering the slab edge, timber retaining walls and sleepers in contact with soil, stored timber against the house, poor subfloor ventilation, leaking taps and air conditioning condensate discharging beside a wall all appear regularly on WA reports. None of them mean termites are present, and all of them raise the odds. Most are inexpensive to correct after settlement.

Risk varies across the state in ways worth knowing. The older suburbs with mature trees, the river foreshore areas, the hills districts from Kalamunda through Mundaring and the south west around Bunbury and Busselton all see elevated pressure, while some coastal sand areas see somewhat less. Regional properties with outbuildings, woodpiles and surrounding bushland present differently again. An inspector who works your area will know what typically turns up in those streets. Newer estates on the urban fringe are not exempt either, since clearing and landfilling a site does not remove nests from the surrounding area and the timber roof structure goes up the same way it always has.

Access Limits and Invasive Options

The single most important thing to read in any pest report is the section on accessibility, because it defines the value of everything else in the document. A standard inspection is visual and non invasive, which means the inspector reports on what could be seen without cutting, lifting or dismantling. Areas that could not be reached are recorded as inaccessible, and those areas are precisely where problems hide. A report full of inaccessible areas is telling you something important, and it is not reassurance. A thorough inspector will also say what they would have needed in order to reach an area, which turns a limitation into something you can act on instead of a disclaimer you can only accept. That single section is the difference between a report that covered the building and one that covered whatever happened to be visible from a ladder.

Roof spaces are the most common limitation in Perth. A manhole painted shut, insulation that fills the cavity, a roof pitch too low to crawl through, ducting or stored goods blocking the way, or a brittle ceiling that cannot be traversed all restrict what can be checked. Roof framing is also where a great deal of WA termite damage is found, which makes the limitation consequential. Asking the seller or agent to clear the manhole access before the inspection is a reasonable request.

Subfloors present the same issue on suspended timber floors. Low clearance, stored items, blocked vents or standing water can all stop an inspector getting under the house, and on older Perth and Fremantle homes with limited crawl space this is common. Where the subfloor cannot be inspected, the report will say so, and that gap matters because the subfloor is where entry typically occurs. Improving subfloor ventilation is a separate but related issue the report may also raise. Standing water under a floor points at a drainage problem as much as a pest one, and the drainage page covers how those are usually corrected.

Inside the dwelling, furniture, stored goods, floor coverings and wall linings all limit what is visible. A tenanted property packed with belongings gives a far less useful inspection than an empty one, and buyers inspecting an occupied home should understand that going in. Asking for wardrobes to be cleared is usually unrealistic, but asking for access to the manhole and the meter box is not. The inspector will note what was obstructed. Where the home is tenanted, the agent needs notice to arrange entry under the residential tenancy rules, so allow for that, because access cannot always be organised overnight. A vacant property inspected before the furniture arrives is the best version of this process a buyer will ever get.

An invasive inspection is the answer where something suspicious has been found and certainty is needed. It involves opening up specific areas, such as lifting a small section of flooring, removing a skirting board or drilling a discreet hole into a wall cavity, to establish what is behind the surface. It requires the seller's written permission because it involves minor damage to a property you do not own yet. Costs run $450 to $900 and it is money well spent when a standard report flags something it could not resolve.

Thermal imaging and detection instruments deserve a realistic description. Thermal cameras, commonly FLIR units, show temperature differences behind surfaces, which can indicate moisture or an active termite nest generating heat, while moisture meters such as Tramex and Protimeter indicate elevated readings in timber or linings, and microwave detection units like Termatrac register movement inside a wall cavity. Neither sees termites and neither proves their presence or absence. They are useful tools in the hands of an experienced inspector and they are oversold when presented as a guarantee. Treat them as an aid that narrows where to look more closely.

Fitting It Into Your Contract

Western Australian residential property purchases typically run on the standard offer and acceptance contract used by the industry, with conditions added by annexure. A timber pest inspection condition is one of the common ones, alongside finance and structural inspection conditions, and it gives the buyer a defined period to obtain a report and to act on it. The precise wording determines what you can do with an adverse finding, which is why reading the actual words matters so much. Your settlement agent or solicitor is the right person to explain the specific clause in your contract. The Western Australian legislation site publishes the property and sale of land statutes that sit behind those contracts if you want the underlying law instead of a summary. Most buyers never need to read it, but knowing where the rules actually live is useful when an agent describes something as standard.

