Anthony Bartzis: building and pest industry secrets revealed

Our guest for ep 07 is Anthony Bartzis, founder of Southern Cross Building Inspections and a qualified architect, builder and property developer.

In this ep, we unpack what’s actually covered in a building and pest inspection, what gets missed and why first home buyers need to be asking more questions.

We talk about how long a building and pest inspection takes and what it includes, the big red flags buyers overlook and smart advice for first home buyers before making their first big move.

Whether you're buying your first home or your tenth, this is a must listen for anyone serious about property.

Transcript

Welcome to the Raising the Bar podcast, where we story tell excellence in Queensland Property. I'm your host, George Sourris from Empire Legal.

All right guys. Welcome back to another episode of Raising the Bar podcast. Today I've got a really cool guest, Mr. Anthony Bartzis from Southern Cross Building Inspections. Welcome mate. 

Good to be here. Thank you. Thanks for taking time out of your day. 

Too easy. 

I heard you said you've already done what, four inspections today?

Yeah, we're doing a lot. We're getting really busy, so pretty wild. Yep. Busy is good. We're getting busier and busier. 

Thanks for taking time out of your day. That's alright. Guys, Raising the Bar, where we storytell excellence in Queensland property.

We think you're pretty excellent, and here to add some value to whoever out there may be listening. 

Definitely. 

Most people are probably either in Queensland or thinking of buying or selling property in Queensland. Yep. Fun fact, before we get into it, Anthony's also a qualified architect.

That's right. Yeah. That was my previous life when I first started. Comes in handy to doing, building and pest. Definitely there's another level of knowledge that we produce when we go to our inspections. So amongst other things, it's been quite handy for building a pest.

You got a few different hats that you wear, you've done developing and yeah, all sorts of stuff. But we'll, we'll jump into that as we progress. Good stuff. I've got a little cheat sheet, so let's kick off. I have first question. Okay. How long does a normal building and pest inspection go for, and what, what are the main things that you're looking for? 

So, building and pest inspection. It varies depending on, obviously the size of the house. So a town house will take 30 to 45 minutes. 

Mm-hmm. 

A larger house will take an hour, an hour and a half. At Southern Cross, we don't write our reports as we do the inspection.

So we'll go through and we'll just have complete focus on actually inspecting the house and not going through and, picking from checklists and stuff like that, just so we're fully attentive while we're doing them. And then we produce a report the next day. We always welcome our clients to be at the inspections.

Because it's pretty important. Some of the terminology in the report because we have to cover certain basis from an insurance perspective, is a little bit tricky. So it's really good to have our purchasers onsite so we can kind of take them through and explain to them all the ins and outs.

That's a huge point actually. Yeah. Yeah. We as the conveyancing solicitors on the deal suggest people do, but it's good to hear that you guys do the same thing. Definitely. And the walkthrough as you go, right? That's right. Yeah. Yeah. So often what we'll start on the outside, we'll go through and then we'll do a tour on the outside and then we'll do the same thing on the inside.

Right. Especially good when people are thinking about potentially doing some renovation and refurbishment work as well. Because at least we can kind of answer those questions whilst they're there. A lot of the big companies out there really don't like the purchasers being there, because their guys have to get through like 10 a day and they just got to kind of storm through them and they don't have the time to talk to the customers.

But a lot of the smaller companies like us, we definitely prefer to have our purchases out on site with us for sure. 

Yeah. And you're, you're not there just to punch 10 inspections in a day. That's right. You're there to actually give a quality inspection and try and signpost and find any issues with the property.

Right? Definitely. Yeah. The whole point of that clause in the contract is giving the buyer the ability to make it "subject to" that inspection. And it's a bit of a grey area, but, but the test we sort of use is if there's problems with the report, what is a "minor" problem? What is a "major" problem?

That's right. For example, we, we say to our clients, if you have the inspection and there's just a leaky tap or maybe a light bulb's blown, you can't really terminate the contract. That's right. That's not acting reasonably. That's the test. 

So major. So we have two different types of defects on our reports.

We actually have three. One safety, which is important, right? Yep. So like compliance. That's right. So if there's a balustrade that's not the correct height on a deck that's over a metre, right. Yep. There's this fall from height issue, so it's a safety issue. So things like that. Yep. Then we have major items and we have minor items. So major items, anything that affects the amenity of space.

So if you've got a roof leak, structural issues, termites, stuff like that, you can't really occupy that room or that house, mm-hmm, how you should be, you know, intended to be occupied. Yep. Minor items, everything else like you're talking about, light bulbs missing impact, damage on walls and stuff like that.

So the major items are, like I said, membrane issues. So we, we check all the bathrooms and make sure the waterproofing membrane is working fine. There's no issues with the water stop or anything like that. 

Yep. 

Structurally obviously we go around the outside and we get into roof voids and stuff, to make sure we've got no framing issues or subsidence issues.

Termites we can probably talk about a little bit later on. But just sticking to the building inspection side. Other major items that we see quite, quite regularly is issues with the roof exterior. Yeah. So on valuelines and gutters and stuff like that. If we get up on our roofs, if they're less than four and a half meters high, we'll actually get up on them.

Yeah. Other inspectors, some of the older guys, not pointing fingers, won't do that, yeah. Occasionally they'll send a drone up and stuff like that, but if you're on top of the roof, you can obviously see a lot more. So the Yeah. Yeah. 

Being up there is going, you be hundred percent. If there's something wrong, a drone might 

Yeah.

Because sometimes, yeah. because sometimes it's just an issue with a piece of flashing, which is, less than the size of my palm. Right? Yep. So it's important to get up on the roofs when we can. So these major items realistically, when we have those on our reports, the suggestion is to our clients for pre-purchase, is they go back to the vendors and they either say, hey look, we've got some issues here they need to be attended to.

Yep. 

Alternatively they can go back to the vendors, and the vendor attends to those issues and fixes them up before settlement. 

Just for clarity with the process. So you come in, you inspect, you do your report, you send that report to the client.

Yep. And then from that point, obviously the client works with us. 

That's right. 

To liaise with the real estate agent and the other solicitor, the seller's solicitors. Mm-hmm. To get an outcome. And it might be a reduction in price. Yeah. Or works being attended to, to be fixed up by settlement. Often. 

It often it's hard for the vendor to attend to those works because your settlement period might be a short one, and there is a huge trade shortage at the moment.

That's only going to get worse. More often than not, when we have major items, our recommendation is we've identified them and then our clients go back to the vendor and say, hey look, we'll attend to these issues upon settlement or after settlement. Yeah. And there just needs to be some kind of pricing negotiation based on those major items.

Yeah. Well you raised a good point there. So timeframes, right? In a typical settlement in Queensland is 30 days. I mean, could be less, could be more, but your average settlement's a 30 day period. You are coming in how far into the equation, what are you seeing? Seven Day Building and Pest, 14 day Building and Pest? A lot of 

people nominate 14 days, which is fine.

