A pre-purchase inspection report on a 1960s house can run forty pages and list sixty items. Most of them are normal for the age. Two or three of them might be the reason to renegotiate or walk. Inspectors write for their insurer as much as for you, so the report is cautious, repetitive and full of phrases that mean more than they say. Here is how a builder reads one.
The builder skips to the summary of major defects, then searches the document for the words "further investigation", "unable to inspect" and "safety hazard". Everything else is maintenance.
Under the standard most inspectors work to, a major defect is one that needs substantial repair or replacement, or that could cause further damage or a safety problem if left. A minor defect is everything else: wear, cosmetic damage, small maintenance items. The catch is that "major" is about the size of the repair, not how scary it sounds. A cracked roof tile is minor. A sagging roof line is major. Rust on a gutter is minor. A rusted-through box gutter over a ceiling is major.
Count the majors, then read each one twice. A report with two majors and forty minors on a sixty year old house is a normal old house. A report with six majors that all involve water or movement is a pattern.
Of the major defects, which ones involve water getting in or the structure moving, and which are just big maintenance jobs?
Inspectors have a vocabulary. "Further investigation recommended" means they saw something they could not diagnose in a visual inspection, and they are protecting themselves. It is the most important phrase in the report because the answer is unknown and could be nothing or could be the deal. "Unable to inspect" or "access restricted" means a part of the house was not looked at: the roof space blocked by insulation, the sub-floor with 300mm clearance, the wall behind the built-in robe. Anything not inspected is a blank cheque.
"Evidence of" is a hedge. Evidence of past termite activity, evidence of moisture, evidence of previous repair. It tells you something happened and does not tell you whether it is finished. "Consistent with the age of the building" is the inspector telling you this is normal and not to panic. "Safety hazard" is the one that should be fixed before anyone moves in, regardless of the sale.
Every old house has cracks. The report should describe width, location and pattern, and the inspector should classify them. Hairline cracks in plaster at corners of doors and windows are movement in the frame or plaster shrinkage. Stepped cracks through brick mortar joints on the outside are the footing moving. Diagonal cracks that are wider at one end than the other point to one corner dropping or heaving. Cracks that have been patched and reopened are live.
The location is the tell. Cracks concentrated at one corner near a large tree or a leaking downpipe are a local moisture problem in reactive clay. Cracks spread through the whole house are settlement or poor footings. In Victoria on stumps, sloping floors and doors that swing shut on their own go with the cracks and point to restumping.
Are the cracks described as stepped through the brickwork or only in the plaster, and are any of them wider at one end?
A good report includes moisture meter readings in wet areas and at the base of external walls. A high reading at the bottom of a wall in an older masonry house is rising damp or salt damp, and in Adelaide it is common. A high reading on the wall behind the shower is a failed waterproofing membrane. A high reading on a ceiling under a valley or a box gutter is a roof leak that has not shown as a stain yet.
Look for the pattern, not the single number. One damp spot behind a shower is a bathroom job. Damp along the whole south wall at skirting height is a damp course job. Either way, the report should say where and the photo should show it.
The roof space is where the inspector sees the house with its clothes off. Read for: sagging or cut rafters and purlins, which means someone has modified the structure; water staining on the underside of the sarking or the tiles; daylight where there should not be; old wiring types; the absence of sarking under tiles; and the presence of old insulation that looks like loose grey fibres, which they will not touch and will recommend testing.
If the roof section is short and says access was limited, the report has not told you about the roof. On a tiled roof from the 1960s to 1980s that is the section you most need.
How much of the roof space was actually accessed, and did you see the valleys and any box gutters from inside?
On a house with a timber floor, the sub-floor section covers stumps or piers, bearers and joists, ventilation, drainage and termites. Timber stumps rot at ground level and the report will say "deteriorated" or "displaced". Concrete stumps crack at the top where the bearer sits. Poor ventilation shows as fungal growth on the underside of the floor and a musty smell. Water under the house after rain means the site drains towards it, not away.
The number the inspector will note is the clearance. Too little and they could not get in, which becomes "unable to inspect" for the entire structure you are standing on.
A building inspection and a timber pest inspection are usually two reports, sometimes by two people. The pest report covers termites, borers and wood rot. The phrase to find is "active" versus "evidence of past". Past activity with a current treatment and a barrier certificate is a managed risk. Active termites are a stop. No barrier and no treatment history on an older house near bush or a creek is a question, not a verdict.
The pest report also lists conducive conditions: garden beds against the wall, weep holes buried by paving, timber in contact with soil, leaking taps. These are cheap to fix and expensive to ignore.
Is there a current termite management system and can I see the certificate and the last inspection?
A 1950s house with original wiring, no safety switches and a single bathroom with a hob shower is a 1950s house. Those items are not defects in the sense of something having gone wrong. They are the house telling you what it is. A 1990s house with the same list is a house that has been neglected.
Use the era to decide what to negotiate on. Salt damp, asbestos sheeting in the eaves and the wet areas, and lead paint are expected in older stock across Adelaide and Melbourne and should already be in the price. A roof that has been replaced in the last ten years, a rewire, or a restump that has been done properly are the things that make an old house worth more than the one next door.
Make three lists. Deal-changers: anything structural, active termites, a roof at the end of its life, movement with no explanation. Get a specialist to price these before you go unconditional, and use the numbers to renegotiate or walk. Fix-before-moving-in: safety hazards, electrical, gas, anything with water coming in. Maintenance: everything else, which you will do over the first few years.
Then ring the inspector. They will tell you more in ten minutes on the phone than the report says in forty pages, because they are not writing for their insurer when they talk to you.
If this were your money, which three items in this report would you want priced before you signed?
The pages on BuildPilot this guide leans on.
A defect that needs substantial repair or replacement, or that could cause further damage or a safety problem if left. It is about the size of the repair, not how alarming the wording is. A sagging roof line is major; a cracked tile is minor.
The inspector saw something they could not diagnose from a visual inspection and is telling you to get a specialist to look at it. It is the most important phrase in the report because the answer is unknown.
Hairline plaster cracks are usually cosmetic. Stepped cracks through brick mortar joints, diagonal cracks wider at one end, or cracks over about 5mm point to footing movement and are worth an engineer's opinion before you buy.
No. The timber pest inspection is a separate report covering termites, borers and rot. Get both on an older house, and look for the difference between "active" and "evidence of past" activity.
Every older house has defects. Walk away from unexplained structural movement, active termites, or a combination of water and movement problems you cannot price. Negotiate on the big priced items. Accept the age-appropriate maintenance.
Sizes quoted are typical for Australian residential work and are given to help you read drawings and ask better questions. They are not a specification. Your engineer, designer, builder and the National Construction Code decide what applies to your house.
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