Timeframes are short and they run from acceptance, not from when you get around to it. Conditional periods are frequently seven to fourteen days, which sounds generous until you need to book an inspector, receive the report, obtain a treatment quote and make a decision within it. Booking the inspection immediately after acceptance is the practical response. In a competitive market, some buyers arrange the inspector before making an offer so they can move the moment it is accepted.

What the condition entitles you to do varies with the wording and this is where buyers get caught. Some clauses allow withdrawal where the report is not satisfactory to the buyer, others require the issue to exceed a specified value, and others require the buyer to give the seller an opportunity to rectify. A clause requiring a reasonable basis is different from one giving absolute discretion. Ask your settlement agent what your clause actually permits before you rely on it. Some annexures also cap what the buyer can claim or require the estimate to come from a licensed operator, which turns the choice of who writes the quote into a contractual matter.

Notice requirements are strict and missing them can waive your rights entirely. Most conditions require written notice within the period, delivered in a specified manner, and a condition not exercised in time is generally treated as satisfied. That means the contract proceeds regardless of what the report said. Diarising the deadline the day the contract is accepted is the simplest protection available.

Buying at auction changes the position substantially, since auction sales in Western Australia are typically unconditional. That means the inspection needs to happen before the auction rather than after, at your own cost and with no certainty you will be the successful bidder. Buyers sometimes decide the inspection fee is worth risking on a property they genuinely want. It is a legitimate calculation, but it should be a conscious one. Some sellers will allow a pre auction inspection and some will not, and the answer to that question tells you something about the property before you have spent a dollar. Set a walk away number before the day, because bidding is not the moment to reconsider what the report said.

Strata purchases have their own considerations worth raising early. The inspection covers the lot, but roof spaces and subfloors may be common property with restricted access, and the strata company records may disclose past termite treatment or barrier installation across the scheme. Requesting those records alongside the inspection gives a fuller picture than the report alone. Where common property is affected, remediation is a strata matter and not an individual owner's responsibility. The Western Australian Government site is the starting point for strata titles information if you want to understand how those responsibilities are divided before you make an offer.

Reading the Report Properly

Start with the summary but do not stop there. A good report opens with a summary of findings and a risk assessment, then works through each area with observations, photographs and recommendations. The summary tells you whether anything significant was found, while the detail tells you where and how serious it is. Reports written to a recognised standard follow a consistent structure, which makes comparing two reports on different properties considerably easier.

The distinction between active termites, evidence of past activity and damage is fundamental and often misunderstood. Live activity means termites were present on the day. Evidence of previous activity means workings were found without live insects, which may mean an old treated infestation or a colony that has moved. Damage describes what has been eaten regardless of whether anything is currently active. A property can have significant damage with no live termites, and that damage still needs assessing and repairing.

Recommendations in a pest report usually fall into three groups. Immediate action where activity was found, further investigation where something could not be resolved visually, and maintenance recommendations addressing conducive conditions. The middle category is the one buyers most often ignore and the one most worth acting on, because further investigation recommended means the inspector saw something they could not conclude on. Treating that as a clean result is a misreading. An inspector writing further investigation recommended is protecting you rather than covering themselves, and the sentence is worth reading twice. It usually points at a specific wall, a specific section of skirting or a particular part of the roof space, and asking which one costs you a phone call.

Check the meter box question in the report, because it is specific to this state's building practice and to termite management generally. Where a termite management system has been installed, a durable notice should be fixed in a prominent location recording the system, the date, the installer and the recommended inspection interval. That notice tells you what protects the building and when it was last addressed. A notice naming a system such as Sentricon, Exterra, Kordon or Homeguard with a recent date on it tells you the property has been actively managed, and a property with a current barrier and documented annual inspections is in a materially different position from one with neither.

Ask the inspector to walk you through the report by phone if anything is unclear. Most are happy to do so and the conversation frequently adds context that the written document cannot, such as how serious they consider a finding relative to what they see routinely. Fifteen minutes on the phone is often worth more than rereading the report a third time. It also lets you ask what they would do if it were their purchase. Take notes during that call and keep them with the report, because six months later the detail that mattered will have blurred into a general impression. If the inspector is reluctant to spend fifteen minutes on the phone about a report you paid for, that is worth remembering the next time you book one.