We really encourage our clients to reach out to us as early as possible. So sometimes through Empire Legal, you'll be in contact with your clients and say, hey look, reach out to Anthony nice and early. Sometimes they reach out to us before they've even signed a contract and we can give them an indication on how far out we're going to be.

Yes. 

We can do a building and pest inspection and return the report within five days. 

Yep. 

Right. Sometimes we can do it quicker. Sometimes people don't want to put building and pest in their terms and we can get out there within 48 hours, but it's very rare. 

Yeah. You can't bank on that, right? No, that's right.

Exactly. Even, even seven days I think is pretty tight. Seven days is 

tight. Yeah. A lot of people, I mean a lot of inspectors are, you know, I mean we're, we're busy. But a lot of operators will book out a week in advance. Yeah. We'll fit you in, especially if, you know, you say you came through Empire, we'll definitely look after you from that perspective.

But a five day building and pest is going to make you so much more competitive versus someone else who's got 14 days. Yeah. 

Your offer. 

Yeah, that's that's right. Because it in terms of building and pest, you'll be able to tick that checkbox that week. If someone's 14 days, that potential buyer won't be ticking that box for two and a half weeks, right?

Correct. And you're kicking the tyre down the road and yeah. Yeah. As a vendor, the shorter the period, the more attractive it is. A hundred percent. Yeah. I mean, you would've seen a big shift from COVID days where we didn't even see building and pest clauses that often. 

Yeah. Okay. 

You still would've had inspections. Yep. But I know for a fact there a lot of people were just waiving building and pests and even waiving finance to secure the deal. That's right. Which, you know, if you're a seller - giddy up. That's hundred percent. That's amazing. If you're a buyer, like that's, that's a bit bit of risk there, right?

Yeah. Like, you don't know what you're buying. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. It, 

it, it is a big risk. And look, we get called out sometimes when people are bought purchase properties and haven't had a building in pest and they get us out to kind of run through after they've purchased it. And sometimes there's issues that could have been, you know, negotiated at contract stage.

No. So I think definitely if they can put down five days, it's a huge advantage over other people out there looking the market. Yeah. And it, the earlier they can call us the, you know, the sooner we can fit them in as well. 

Yeah. And just for the, the listeners out there, is the normal process, say, client, we say, yep, give Anthony a call. He's our recommended guy. He'll help you out. They ring you. Yep. You then liaise with the real estate agent as well. Right. That's right. You could have access issues if there's tenants or the owners, you have got to make sure there's the right time of the day to get in that.

Right. So you have got to manage that too. Yeah. So we look after that because we don't want our clients having to act as middleman and try to organise times, and the real estate agent says one time when we say another. Yeah. So we'll look after all that. We'll book it in. We'll let them know when we're scheduled in.

Yep. 

Get them out and then they'll get the report back the next day. 

Yeah. Cool. Cool. And then from there, that report's compiled. And from memory you sort of signpost the big problems, right? If there is any major defects. Yep. Then they're sort of grouped. That's right. And then on, on our side, on the conveyancing side, if a client comes back and has concerns, that's where we sort of give them advice going if you have major issues, is that a showstopper for you? If it's not a showstopper, then cool. Let's negotiate with the agent and see if we can keep this deal on foot. That's right. 

I'll give you an example of two major items.

Okay. So this is stuff you see regularly around the tracks. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So anything to do with water penetration is a major item for us, right? Yep. Water penetration can cause issues to cabinetry and it could cause mould, and then we can't occupy the space. So the ones that we see quite regularly, silicon seals on tiled splashbacks behind a kitchen bench or a vanity bench, right?

Mm-hmm. Easy to fix. Cut the silicon out and redo it, right? But if it goes unattended, you could be replacing a vanity unit. Or you could have a mould issue, right? Mm-hmm. So a short quick and easy handyman fix can turn into getting a plumber out and, and replacing wall sheeting and all the rest of it, right?

We have to categorise that as a major item because it might cause issues because there's water. Yeah. 

Yeah. 

If it's already caused an issue, obviously there, there's more entailed in in the process of fixing it. Yeah. But that's a major item. Easy to fix. A major item that's not easy to fix is when we have a membrane failure to a bathroom area, like a shower.

Right, right. We are seeing more frequent issues with bathrooms. A lot of homeowners are wanting to renovate bathrooms before they put the properties on the market to try to get more of a premium, which makes sense. Unfortunately with the trade shortage, we've got a lot of people who are doing it themselves.

DIY stuff, right? Yeah. Or they're engaging contractors who aren't licensed to do the work, right? 

Yeah. 

So that's a bit of a red flag whenever we see a bathroom renovation, and for people going through homes, try to be extra aware if any renovation work has been done, and it looks recent, because then there's certain questions that we want to ask. Yeah. 

So that's a trigger. 

Exactly. Yeah. In terms of waterproofing certification and stuff like that. So we do a water stop test. We have moisture meters, we have thermal detectors, right? Yeah. And we make sure that there's no moisture getting out of the shower recess.

If there's a membrane failure, sometimes there's a suggestion by particular agents say, oh, that's fine. We'll just resilicone the shower base. Right? Or resilcone the, the wet area. It's a bit of a band-aid fix. To properly fix that issue, you are looking at a bathroom refurbishment. Yeah. 

Yeah. And just for clarity, this, the membrane is the, the blue stuff that you see that's right, before the tiles go down there.

That's right before the bedding and before the tiles go on. Okay. So when someone's, which waterproofs the whole area, correct? Yeah. So when someone's renovated a bathroom if they've pulled tiles and bedding off, they would've damaged the membrane. They have to replace the membrane right? Right. To properly seal it.

So both issues with moisture. One's a easy, quick handyman fix. Another one, sometimes people might suggest that you just need to replace the silicone, again, quick and easy fix, but realistically it's a $15,000 to $25,000 fix, right? 

That's not the right way to do it.

That's just a band-aid. No. Correct. 

And often you'll get either agents suggesting to do that after we identify there's an issue. Or sometimes savvy sellers will establish that there's an issue beforehand and go ahead and do a band-aid fix. Right? Mm. That's why it's really important they get a licensed inspector out to make sure it's just not a band-aid fix.

Yep. That that raises a really good point, Anthony. You know, you do see all the time, especially with auction properties, you've got an inspection report that the vendors put there. 

Yes. 

And look, I mean, my opinion on that, if I'm representing a buyer. Yep. 

And there is a building and pest clause there, I want an independent building inspector to go through that property for that buyer.

Yeah. 

Granted, we're the solicitors and the client can do whatever they want. But my thing is, if you've got no idea who, who these people are, who this property is, you're just going to have an unbiased opinion on it. And I'm not, not saying that all selling agents are like this, that's not right by any means.

because obviously they still have to get a licensed builder to prepare this report. Correct. But you have got to remember that the selling agent works for the seller. That's just pretty simple maths. They work for the vendor. Yep. If they've engaged a building a pest inspection, that's a pre-purchase for the vendor.

That's right. Yeah. Like if we're acting on the buyer side, I like to sort of have that arm's length independence where your only job is to work for that buyer. 

