Pest & Building Inspections Northern Beaches.
Salt, weatherboard, sandstone and bushland. The Northern Beaches is beachfront brick with rusting lintels, 1920s to 60s weatherboard and fibro cottages on piers, steep sandstone blocks with tall subfloors, and a bush fringe from Belrose to Terrey Hills with the termite pressure that comes with it. A pest and building inspection here is a coastal inspection first. Your report the same day.
Same-Day Report
Written up, photographed and emailed.
Drone, Thermal, Moisture
On every inspection, no extra charge.
1 Visit, 1 Report
Building and timber pest together.
5.0 On Google
From 30 reviews.
Same-Day Report.
Drone, thermal camera and moisture meter on every inspection, at no extra charge.
Same-day report · Building and pest in 1 visit
Book Your Inspection
5.0 from 30 Google reviews · Licensed builder · Timber pest trained · $5M public liability
Drone, Thermal, Moisture Meter
On every inspection, no extra charge
$5,000,000 Public Liability
$2,000,000 professional indemnity
Same-Day Report
Photographed and emailed
5.0 On Google
30 reviews, Sept 2026
Coastal Housing, And What Fails.
4 different environments between the surf and the national parks, each with its own defects.
Salt: Manly, Freshwater, Curl Curl, Dee Why, Collaroy
Within a few hundred metres of the surf, salt-laden air attacks steel. The finding we photograph most on beachfront and near-beach brick houses is the rusting steel lintel over a window or a door: the steel swells as it corrodes and lifts the brickwork above it, producing a horizontal crack along the mortar joint and, eventually, a lintel that has lost its strength. Brick ties inside the cavity corrode the same way and cannot be seen, so their symptoms (bulging or cracked brickwork between the openings) are what the inspection reads. Roof fixings, gutters, downpipes and metal roofing corrode faster here than anywhere else in Sydney, which is why the drone flies every coastal roof.
Weatherboard and fibro cottages: Narrabeen, Collaroy, Newport, Avalon
The 1920s to 60s beach cottages that survive between the rebuilds are timber-framed weatherboard or fibro on piers. The findings are timber decay at the bottom of the weatherboards and the base of the posts where they meet the ground and the salt, subfloor moisture on the low flat blocks, and the asbestos-cement sheeting of the fibro cottages, noted as suspected asbestos-containing material and never sampled. On a cottage that has been extended 3 times since 1950, the junctions between the eras are where the water gets in and the report spends its time.
Steep sandstone blocks: Bilgola, Avalon, Palm Beach, Church Point, Seaforth, Clontarf
The hillside suburbs are built on Hawkesbury sandstone, on blocks that fall away steeply, so the houses stand on tall subfloors, poles or piers, with retaining walls and long drainage runs holding the site together. The subfloor is the report here: the condition of the supports, the bracing, the connections, moisture and decay in the timbers, and whether the drainage takes the hillside’s water past the house or under it. We inspect the roof void and the subfloor wherever there is safe access, and if we can't get in we say so in the report, and why. A house on 4-metre poles with a subfloor you cannot inspect is a house you should not buy unseen, and the report says which it is.
The bush fringe: Belrose, Frenchs Forest, Terrey Hills, Ingleside, Elanora Heights
Inland, the suburbs adjoining Garigal National Park and Ku-ring-gai Chase carry the termite pressure that bushland brings, and the older timber-framed houses among them are the ones it reaches. This is where the pest inspection leads the job. We inspect and report to AS 4349.3-2010, with the thermal camera, moisture meter and drone included; if we find activity, the report names what, where and how much, and it goes to a licensed pest manager of your choosing for quotes. We don’t treat, so the finding is independent of a treatment sale. The 8 signs are in the signs of termites guide; the subfloor moisture that invites them is the rising damp guide.
Coastal erosion: the Collaroy to Narrabeen beachfront
The Collaroy-Narrabeen beachfront has documented coastal erosion (the June 2016 storm is the reference event) and a council coastal hazard overlay. General information: the inspection does not assess coastal hazard, and the planning certificate your conveyancer obtains records the overlay. What the inspection does record is the condition of the seawalls, retaining structures and footings it can see.