Keep the report somewhere you will find it after settlement. It becomes the baseline against which future inspections are compared, it records the conducive conditions you intended to fix, and it supports any later conversation with a treatment provider. Where the report recommended a barrier or annual inspections, acting on that in the first year is far easier than trying to reconstruct the advice later. The termite inspection and treatment page covers the protective options. Where the conducive conditions involved guttering discharging against a wall, the gutter cleaning page covers the routine maintenance side of that. The first twelve months after settlement is when those small corrections are easiest, since nothing has been landscaped over yet.

What to Do With an Adverse Finding

An adverse finding is not automatically a reason to walk away, and treating it as one costs buyers good properties. Active termites in a garden fence are a different matter from active termites in the roof structure, and significant historical damage that has been properly repaired is different again from damage that was never addressed. The first step is understanding the severity, which usually means going back to the inspector before reacting to the word termite. Context changes the decision entirely.

Getting a treatment quote is the natural next step where activity was found. A licensed technician can price the treatment and any barrier work, which converts a vague concern into a number you can negotiate with. The termite treatment page covers the methods used, and the pest control page covers the broader picture. Having an actual figure is far more persuasive in a negotiation than a general worry. Prices vary meaningfully between operators for the same scope, so two or three quotes on the same report is the sensible approach.

Where structural damage is suspected, a builder or structural assessment establishes the repair cost. Damaged roof framing, wall studs or flooring need someone competent to assess what must be replaced and what can remain, and that figure is often larger than the treatment cost. The builders page covers finding someone to price that work. Obtaining the repair figure before the conditional period expires is the challenge, which is another reason to book the inspection early. Replacing damaged roof framing members or wall studs is carpentry work rather than general repair rather than something a general handyman should be quoting on. On a pre 1990 house, opening up a ceiling or a wall may also require asbestos testing first, which the asbestos testing page explains.

Renegotiation is the most common outcome and it is a normal part of WA property transactions. Buyers typically seek a price reduction reflecting the treatment and repair cost, ask the seller to carry out the work before settlement, or request a retention. Which of these is available depends on your contract wording and on the seller's position. Presenting the inspector's report and a written quote is considerably more effective than an unsupported request.

Where a seller declines and the damage is significant, withdrawing under the condition may be the right call. That depends entirely on what your clause permits, and it is the point at which your settlement agent or solicitor earns their fee. Acting within the notice period and in the required form is essential, because a right not exercised properly is usually lost. Do not rely on a verbal conversation with the agent. Send the notice in the form the clause requires and keep proof of when it was sent, because a dispute about timing is decided on the record and not on recollection.

Proceeding with knowledge is also a legitimate choice and many buyers make it. Where the treatment and repairs are quantified and priced into the purchase, buying a property with a manageable termite history is a rational decision, not a reckless one. What is not rational is proceeding without quantifying it, on the assumption that it will probably be fine. The whole point of the inspection is to replace assumption with information.

Choosing an Inspector

Independence is the first thing to establish. An inspector recommended by the selling agent has an obvious conflict, and while many are perfectly competent, the buyer should be choosing someone accountable to them and not to the transaction. Booking your own inspector, whom you have engaged and paid directly, removes the question entirely. The report belongs to whoever commissioned it, which also matters if you later need to rely on it. It is also worth asking directly whether the inspector has previously worked for the selling agency, since the answer is usually given honestly when the question is asked plainly.

Licensing and qualifications are worth confirming, since assumption is doing a lot of work otherwise. Pest management technicians in Western Australia operate under licensing administered by the Department of Health, and a timber pest inspector should hold appropriate qualifications for inspection work specifically. Ask what licence and qualifications they hold and how long they have been inspecting in your area. Local experience genuinely matters given how much termite pressure varies between suburbs. Consumer protection matters connected with the transaction itself sit with the ACCC at the national level and with the state consumer protection agency, and knowing which body handles what saves time if something goes wrong later.

Professional indemnity insurance is the question most buyers never ask and probably should. An inspector who misses something material may be liable, and that only helps if they carry insurance. Ask whether they hold professional indemnity cover and for how much. Any established inspection business answers this without hesitation, and reluctance is informative.