Yep. Look, I completely agree. We, we do see a lot of pre-sale inspection reports come across our desk, but for people who are looking at buying like, oh, they've already provided a building pest, can you read through it? And can you still come out and do an inspection for us? Right. We do pre-sale inspections for real estate agents as well. I think the majority of the inspectors are doing the right thing. Yeah. But I have seen some, some doozies before for presale inspections.

I've seen, buckets in roof voids collecting water and it hasn't been classified. I've seen garbage bags over roof tiles and stuff like that to stop moisture going in. And the presale inspection was, was clean and tidy. There was no issues with it. It's a bit scary, huh? So it's a bit of a risk.

And unfortunately there are some people who will undertake a presale to hide those items, right? Mm-hmm. You can't buy a car without getting a roadworthy.

And seeing it as well, right? I was chatting with someone the other week and we were just talking about property and people are spending, median house prices over a million dollars in Brisbane now.

Yeah. Spending a million dollars, spend the money, get the report. And my suggestion is you absolutely should be there. Yes. I know. Like we recently bought and obviously you inspected for us and, drove down to the coast. Yep. From Brisbane to be there because it's important. I want to walk around with you and then you say, hey mate, like that shower screen that we identified, this is a real story.

The shower screen was no good. 

Yep. 

We've replaced that now. 

Yep. 

I don't know, maybe that wouldn't have been picked up, but you said. You put your moisture meter, I've seen, you turn all of the showers on and you let them run for what, like at least five minutes, 10 minutes, something like that.

That's right. Yeah. And then you do all your stuff and you go, that's a problem. 

Yep. I think it's good. There's your money spent. Well, being there as well is good because you can actively see sometimes the issues as well. Yeah, it kind of makes sense a little bit more in your head when instead of reading it. That's right.

Yeah, exactly. Okay. I mean, that still get classified as major, but you know, sometimes, yeah, I think most people are, are better on site and they'll interpret things better for sure. And I mean, you as the buyer should be motivated to be there. It's pretty simple maths. Well, if you can't make it, look, I know people are busy during the day.

Some people can't make it and that's fine. But you know, we're happy to have people's fathers or brothers or sisters come out as well if they want to be there. Yeah, someone to be there. It, it makes a difference. And look, worst case you get on the phone and you relay, hey, there's no majors, or this is a major.

Yeah. And this is how we deal with it. I'll send you the report and you can have a read. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. But pre-sale inspections, we do sometimes go out and do inspections because we see pre-sale inspections that are like four pages deep. Our reports are 60, 70 pages.

Yeah. Wow. So if you ever get given a pre-sale inspection, and it's only like a dozen pages. I wouldn't. Red flag. Yeah, exactly. Big time. And and then also another important thing to look at, which we've kind of touched on already, is if you're going through a house that's recently had some renovation work as well.

Mm-hmm. I think those ones in particular are really important to get a building inspector out because there's so much that can be hidden with a good coat of paint. Mm. A bit of silicon work. Mm. You know, some furniture positioned in a certain location as well. 

That's a great point, guys.

If you're listening, stop and pause and just process that. If the house you're looking at has renovation, yeah, they could be covering up stuff. We're not trying to vilify, that's right, but the whole point of this is you're spending money to check that you're buying something that's not a lemon.

Yep. 

And for what you pay for an inspection, I mean, it could return 10 times, a hundred times over. Well, I mean, if a big problem is found. I mean, trades are, tradies are so expensive now. Like most of them are charging a minimum call out fee of, you know, $300 just to kind of get out there. Right? Yeah. So even if it's just one small item, pretty much paid for itself. You're gotta get your money back. That's right. 

Exactly. And I think another point, and then we'll jump into the second topic, is with your particular skillset. So I know you've chopped up some blocks before you've done a bit of developing.

Yep. I think that's a really cool and unique aspect to say you as an inspector and your team as inspectors. I recall you did a report for mates of mine in Moorooka a few years ago, and they were talking about not subdividing, but actually amalgamating two blocks. Yeah. Oh, yeah, cool, they're neighbouring blocks, it's all good. But I'm not a town planner. I'm not a developer. Yeah. I recall that you identified that there was issues with the slope of the block, I think with the storm water. That's right. Yeah. And there was also problems to the point where they'd need the consent of the neighbour, to get those utilities through there. That's right. Which there's no guarantee at all of them saying yes. Yeah. Yeah. And I know that development actually to this day hasn't gone ahead. Oh, okay. Really? Yeah. Well, let's, I know there's, there's a plan. It's okay. Fantastic.

If they hadn't engaged the right people, and I remember, he called me and he said, man, Anthony just gave us so much information. Oh, that's great. Which is a huge point of difference for what you do, right? Yes. With the, the architect hat. The developer hat. And obviously you're a practicing builder. 

Yes. Yeah. Look, because I've done pretty much all the stages before,

mm-hmm, and been really hands on with it as well. And because we are still active, I think that's an important thing as well. A lot of other building and pest inspectors, some of them have been retired for some time now, and don't have their finger on the pulse with construction costs and certain ways we do things Yeah.

And processes and stuff like that. And they haven't done their own development work. In those instances, we're not being engaged as development consultants, but i've gone out and someone's like, look, I'm not too worried about the house. I only needs to get me the next couple years.

I'm going to subdivide. And it's a whole different, and I get that's outside of the standard scope and building investment inspection. But, but we we'll mention to, to when we're out there. Yeah. Another one fell over six months ago. They were about to go unconditional, but it had overland flow issues, which has nothing to do with building and pest, but definitely if you've got an inspector who has worn a few hats and gone through the processes previously, it kind of helps.

Even sometimes people are just buying a a, a property somewhere and it's a 600 square meter and it's in a certain zone and all the rest of it, Sometimes we can just say, hey, look, you know, you actually can subdivide this, right? Yeah. It's just another thing that we can add to the process. 

The exact same process applies, say with conveyancing, right?

Conveyancing, if nothing goes wrong, the ball bounces along through the stages. Mm-hmm, and it's all good. Mm-hmm. Yep. Say for us, we do thousands and thousands of deals a year, and the guys just, this is what they do, they live and breathe it. It's about asking those right questions.

That's right. It could be as simple as like, what, what is your intentions with this property? What do you want to do? Yeah. And then that could open up a whole can of worms. Oh, I want to chop the block up, or I want to extend. Definitely. Or whatever. And then it could be a sewer main under the property.

Yeah. Yeah. Whereas if we were just like, oh, cool. Yeah, yeah. You know, you've been referred to us to buy this house. No worries. Yes. That's easy. We can do that for you for this much money. Yep. That's a whole different experience to like, well, hang on a sec, we're the professional holding their hand, mm-hmm, and getting them through the process. Same thing with you. If you're just coming along to inspect the property and, you know, look for termites and check for major issues, you can do that. But when you ask a few more questions, that's where you are adding that real value. Definitely. To the point.

Yeah. 

