There are hundreds of residential but not all building inspectors offer the same service, some provide service to the building industry in the form of stage inspections, certificate of occupancy and defect reports.

The services of a pre-purchase building inspector in Melbourne (and Victoria) do not require that they necessarily be a registered building practitioner. However there is an Australian standard to follow AS4349.1 and there is a special purpose insurance policy for the Pre-Purchase home inspector, which you should note is different to the policy that a registered building practitioner must carry.

In this market where consumer service is paramount to the success of any business, building inspectors and building inspection companies are becoming more focused on the areas of service they provide. It is not uncommon for building inspection companies to take a particular position where they decide that their market of service will only be of buildings under construction, some will only work in the area of pre purchase established home inspections, some will focus on dispute resolution and others may be trade specific with a focus on a single particular component of the construction e.g. roof inspections, electrical inspection and plumbing inspections.

As a consumer of a building inspection service it is important to have a clear set of criteria when identifying your best choice of building inspector for the job.

What is the building inspector’s area of expertise?

Building inspectors that specialise in a particular area of service, such as the pre-purchase real estate market become more efficient at inspecting property that is prepared for sale, these inspectors often develop a stronger ability to detect building “makeovers” that have been poorly slapped together for the purposes of a sale and are accustomed to dealing with the tricks of the trade implemented by real estate agents and home sellers to hide maintenance issues and building defects.

What locations does the building inspector have the best local knowledge of?

You will get an inspector whom by being local will have a better knowledge of the areas common building faults, local building laws, natural building hazards. Local inspectors are at greater chance of being familiar with streets and pockets of a suburb that have had drainage problems, foundation or land fill issues.

The added benefits of using a local inspector means that you are likely to receive a better response time to your call for service they can then schedule the inspection more promptly than an inspector who may have to travel one from one side of Melbourne to the other.

The costs of using a local building inspector will usually be less as the building inspector will have less time spent in travel between inspections.

Searching for a local and specific building Inspection service

Inspection Angel offers Melbourne and all Victorian Building Inspection consumers an opportunity to find building inspectors that are local to their area of service and that are specialists in the field of inspection service they require.

To locate your local building inspection expert in Melbourne and throughout Victoria begin by searching on

Inspection Angel – Australia’s #1 Building and Pest Inspection Directory.