From Smithfield, Honestly.
The Northern Beaches is the furthest of the 6 regions from our Smithfield base: roughly an hour to Dee Why and more to Palm Beach, depending on the Spit and Roseville bridges. We cover it, and the inspection is the same as everywhere else. Ask when you book and we'll confirm whether any travel applies to your suburb.
What changes the price generally is on the inspection cost page.
Every Accessible Area, Every Time.
The inspection covers the interior, exterior, roof space, roof exterior, subfloor and the site, with the timber pest inspection to AS 4349.3-2010 done in the same visit. Drone, thermal camera and moisture meter on every inspection, at no extra charge. On the coast the drone reads the roof fixings, gutters and lintels for salt corrosion; on the steep blocks the tall subfloor and its supports are the core of the report.
The full zone-by-zone scope is on the building and pest inspection Sydney page, and the price is explained on the inspection cost page. A firm price before anything is booked, and your report the same day.
Northern Beaches Suburbs.
The Northern Beaches council area, from Manly to Palm Beach and inland to Terrey Hills. Postcodes so the form can confirm you’re in area.
- Manly2095
- Fairlight2094
- Balgowlah2093
- Seaforth2092
- Clontarf2093
- Freshwater2096
- Curl Curl2096
- Dee Why2099
- Collaroy2097
- Narrabeen2101
- Warriewood2102
- Mona Vale2103
- Newport2106
- Avalon Beach2107
- Bilgola2107
- Palm Beach2108
- Frenchs Forest2086
- Belrose2085
- Terrey Hills2084
- Elanora Heights2101
Not listed? The form asks for your suburb or postcode and flags anything outside Greater Sydney, so send it through and we’ll confirm rather than guess.
Which Inspection Do You Need?
Also Covered Next Door.
Northern Beaches FAQs.
Do you cover the Northern Beaches from Smithfield?
Yes. It is the furthest of our 6 regions, about an hour to Dee Why. Ask when you book and we'll confirm whether any travel applies to your suburb. Same-day service is available for cooling-off period inspections. Call and say so, and we'll tell you the soonest we can be there.
What does salt do to a house?
It corrodes steel: the lintels over windows and doors, the brick ties in the cavity, the roof fixings, the gutters and any metal roofing. A rusting lintel swells and lifts the brickwork above it; corroded ties let the outer brick skin move. Both show up as cracking the inspection reads, and the drone photographs the roof metal.
Do you get under a steep-block house?
We inspect the roof void and the subfloor wherever there is safe access, and if we can't get in we say so in the report, and why. On a pole or pier house the subfloor is the core of the report: supports, bracing, connections, moisture, decay and drainage, and the report records what could and could not be reached.
Do you treat termites?
No. We inspect and report only, to AS 4349.3-2010, which keeps the finding independent of any treatment sale. The termite inspection page explains the scope.
Is a weatherboard cottage a problem to buy?
Not as a class. Weatherboard is a maintenance material: it needs paint, and the bottom boards and post bases decay if they meet the ground or the salt. The inspection puts a photo and a rating on each junction and on the subfloor, so you buy it knowing which boards and which posts have a few years left.
You might also find this useful
- Termite InspectionTimber pest inspection to AS 4349.3-2010. We inspect and report; we don't sell treatment.Open
- Signs of TermitesThe 8 signs, how to tell termites from water damage, and what not to touch.Open
- Rising Damp and MoistureThe 7 signs, the 1.2-metre rule, subfloor ventilation, and how the inspection finds it.Open
- Pre-Purchase InspectionFor buyers. Structure and timber pests in 1 visit, timed to your cooling-off period.Open
- Inspection CostWhat changes the price, what is included, and what a cheap quote usually leaves out.Open
- What a Building Inspection CoversElement by element, with the common Sydney defects and what is not covered.Open
Prefer A Call Back?
Leave your name and number and we’ll call you back about your inspection. Pre-purchase, pre-sale, timber pest and dilapidation inspections across Greater Sydney.