And, and, and, and, and we like doing that as well. Yeah. We, we like it that we can give people additional steps, additional knowledge. So having a background understanding, knowing what they're going to do. Sometimes we have people come out and like, I'm going to renovate this house, I'm going to knock down all these walls.

Mm-hmm. Well, we go up into the roof and we'll double check that, you know, the walls that look, look to be knocking down aren't load bearing. Right. And we can give them some solutions like, well actually, you'd be better off knocking this wall down. Or they want to extend, we can only go this far because then, then you're going to be a issue with setback, relaxation and stuff like that.

So look, we always kind of implore our clients to be there and as much information they can get, give us as possible about what their plans are for the future of the property, the better. 

Yeah. Okay. Let's move that into, say your, your top tips. So, you know, you've done, I don't know, hundreds, thousands of inspections.

Thousands, yeah. Lots of, lots of inspections. A lot of 'em. You were to sort of peek behind the curtain and go, mate, what's the tools of the trade? What's the cool stuff you see? Like, yeah, look that your everyday Joe might not know about. 

There's certain things that it's, it's going to be hard for an everyday Joe just walking through the house to be able to detect, right. Of course. Because we have tools and equipment to, you know, help us see through walls and see under tiles and stuff like that. A big one is where you've got dwellings that are either sub-basement or completely basement.

So the ground level's kind of been built into the side of the block, right? Yep. And it's retaining soil. Especially some of the older ones. We get a lot of issues with those properties. Like water issues or? Yeah, the external membrane that they apply on those walls, if it's block work or brickwork often has a life expectancy on it.

It's often weak where the actual block work sits on the slab footing as well. 

Yep. 

I'd pay particular attention to any locations whether it be sub-basement or if it's a built-in garage or something like that. Mm-hmm. Or they've done an extension and there's not a reasonable step down between the internal slab and the external slab, right? 

Yep. 

We often see issues around moisture in those locations, and these issues aren't easy fixes either. The proper way to do it is to excavate on the outside, and sometimes you don't have access to it. There are some band-aid fixes that you can do, but they're not going to have a warranty attached to them.

Yeah. Like these membranes that they put from the outside, which they don't last or whatever. Yeah. Or, or on the inside. Yeah. Or sorry, on the, the negative side. Yeah, that's right. Negative side on the inside. Yeah. So look, I'm not saying, not to buy a property that's kind of built into a hillside, it's got a subbasement or retaining a little bit of soil, but just be extra vigilant when you go around, you can check out the skirting to see if it's warped, see if the floor's warped or anything like that. Those are big ones, right? Because. Can you catch that in an inspection? We catch that in inspection yeah. So we have our thermal detectors, our moisture meter readers and stuff like that, and they'll pick up if there's moisture coming through that wall, even if there's battens and plasterboard and there's a cavity there. 

Yep. 

Our thermal detectors will still pick up if there's moisture coming through the wall, right. That's really important because sometimes it's almost unfixable. 

You just look at Soverign Island down the Gold Coast, for example, right? Where all those mega mansions are, they've all got these undercrofts, these 10 car garage basement type things.

Yep. If something's wrong there, that's, that's not going to be a few grand to fix. No. So it might not even be fixable. It might just have water issues forever. Exactly. That's right. Sometimes you can't even get a machine back there to excavate, right? Yeah. So dwellings of that kind of style, we're always extra cautious about. We've talked about recently renovated and refurb houses to be kind of extra cautious about but it's, it's hard for a client to kind of go through and establish if there's a membrane issue on a bathroom or something. Oh, I'd never suggest a client even do that. It's more so like, say, Hey, what, what's my inspector doing? What's the things you are looking out for? So obviously you're looking at water, yep, the roof and stuff. And then maybe let's touch on termites a little bit. because I know in Queensland it's pretty scary. Yeah. 

We did one two months ago, and they had a presale inspection done as well. Interesting. Didn't have any termite damage on it. And they actually had recently put in base stations around the property.

So there's a couple ways you can protect a dwelling from termites. The best way is when you've got a visual barrier, right? So if you've got an old Queenslander, it's raised on stumps and it's got the end capping right? Or if it's a, a slab on ground house, you'll have the termite barrier around. This is literally like a, I, I think I've seen them, they look like sort of a metal bit or that the capping on the, on the post. Yep. On an old Queenslander.. So is that, is that literally to stop the termites from getting up or? It doesn't stop the termites, termites are never out in the open. They make the little mud tracks, right. So if they're getting into the house and they're getting up a post and over that ant capping, you'll actually see the, the mud track.

So it's still a visual inspection for us. It doesn't stop them from getting in. Same with your termite barrier around the perimeter. They can't shoot through that, right? Yep. So if they're going to get into your house, they're going to have to build on mud track up and above that barrier that sits along the slab.

When you say perimeter, we're talking about the, the slab all the way around the house, correct? Yeah. And I think I've seen that on a build you did for me actually, that it sits sort of over the edge, doesn't it? Yes. That you can actually physically see it. Yes. More often than not you can see it.

That's right. Yeah. Yeah. So, the termite won't chew through that. They'll have a mud track that goes above that and then into the house. It's still providing us with the visual inspection barrier. Yep. Because you'll see the mud track and then you'll see the termites getting into the house.

Right. Cool. So you and your inspectors physically go, we go around and you are looking for these tracks? Yes. To see if there's any evidence of termites. 

And unfortunately, nine times out of 10, there's certain locations with slab on ground or houses that have a subfloor or whatever, where there's certain locations where our visual inspection is compromised. Whether it be a water tank up against the house, or someone's put some paneling in that runs from ground up to the underside of the cladding or something like that.

So we'll comment on all that kind of stuff. We'll give it recommendations on if we can do some remediation work there and remove it. Sometimes our only solution is to put a chemical barrier around the perimeter. And that'll be explained in the report, and that will ensure that you have a warranty that's maintained over the complex for termites.

And this has to be, is this like an annual thing? Like is this like physical chemical that gets put all the way around? Yeah. So when you do a chemical barrier that has a life expectancy on it, and depending on what chemical you're using, it lasts between six and 10 years. Oh, wow.

Yeah. But to keep your warranty, you still need to do annual inspections. Okay. Right. To check there's been no breach or whatever. Correct, correct. Exactly. Right, right, right. So 

inspector will come through, they'll look around the perimeter, we'll come through and we tap all the skirtings, the architraves and stuff like that.

Because typically termites are going to go for pine over hardwood. It's easier to chew through. Yep. And, and more often than not your dwellings will be built with treated stud work as well. Yep. So they're not going to go for the treated timber. 

Yep. 

But they'll go for like all the nice fresh pine and, and stuff like that.

So we'll come through, we'll do a tap test around the perimeter to make sure there's no evidence of any damage. Mm-hmm. And obviously go up to the roof void to make sure we've got no problems coming through there. The other comments in terms of termites that we look for, we obviously don't want moisture up against the house.