Ask what the report will actually contain before booking. A report with photographs, a clear risk assessment, specific locations and plain language recommendations is considerably more useful than a tick box document with generic disclaimers. Request a sample report, which most firms provide on request, and check whether it states the inspection was carried out to AS 4349.3, the Australian Standard covering timber pest inspections of residential buildings. The quality of the sample tells you a great deal about what you will receive. Ask specifically whether photographs are captioned and located, because a page of unlabelled images of dark roof timbers helps nobody.

Turnaround time and availability matter given the timeframes involved. Ask when they can attend, when the report will be delivered and whether they will discuss it by phone afterwards. Same day or next day reporting is common and worth confirming when you book. Some firms charge a surcharge for urgent turnaround, which is reasonable but should be disclosed upfront. Confirm the delivery format as well, since a report emailed as a proper document is easier to send to a treatment provider or a builder than a set of phone photographs. Ask what happens if the inspector cannot attend on the agreed day, because a single missed appointment inside a ten day conditional period is a real problem.

Be cautious about price being the deciding factor on this particular purchase. The difference between the cheapest and the most thorough inspector is typically a couple of hundred dollars against a property purchase measured in hundreds of thousands, and the cheapest quote sometimes reflects a fifteen minute visit and a template report. Ask how long they expect to spend on site. Ninety minutes to two hours is a reasonable expectation for a standard house.

Costs in Detail

A timber pest inspection alone runs $280 to $550 across the Perth metropolitan area for a standard house. The spread reflects property size, the number of outbuildings, construction type and how much access there is to inspect. Strata units and apartments sit lower at $250 to $480 because the area covered is smaller. Larger homes and rural properties with multiple structures run $550 to $1,100. Properties with extensive timber decking, pergolas, retaining walls or a large garden add inspection time and sometimes sit above the standard rate.

A combined building and pest inspection is the more common booking and runs $500 to $950. That is meaningfully less than booking the two separately because one mobilisation covers both, and for most buyers it is the sensible package. Confirm that you receive two distinct reports rather than a single merged document with a brief pest paragraph. That distinction occasionally separates a genuine combined inspection from a building inspection with an add on. Check whether the quoted price is for an inspection conducted to a recognised Australian Standard, since Standards Australia publishes the inspection standards that reputable firms work to. A firm that cannot name the standard it works to is not necessarily poor, but it is a reasonable thing to ask before you commit.

An invasive inspection runs $450 to $900 and is ordered where a standard report has flagged something it could not resolve. It requires the seller's written permission since it involves minor damage, and the inspector will usually make good the areas opened. Thermal imaging as an add on runs $120 to $300, and moisture meter work is normally included as standard. Ask what is included before assuming any of these are extras.

Urgent turnaround surcharges of $80 to $200 apply with some firms where an inspection is needed within a day or two. This is the avoidable cost, since booking promptly after acceptance removes the need for it. A re-inspection after treatment, which is sometimes required before settlement where the seller has agreed to rectify, runs $180 to $380. Factor that into any agreement where the seller is carrying out work. Where the seller agrees to rectify before settlement, put the re-inspection requirement into the agreement instead of leaving it as an understanding.

Regional Western Australia adds travel to all of the above. Inspectors based in Bunbury, Busselton, Albany, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie and the Pilbara service their own areas at broadly comparable rates, while a metropolitan inspector travelling out charges accordingly. In remote areas the choice of inspector may be limited, which makes booking early more important than it is in the city. Ask about availability before you commit to a short conditional period. Travel charges are usually disclosed as a separate line rather than buried in the fee, and asking for the breakdown avoids surprises. In parts of the Wheatbelt and the Goldfields, the practical constraint is the inspector's schedule more than the cost.

Put against the numbers involved in a property purchase, the fee is trivial and the downside of skipping it is not. Termite repair bills on a significantly damaged house run into tens of thousands, that damage is excluded from home insurance, and it becomes entirely your problem the moment settlement occurs. Viewed as a proportion of a Perth median house price, the inspection is a fraction of a percent. Very few decisions in the purchase process have that risk to cost ratio.

