What a building and pest inspection report looks like, section by section
A report to this standard typically contains, in this order:
- Summary. The findings that matter, sorted by severity, on 1 or 2 pages. If you read nothing else, read this.
- Property details. Address, date, weather (it matters for moisture readings), who attended, the construction type and era, and whether the property was furnished or occupied.
- Access limitations. Every area that could not be inspected, and why: no manhole into the roof void, subfloor clearance under the safe minimum, a locked shed, stored goods against a wall. Read this section before the findings, not after.
- Findings by area. Roof exterior, roof void, external walls, subfloor, interior room by room, wet areas, site and drainage, outbuildings. Each finding with a photograph, a rating and a plain note on what it is and what to do.
- Timber pest findings. The separate report under AS 4349.3-2010: activity, damage, conducive conditions, areas not inspected.
- Photographs. Inline with each finding, not dumped in an appendix.
- Recommendations. Which specialist to consult for which finding, and what to do next.
Reading the severity ratings: major, minor, safety hazard
| Rating | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Major defect | Needs substantial work to fix, or affects the structure's performance, safety or the use of the building. A failed roof, a moving footing, live termites in framing, a shower leaking into the floor below. | Get the specialist's opinion and a price inside your cooling-off period, then negotiate or walk with your conveyancer. |
| Minor defect | Maintenance or cosmetic: cracked render, a dripping tap, a blocked gutter, worn paint, a sticking window. The bulk of most reports. | Note the cost of the list as a whole; no single item changes the decision. |
| Safety hazard | A risk to people regardless of cost: a missing balustrade, an unsafe switchboard, a trip hazard, a loose step, a non-compliant pool barrier. | Price the fix and plan it for before you move in. |
| Further investigation | Something the visual inspection can see the symptom of but not the cause: movement that needs an engineer, a wet area that needs a plumber's test. | Book the specialist named. Do not treat it as 'probably fine'. |
The failure mode in this trade is padding: a report that lists 60 items and buries the 2 major ones on page 40 so the inspector looks thorough. Buyers punish it in reviews and they are right to. The summary page exists so the major items are impossible to miss.
Reading the termite inspection report
The timber pest section is a separate report under a separate standard, and it answers 4 questions.
- Is there live activity? Workings, live insects, fresh mud leads, and where.
- Is there damage, current or historic, and to what: framing, flooring, skirtings, outbuildings.
- What are the conducive conditions? Moisture, timber in ground contact, garden beds against brick, blocked subfloor vents, stored timber. These are the findings that prevent the next colony, and they are cheap to fix.
- What could not be inspected, and why.
Then a recommendation. Because we inspect and do not treat, the recommendation is a next step, not a sale: a licensed pest manager for treatment if there is activity, a fix for the conducive conditions either way, an annual inspection interval. If you take the report to a pest manager, the questions to put to them are: which species, where the activity is, which method they propose and why, what ongoing monitoring they recommend, and what their warranty covers. The 8 signs a buyer can spot are in the signs of termites guide; the scope of the inspection is on the termite inspection page.
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Photographed, rated, summary first, the same day. And the person who wrote it answers your questions on it.
Access limitations, and what they really mean
“Inaccessible” is the word the 1-star reviews attack, and they attack it because it has been used as a con: an inspector who did not go under the floor writes “subfloor: not inspected, limited access” and the buyer finds the termites at settlement. So here is how to read the section. A limitation that names the area, the reason and the consequence is honesty: “roof void not entered: no manhole; recommend a manhole be cut and the void inspected before settlement” tells you exactly what you do not know and what to do about it. A limitation that names nothing (“some areas were inaccessible”) is the one to query. 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. That sentence is on every service page of this site because it is the answer to the fear.
See a sample report, and why you should ask any inspector for one
The report is the product: you are buying the document. So here are 2 real ones, a 52-page pre-purchase building and pest report and a 35-page new home construction report, with the address and report number removed and every page watermarked. They tell you whether a report leads with the summary, photographs every finding and names its limitations. Only 2 of the 10 pages ranking for a Sydney building inspection offer anything like this, which says something about the other 8.
Real reports · Address removed · Watermarked
Download 2 real sample reports
Your details go to Sure Sight Inspections only. The download links appear here as soon as you submit.
Is there a building inspection report template?
People search for one hoping to inspect the house themselves and fill it in. There are templates, and the Australian Standards define what a compliant report contains, but a template is not an inspection. The value is not the headings; it is the roof void, the subfloor, the moisture readings and the builder’s call on whether a crack is cosmetic or structural, none of which a template supplies. Use the element table in the what a building inspection covers guide as your own checklist for the open home, and let the inspection do the 3 places you cannot: the roof, the roof void and under the floor.
Photos: what a good report photo shows, and what a bad one hides
A good report photograph locates the finding (the room, the wall, the position on it), shows the defect with something for scale, and is captioned with what it is and its rating. A bad one is a close-up of a crack with nothing else in frame, which could be any wall in any house. The difference matters most 6 months after settlement, when you want to prove the defect was there, and on a dilapidation report, where the photograph is the whole product. “Took a hundred photos” is a complaint in this trade, not a compliment: the count is meaningless if none of them can be found again.
What to do with the report: negotiate, get a specialist quote, or walk away
Lead with the summary. A major item goes to the specialist the recommendations name, for an opinion and a price. Then the report and the quote go to your conveyancer as a negotiating document, inside the cooling-off period if that is where you are: renegotiate, ask for repairs, ask for an extension, or rescind. The vendor is not obliged to agree to anything; the report makes the ask specific. The full version is the before or after the offer guide, and the clock is the cooling-off period guide.
Talking to the inspector: what to ask
The inspector who was on site, Ibrahim, is the person you talk to about the findings. After-report care is part of every inspection.Read the report first, then ask: which of these findings would change your decision if it were your money; which need a specialist and which need a tradesperson; what did you not see, and does it worry you; and is this house better or worse than the others of its age and type you inspect. Nghia Nguyen, Google review: “He took the time to answer all my questions, no matter how small, and helped me understand what each issue meant in practical terms.” That is the conversation the report is written to start.