Because there's three things like termite like - they like moisture, something to eat and, and darkness as well. Yep. So especially in those subfloor areas. Yep. So sometimes you've got AC condensation pipes draining up against the house, water tanks that are leaking, hot water units that are leaking, downpipes, gutters that you know aren't working properly, they're depositing a lot of moisture against the house, just making it that much more conducive to terminal activity. 

So that attracts them. So if it's a wet area near the house, like a garden bed. Yeah. I think I remember reading on a couple of reports, suggestions were: excavate this garden bed that's right up against the house.

That's right. Whether people do it or not, I think is a different story, right? Yes. Yeah. At the end of the day, that's a red flag.

Most of the detached dwellings that we do, so just a normal house on a lot, most of them will have some issue, whether it be the physical barriers compromised or there's vegetation abutting the house, or there's conducive conditions right. That's all pretty normal. Yep. There's very few houses that we get that are a 10 out of 10 in terms of termite protection. But look, they can cause some serious damage and they can, they can move really, really quickly as well.

Yeah. Okay. 

So. I am just thinking out loud now, recalling with the termite barrier stuff, I would hazard a guess, most people probably wouldn't keep up an annual upkeep on that. Right? And that lives usually in the electricity box or something. Where are you looking?

That's right. Yeah. There's a, the evidence of, yeah. 

There's a durable assessment notice in the meter box. Sometimes it's underneath the kitchen sink. Okay. Right. Sometimes they put it there, but typically it's in the meter box. And that will show either what chemical application's been done or what physical membrane's been done.

Yep. 

And then it'll actually have a little kind of checkbox, and each year you're supposed to write the date that it's been inspected, right? Yep. More often than not, unfortunately, people don't keep up with the annual inspections, although, i've got to say in recent times, people are probably getting a little bit better with it.

Yeah. Okay. But if you want to maintain that warranty, you've got to get the annual inspections done. 

Is that outside of the scope of a pest inspection or will you actually look for that sticker and be like, we can see that there's been a chemical barrier? Yes, definitely.

We put all on the report. Yeah. Yeah. 

So if you, you are looking for it,. And if you find, you say, by the way, Mr and Mrs. Client, there was a chemical barrier five years ago, no one's been out in five years. That's right. Look, nine times out of 10, that durable assessment sticker will be in the meter box.

And it will say if it's a physical barrier or a chemical barrier. Okay. But then the majority of the time they haven't just kept up to date. Typically what happens is someone builds a house, they might do it for the first or second year, and then after that they kind of give up. Sometimes we see people renew those annual inspections a year or two before they put the house on the market.

Yeah, right. 

Which is fine, like inspectors being through. It's got the warranty on it now just, just keep that up and they'll be okay. A bit more attractive going, hey look, it's had someone recently to check it out. Yeah, yeah. We do do presale inspections as well, and there might be someone listening to this who is thinking about selling their place and buying a new place.

My recommendation would be to them if they are thinking or putting their house on the market in the near term, would be to just go and get another inspection done. Get that form filled out in your meter box and have that warranty, because it's, it, it is a plus. It shows the buyer that you've been diligent and there's the level of maintenance and stuff like that. 

Yep. Do you find this is, it's a real rookie question, is a brick home less risk of termites, compared to a Queenslander? Or is it just as important or? 

It still is as important, because it'll be most likely a brick veneer home.

So you've still got framing doing load bearing, you've still got timber framed roof. But definitely an old Queenslander is more susceptible to termite activity. Yeah, for sure. An older Queenslander more likely will be built out of hardwood as well, which is a little bit safer.

Whereas some of the newer lightweight timber frame structures, they won't be using hard wood, they'll just be using treated pine. Do they eat hardwood or they just don't like it or? Well, they'll prefer to go for like a pine before they get chew through the hardwood obviously, because it's, you know, easy to chew through. We did a inspection six months ago, a commercial building, old hardwood bearers and they've gone through them completely. Okay. 

So they will eat them if there's nothing more attractive to eat. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Okay. And if there's moisture on that timber element. Often what we find in terms of terminal activity, if there is a moisture issue in your bathroom, for instance and that water's getting through, it's going to hit that timber.

Timber's going to get wet, and that's going to draw the termites in. If there is termite activity in your area, on a neighbouring block or something like that. Yeah. And you have a moisture issue, they're going to seek that out, they're going to find it, and you're going to have termite activity in your bathroom.

So moisture, this is interesting insight for me. I've always thought when I talk to my clients, moisture's a problem, termites are a problem; as big independent ticket items, but the moisture actually attracts the termites, so the moisture is a huge problem.

That's right. It is a massive problem. A termite might not necessarily go for hardwood you're saying, or normal wood, but if it's wet, there's a much better chance that they're going to want it. 

Yep. That's right. It's really important. When we do do Queenslanders that are raised well, we make sure we get into the subfloor. And we look to see if there's any timber in direct contact with the ground, because it's obviously going to be quite wet as well. And we look at overland flow underneath. Mm-hmm. Make sure downpipes are venting where they should be and all the rest of it, because if you've got locations underneath a raised timber dwelling and there's moisture sitting there, that's going to bring the termites in for sure.

Well, there you go. Yeah. I had no idea about that. Let's jump into a quick question then we'll dig into the last topic. Do you have an example or a couple of examples or something of an inspection you've done over the years that stick out in your mind where you've gotten a really good result for a client?

Either a saving or a, I don't know, a huge problem where you're like, man, that that was, that was a good result. We stopped them from making a big mistake. 

Yeah, definitely. We would encounter at least one of those a week. Wow. Where, so every week you're seeing like stuff where it's like, hey, we have to have a serious chat about what we do here.

Yeah. 

A lot of them will be to do with renovation work. Mm-hmm. People have renovated a bathroom. We established that it's been renovated under the current ownership, and yeah, and then we'll ask all the questions. Even if we're not getting moisture readings, we'll still ask for Form 43 waterproofing certificates and stuff like that. Sometimes people turn around and say, we don't have that.

Well, who did the work? Well, you know, someone that I know did the work. Are they licensed? No, there's no warranty there. So the, you can you dig to find out That's right. And that, and that job's been done recently and chances are, if it's only a couple months old, even if they've done a bad job and the in the shower or the wet area hasn't been tested regularly for weeks on end, it might not show yet, it might show in a couple years time, but the situation is there's no warranty attached to it. And look, we've recommended people not to buy these houses in the past, and we don't often do that because we're solutions space and we try to give options and stuff like that, that bought them, and then we've had a call 12 months later saying, the bathroom's leaking. Well, did you get the form? No we didn't. Well. There's $20,000, right? Yeah. At least. The cost of not only what tradies are charging now, but the actual materials. Yep. Can you even do a bathroom for $20k anymore? And the headache. 

Yeah, well depending on how big is it. Yeah, sure. I mean, a lot of guys are charging $25k to $30k now, and it's a headache of getting it done as well. And say it's one bathroom property, that's a showstopper. That's a big problem. And the sad thing is these people are buying what they think is a finished product as well.

So they're buying because it looks good, it's been renovated, it's shiny. It's, but they're also buying it because they don't want to do any of that work in the first place. 