What to Look Out For

Be cautious of using an inspector recommended by the selling agent. The conflict is obvious even where the individual is entirely competent, and the report should be commissioned by you so that it belongs to you and the inspector is accountable to you. Choosing independently costs nothing and removes the question. This is one of the simplest protections available in the whole process. Paying your own invoice also means the report is yours to send to a builder, a treatment provider or your settlement agent without asking anyone's permission.

Watch the accessibility section instead of skimming to the summary. A report describing large inaccessible areas in the roof space or subfloor is not a clean result, it is an incomplete picture of the places where problems typically occur. Where significant areas could not be inspected, consider asking for access to be arranged and a return visit, or an invasive inspection. Treating an inaccessible area as though it were clear is the most common misreading of these reports. Where the roof space genuinely cannot be entered, ask whether a return visit after the manhole is cleared is possible and what it would cost. That second visit is far cheaper than discovering the reason for the limitation after settlement.

Be careful with any report that recommends further investigation and then gets treated as a pass. That phrase means the inspector saw something they could not conclude on visually, and it is a prompt to do something. Ask what they saw and what would resolve it. Following that up is precisely what the conditional period exists for.

Check the timeframes in your contract the day it is accepted. Notice requirements are strict, conditions not exercised in time are generally treated as satisfied, and a right lost through a missed deadline cannot usually be recovered. Diarise the date, book the inspection immediately and speak to your settlement agent about what the clause permits. Time pressure is where most buyers lose their options. Put the deadline in a calendar with a reminder several days ahead of it rather than on the day itself, since the day itself is too late to arrange anything.

One last thing: be wary of technology presented as a guarantee. Thermal imaging and detection instruments are genuinely useful in experienced hands, but nothing available to an inspector sees through timber or proves that a property is free of termites. An inspector who describes their tools honestly as aids is more trustworthy than one who implies certainty. Certainty is not available in a visual inspection and claiming otherwise is a warning sign. A good inspector will tell you plainly what they could not see and what they are uncertain about, and that candour is the single most useful quality in the trade. Certainty sells well and it is not what a visual inspection is capable of delivering.

How to Get Comparable Quotes

Gather the details before you ring. The address, the property type and approximate age, single or double storey, construction type if you know it, whether there is a subfloor, how many outbuildings there are, whether the property is occupied or vacant, and your conditional period deadline. Inspectors quoting from that information price the actual job and can tell you immediately whether they can meet your timeframe. Have the conditional period end date in front of you when you ring, because the first question a good inspector asks is when the report is needed.

Then ask every inspector the same questions. Licence and qualifications, professional indemnity insurance and the amount, whether the inspection follows a recognised standard, what the report includes and whether a sample is available, how long they expect to be on site, when the report will be delivered, whether they will discuss it by phone, whether thermal imaging or moisture metering is included or extra, and what an invasive inspection would cost if it becomes necessary. Write the answers down as you go, since three quotes taken by phone over two days blur together quickly. The point is not to catch anyone out but to compare like with like, which is impossible if each conversation covered different ground.

Book a combined building and pest inspection unless you have a specific reason not to. The two answer different questions, most WA buyers need both, and the combined price is lower than booking separately. Confirm you will receive two separate reports. Where the property has particular features such as a pool, a large shed or a retaining wall, mention them so the scope is clear. Minor repairs flagged by either report are often handyman scale rather than trade scale and the handyman services page covers that work, while replacing framing members is carpentry and should be quoted as such.

Arrange access properly before the inspection. Ask the agent to ensure the manhole is accessible and unobstructed, that the subfloor access is clear, that outbuildings are unlocked and that any pets are secured. An inspector who cannot get into the roof space produces a far less useful report, and the request is entirely reasonable. Doing this a few days ahead avoids discovering the problem on the day. Where a plumbing leak is suspected as the source of damp timber, arranging a plumber to confirm it before settlement is worth considering. Roof leaks are a common companion finding, and the roof repairs page covers that side.

Act on the report quickly once it arrives. Read it fully including the limitations, ring the inspector with any questions, obtain treatment or repair quotes if anything was found, and speak to your settlement agent about your options well before the deadline. A report that sits unread until the final afternoon of the conditional period has wasted most of its value. The inspection buys you information and time, and the time is only useful if you use it. Information you do not act on inside the conditional period is information you paid for and then gave away.