What a building inspector finds that you have stopped noticing
Short answer
Building inspectors most often report items owners have normalised: silicone failure and mould in wet areas, blocked or poorly falling gutters, sticking doors indicating movement, failed exhaust fans, damaged flyscreens and deteriorated external seals. Most are inexpensive to fix before listing and expensive to concede during negotiation.
You stop seeing your own home after about six months. The door that has always stuck, the fan that has never worked, the gutter that overflows in heavy rain – these become part of the furniture. An inspector sees them in the first ten minutes and writes them down.
The recurring list
- Silicone failure and mould in showers – read as a water problem, not a cleaning problem
- Gutters blocked or falling the wrong way
- Doors and windows that stick, which inspectors note as possible movement
- Exhaust fans that do not vent, which explains the bathroom mould
- Damaged flyscreens and security doors
- Perished external seals around windows and doors
- Loose handrails, balustrades and decking boards
- Downlights that have failed or been installed without clearance
Why this matters more than the cost of fixing it
A buyer with an inspection report does not negotiate item by item. They take the total of the report and round it up as a risk premium. Twelve small items that would have cost very little to fix become a much larger deduction, because uncertainty is priced higher than known cost.
Fix, disclose, or leave
Not everything should be repaired. Some issues are cheaper to disclose honestly, and some genuinely belong to the buyer’s own preferences. What you should never do is put a cosmetic cover over a defect – an inspector will find it, and at that point you have a credibility problem as well as a repair problem.