Right. I see. Yeah. They're not buying a renovator. It's like, oh, this has got a nice bathroom. And then they've bought a renovator. Right?

Yeah. Other examples that we see quite a bit is people converting their garages. Their attached garages. Yes. And so they can put that into a room, right? Yes. More often than not, that hasn't been certified. Mm. And there's issues there, because sometimes we don't have vapor barriers underneath the concrete slab.

So we have rising damp issues. Sometimes there's no step down between the inside slab and the outside. So there can be issues that arise from that perspective as well. And sometimes when they've done the work, there's some compliance issues, like the ceiling height's a little bit off or, there's not enough natural daylight getting into the bedrooms and stuff like that. So someone might be thinking they're buying a four bedroom house because the garage has been converted, but it's not a four bedroom house, it's a three bedroom house. And that might not even come up. That may never even be in someone's mind.

Mm-hmm. Whereas I guess, are you asking those questions saying, how long ago was this done? Yeah. Like was this under this guy's ownership? Yep. Well, 

even if it wasn't under the ownership in that situation, real estate agents should still be advertising it as a three bedroom house. Yeah.

Because that fourth bedroom potentially hasn't been built to standards. And there's things that we can do to establish if it's been done properly or not. 

Well, we can do searches and whatnot, which is, that's true outside the scope of what you are doing. But to, to be totally honest with you, I think about all the deals we do, and it's very rare that someone wants to spend the money on those searches.

Yeah. They're hundreds, not thousands of dollars. Yeah. But at the end of the day, people aren't really thinking out loud and we, we suggest saying, hey, if there's renovations, you should do a building search and get final approvals and check all that stuff. But the tricky thing with the contracts in Queensland is, you have no right to terminate unless you have a special condition in there.

So say you go and spend all this money, it's $700, whatever it is to the council to do this search. 

Yes. 

Oh, okay. Yep. There's no approvals here. Well, too bad, so sad. Unless you've got a structural problem or something that comes up on a report, just because there's not a final approval doesn't mean you can pull the pin on the contract.

But you still would suggest people go and do those searches though, right? Oh look, we suggest it all the time. Yes. But people just don't want to spend the money. 

I think it's important because I, it's actually one that I'm going out to tomorrow and it's an estate and they built a big barn, which they're using as a carport. It has a mezzanine level as well. The current owners didn't build, it was built like 17 years ago. Yeah, right. They've got their house on the market now, it's being sold. The potential buyer has done all those searches that you just spoke about, and they're like, we've got an issue here. Yeah. This hasn't been approved.

Yep. Right. And now the poor vendor was scrambling to try to get this structure certified and it's going to cost them a bit of money. It's stressful, they might lose their buyer. So just because it's not an issue when you're buying the property, it might become an issue when it comes home to sell.

Yes. And that's what's happened there. 

With this example, not the barn one, but before you were saying with the garage has being converted, you've seen that where you're like, hey, this could actually be a showstopper for you.

They need to understand that they're buying a three bedroom house, not a four bedroom house.

Yeah. Okay. And there are issues with when you don't have certain extensions, renovations certified as well. Let's say that's an investment property. Yes. And they're going to move somebody into that space, and there's a storm and we get some rising damp, and there's damage to the carpet and stuff like that.

Well, if that hasn't been approved as a additional bedroom, insurance is not going to cover them. That's a garage, right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's a good, really good point. And then they might have caused some damage to their tenants furniture and stuff like that, and there's issues there as well.

We will take our clients down the route and tell them what they should be looking for and stuff like that. Or alternatively, they can be happy to move forward with it if they get it certified themselves. And we'll kind of let them know what they're up for in terms of price wise to get that done as well.

I don't know if it's unique, but I've certainly seen other inspectors where they're very hesitant to give price ranges of repairs and whatnot. Yeah. And I think that's a really cool thing that you guys do. Even just when, say we're walking through a property saying, want to buy, and we go through it and I'm like, oh mate, this clearly the bathrooms busted up.

What's it going to cost? Yes. And you'll go, oh look, $20k to $25k will get you this finished. Yeah. I think that's a really cool part of the service that you offer, maybe not "officially" as part of the building and pest inspection. Yes. But just having that knowledge of like, all right. 10 grand here, 15 grand there.

That's right. Yeah. And then you can do some sort of napkin math and go, oh man, I'm going to have to find another $50k to get this property where I want it. Yeah, definitely. 

Yeah. So in terms of those stories we were talking about before, there's gotta be examples where you've gotten people a really good saving or said, hey, this is going to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Like, are you sure you want to buy this place? 

Yeah. Well, bathroom renos are a big one. We've had issues just recently as well with some roof extensions. Where they haven't put the correct framing in. And to fix it, they've got to pull the roof out, pull and start again.

Yeah. So big, big money. 

Yeah, that's right. Like I talked about before, in terms of sub basements and stuff like that. There are certain suburbs that just generally have more issues with foundations and subsidence and whatnot. There are ways of solving it. But when we've got quite significant movement through a slab on ground dwelling. Sometimes it's like a waffle pod construction. So it's, it's not a traditional in-ground slab edge kind of building that they use foam. That's why they call the waffle pod and. Yeah. It's more or less like a raft, right?

And you, oh you do those kind of structures when you have like reactive soils, right? Yeah. You want the whole building to kind of move together. Yeah. Have a bit of give. You don't want a situation where you're in rock in one location, you're bearing capacity at the back of the house is in clay, and you're going to get differentiation movement, you're going to get cracks opening up and stuff like that.

Right. So in some of the estate areas where they've used waffle pod construction, we do see subsidence issues. 

That can be a bit of a losing battle sometimes. 

Yep. 

Because the underpinning guys will come out and they'll fix that issue, but it causes other issues on the other side of the house.

So those are the kind of things to look for. If you are inspecting a house and you do see quite significant cracks on the outside, pay a bit attention and look at some of the other, the dwellings up the street and see if there's any obvious cracks on those houses as well.

Mm. Because that'll show you you're in a highly reactive area and it's just not happening to your house. It's just not like a one-off kind of thing. It's, it's an inherent problem in that area. 

Yeah. Right. because some, some areas might have rock or clay or soft soil, it's all different, right? That's right. Yep.

Yeah. Yeah, it's good point. Some of the newer swimming pools we have issues with sometimes. The older ones with it, usually they're a, a little bit more over-engineered. Yeah. But some of the newer ones, they go a bit thin on the pool shell size they've got cracks and waterproofing issues and stuff like that.

I guess pool's a whole different ballgame, right? Like that's not a standard part of your inspection. You're not, no. Pool safety is different. So Yeah. 

Obviously compliance with and such inspections and you guys. 

We deal with that and we, we always check the QBCC register and make sure there is a compliant safety certificate.

Fantastic. Yeah. But in terms of a standard building and pest inspection, do you look at the pool or? We do look at the pool. I mean, it's not part of our inspection, but obviously if there's significant issues with the pool, we'll be able to identify them. As builders, we build pools. Right, true.

And we build them from the ground up, so we know , what's involved in the process. So if there's an issue where we're going to kind of see it, we don't, we, we don't check like the pool filter systems. 

We'll have comments on the report that suggests that our clients get written confirmation that the filtration system and the pump and stuff is in full working order and stuff like that, right? 

Yes.

Same with the air conditioning. Like we'll go through and we'll turn the air conditionings on, but we don't know if there's going to be an, you know, an issue and it's going to, you know, short circuit it in three hours time.

Right. because we're not there for that long. 

And also realistically, given the scope of your engagement, I've seen all sorts of stuff where the report might say, hey, we think there could be an electrical problem. You need a, a special sparky. That's right. Or you need a, you know, whatever, a plumber.

Yeah. You can't say everything in this property I've been able to inspect. That's right. So you can only do what you can do that's given the, the scope of your engagement. Yeah. So it is a visual inspection. Yeah. So we're not allowed to like cut holes in walls and stuff like that, obviously, and we can only report on what we see / what we can detect with our tools.

Yeah. If there's a burst pipe in a wall, we should be able to detect that, because we run all the plumbing and we've got moisture meters. Right. But if it's like a, the, you know, the smallest of leaks, you know, it's just dripping, it's not really causing us an issue. We're not going to be able to detect that. 

Yeah. And also when it comes back to what we were saying before with the negotiations, like the leaky tap example, you can't terminate a contract on that. No. It's unreasonable. Whereas if you come back with, hey mate, there's a hole in your roof and there's all this water in the wall.

Yeah, well, pretty reasonable that you'd be able to get out of that contract pretty safely. 

Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. Especially if it's not a readily obvious issue, like if you're walking through the house and you're not allowed to go into the roof or you're not allowed to go on the roof.

Sometimes people like, you know, there's big holes in the wall from like a tent or something like that. Mm-hmm. And they want to use the building in pests from that aspect to negotiate down. Well, if it's highly visual when you walk through the first time, that thing makes things a little bit more difficult.

Right. Well, when you look at the test, it's like, but for understanding this stuff that's wrong with the property that I now know, would I have bought it? Yes. And you know if, if you're going and put a contract on for a million dollars on this property, say hypothetically, and then you find out that both the bathrooms are busted up and it's going to be $50,000, I think a reasonable person would say, well, no, I wouldn't have bought this. That's right. If I knew that there was $50,000 worth of bathroom repairs to be done. Yeah. Yeah. You just have to be reasonable. And the fact is, most of this stuff never gets to court. It usually gets negotiated as part of the conveyance.

You're there as a tool to help us make sure the client is on the right path, because we're not building in pest experts by any means. We're not there to advise our client on the report. In fact, we ask them to collaborate. If there's a problem, we'll say, hey, give your inspector a call, and have a chat through and make sure you are comfortable with that report.

It's not our job to pretend that we're builders and we know the answers. I can look through it and go, all right, let me see is there any major problems?

What are these minors? Looks okay to me, but I'm not the expert, you are. That's why they're paying you. 

Yep. Yeah. That's why it's important that they're there as well. because it's a lot easier to explain to them face to face rather than reading through, you know, 70 page report. 

Yep. Yeah. Let's jump into the last question or last topic around first home buyers.

Cool. So, I feel like we maybe have already covered a fair bit of this just from our chat, but say you're a first home buyer. You're thinking about getting a building and pest inspection. Do you do it, do you not do it? Obviously, I, I know what answer I would pick. I think I know what answer you'd pick.

And, and if you do, do it, what's that lens of the first home buyer where if you're chatting to first home buyers, what, what are you saying to these guys? 

Look, I mean, I, I would definitely do it. It's, it's a level of peace of mind that you're going to get as well. A lot of our first home buyers are buying in townhouse complexes and units and stuff like that.

Yep. 

So that's just the way the market is. It's particularly important when you're buying into a smaller complex as well. Mm-hmm. You've got to remember, you're going to be part of the body corporate, right? 

Yep. 

And sometimes there's, there's issues with the complex. 

Yep. 

And there's just not enough money in the sinking fund to handle it.

It wouldn't be the first time that we see a bit of an exodus on a 12 pack or a townhouse complex where there's some major upgrade works that's forecasted for the future and everyone has to do a special contribution of like $20k or something. And people are trying to get out before that, right?

Yeah. So just because it's a unit or a townhouse doesn't mean you shouldn't be getting a building a pest done. Units and townhouse still have all the same problems as a house with roofs and membranes and stuff like that. And then on top of that, you've got potential body corporate issues as well.

Yeah. Yeah. Say it's like a one bedroom unit, two bedroom unit. Yep. You look at the unit, but then do you also have a look at the complex? 

Definitely, yep. The general complex, the exterior to make sure there's no structural issues, no subsidence issues. Go into the basement, into the car park, look at the garage, make sure we don't have any moisture issues down there.

Concrete cancer, you see all these buildings now, that's right, even down the Gold Coast close to the water there, there's all these concrete cancer problems. Yep. Which again, it might not affect the inside of your unit, but if you're getting hit with this, $5,000 levy every six months for the next five years, that's right,yeah. That could hurt. Yep. Yeah. And the smaller the complex is, the higher the risk, right? Yes. So if you're in a six pack, it's a six way split on whatever the problem is, a hundred thousand issue. By the time you replace a roof or do some underpinning work, a hundred thousand dollars disappears pretty quickly.

You're going to feel a lot more than being in like a 50 pack. But there's still issues. Like we did a inspection two years ago in the Valley and there was a pool on a podium level, like seven stories up, and the whole thing had to be ripped out and redone. Mm. And the seller hadn't disclosed that information to the real estate agent.

There was a special levy of like $7,000 each. And he just wanted to get out before. But solicitors did the right thing, they went through, they asked for the meeting minutes and they established that there's an issue here and we haven't raised enough funds to kind of cover it yet.

Yeah. 

So I, I do think it's important no matter what kind of dwelling that you're buying, that you get a building and pest done. Obviously apartments are cheaper as well than houses.

It's all their money, right? Think about your first home buyer. Man, some first home buyers you hear on the news, they're spending a decade saving up to get a deposit, to buy a house.

When you think about what's the cost of an inspection, you're getting change out of a thousand bucks aren't for a building and pest? Oh yeah, definitely. Like give or take, well it's going to vary anywhere between like $400 - $550, depending on, yeah, there you go.

So it's, it's. In my opinion, it's, it's a very, very cheap piece of mind. And, and it's not just establishing like major items and minor items. There's also information in there about general maintenance. Sometimes when we go into the basins, the flexi hoses that connect your taps to the water, inside the walls.

Sometimes those flexi hoses are kind of on their way out. Right. We're talking a $20 hose. Right? That's right. But if that goes, it's a problem And there's an issue, right? Yeah, yeah. 

So there's general maintenance thing. So you know, there's be recommendations on some general maintenance items on roof structures sometimes as well. Mm-hmm. Like sometimes if you have a tiled roof the mortar on the ridge capping is on its way out as well. We'll get into the roof and make sure there's no active moisture coming through, but there'll be a recommendation to repair that in a couple years time.

Preventative maintenance. So you might get someone on the roof, spend a bit of money, save it from being a big problem. So if you've got a first home buyer who's looking at buying this house and being in there for five or 10 years, the report comes in handy from that aspect, from preventative maintenance and establishing where they should be spending money in the next year, two years, three years, whatever it may be.

And that's a good point, Ant. These guys, they probably don't know what they don't know. Like that flexi hose example. Okay, say you're a bit older, you've been around the traps and you've had a hose burst or something like that. That might be something that you check for. That's right. But a first home buyer that's buying a unit, no offense to them, there's a pretty good chance that they've just got no clue to even think about looking for that.

That's right. And if they haven't owned a property before, it's not really on their radar. Yeah. So you know, there's, there's other stuff in there that we comment about in terms of general maintenance, but. Yeah. I think that's another aspect of the report that definitely comes in handy.

Oh. I think just to close that out, if you are a first home buyer or even not a first home buyer, the peace of mind of the inspection is just such an important piece of the puzzle. To the point where the REIQ have put a couple of standard terms or standard clauses into their contracts, one being building a pest and the other one being finance.

These are two really high ticket items where there's risk involved. Can I get the money to buy this property? Obviously huge. Otherwise you shouldn't be signing contracts. You need to be able to get the money. And two, you need to be able to make sure that what you think you're buying, what you see is actually what you're buying, without these expensive traps that may reveal themselves later on without that inspection.

That's right. Yeah. And they can be really expensive. 

Yeah. Like it can ruin people's lives. It can be big, big showstoppers. Yeah. 

Yeah. I mean, you buy a lemon, you gotta fix it up, you gotta put it back on the market. You're going to lose on stamp duty again. You're going to lose on sale costs.

It could set you back hundreds of thousands of dollars realistically. Yeah. Whereas you could've just spent the money on the inspection and gone. Yep. All good. Yep. That's right. Mate, I've got one more question for you. Something we ask all of our guests, so put you on the spot here.

It's not a stitch up. So we are here to raise the bar, right? That's the whole goal, is adding value to whoever might be listening. Just a golden nugget, it can be anything, not necessarily building and pest related or property related, just anything that comes to mind with you where you think, whoever's listening to me right now will get some value out of this. From your career and life experience. 

I've bought and sold a few properties now and we've done developments and I've had reasonable success with that. And what I kind of have to always told myself or learn throughout the process is, you gotta remember when you go to buy a property, if it's listed through a real estate agent you gotta remember you, you're more or less buying off the real estate agent, so the easier you can make their life, and the more you can get them to push your offer through, the better.

So a short building and pest term is really important. They're going to push through your five day way before someone who's got 14 days. Obviously you're not subject to sale and stuff like that. If you've got your finance sorted and if you can be really, really aggressive.

All the properties that I've ever bought Yeah. Have been super aggressive with. I said, Hey, look, here's my contract. I get my building pest done in a couple of days. Finance is approved. This will be, this deal will be done and dusted in five days. Yeah. Right. And that's a big plus because, I mean, I've sold property before and I've been waiting for people to sell their homes or they've had a longer building in pest period, and you just lay-by'ing their properties, and then they crash the contract.

And then you go through the process again. And even if someone comes in and they're $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 less than another person, if the risk is minimal, and you know you're going to get an answer within a couple of days, as a seller, I'm definitely more keen on selling to that person.

And I'm sure the real estate agent is more keen on your offer going through before somebody else. Of course they're, yeah. So I, I, I, I would recommend just being extremely aggressive when you're looking at purchasing. Try to move as quickly as 

possible. That's a huge one. I'm just reflecting now on my last purchase, that you helped me with the inspection.

We found it Sunday morning. Yeah, just online. The agent opened it Sunday afternoon. Yep. We made an offer Sunday night, and it was under contract Monday morning and they opened it up Sunday after afternoon, just for you. Right? Just for me. Yeah. And, and, and do that. And we told them we're no nonsense.

We know what we're looking for. Yep. Let us through. We did seven day building and pest, Seven day finance. Yep. We said to the guy, mate, in a week it's going to be unconditional, and we're away. Makes a huge difference. Yeah, definitely. Whereas if we did 14 days and Oh, can we see it on Thursday?

I reckon, we were pretty happy with the buy we got, it probably wouldn't have been there on Thursday. 

That's right. Yeah, definitely. Like we found it on Sunday and we called on Sunday and we got the result. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. You gotta, you gotta be quick. You gotta be quick. I mean, you monitor the market as much as you can.

Sometimes you'll see a property that comes up like on real estate.com on a Monday, and it's advertised for first open item on Saturday. Call the agent up on the Monday or the Tuesday and say, hey look, can I get through earlier? Are you letting anybody else come through earlier?

Because people would've done that, buyer's agents would've done that as well. I bought properties before that haven't even gone to the market, haven't had their first open home. 

Yeah, man. I remember one. It's funny you say that. Like I was looking at a place up here in Brizzie a few years ago and agents said, oh look, it hasn't hit the market yet.

It's coming soon. Or whatever. The first open homes on Saturday. 

Yep. 

I think I rung on the Monday from memory. Mm-hmm. And he's like, oh, photos are happening on Wednesday. If you want, you can have a quick look through when the photographer's here. Yep. And we managed to actually snag that and get it under contract on the Wednesday.

That's massive. Yeah, that's huge. Yeah. 

Like whereas if I waited till Saturday, some other guy could have inspected it and taken it. So potentially strike all the iron's hot is huge in property, isn't it? Yep. 

And just move as quickly as you possibly can. So if you are, if you are starting your property journey, obviously you've already spoken to your mortgage broker and you have an idea roughly on what you can spend, even before you find the right property, give your building and pest inspector a call. Give us a call and just say, hey look, I'm looking in this area. This is what I'm looking at. How much is the building and pest, and how quickly can you get out there? 

Yeah. 

Right. And then we've got your, you will let you know it's going to be, you know, five days.

Sometimes it can even be quicker. Before you sign that offer form you know, give us a call. Just say, hey, you know, just making sure that you can still fit us in within five days. We definitely will be, but might be able to fit you in even earlier than that, right? Yeah. Because you might be signing an offer form on a Monday after the weekend, if we can get out there on Wednesday, get the inspection done, and you can go and you can get your finance sorted, if it's already more or less sorted. You've gone unconditional before the next weekend of open homes, right? Yeah, yeah. But if it goes for another weekend, there might be somebody who's prepared to pay more for you. Yeah. And then you offer is off the table. 

Correct. So moving quick, that's the, that's the tip. Yep. Yep. Love it. Good stuff mate. Thanks for coming on the show. Thanks having you. We'll put some info in, depending on what platform you're listening on to get in touch with Ant, check out his website his contact details.

If you need an inspector, give him a call. Awesome. Thank you. Thanks mate. Hope this added some value, guys. Thanks for listening. Thank you.