Building Inspections in Schofields

In the Alex Avenue precinct the builder's practical completion notice tends to arrive before the house is actually finished: paint touch-ups outstanding, downpipes not connected, a balcony door that does not lock. A pre-handover inspection separates what is cosmetic from what is defective or non-compliant, and puts it all on one photographed list before you sign.

Anything on that list is the builder's cost. Anything you find after handover becomes a warranty claim you have to run yourself.

The terraces near the station and the apartments on Railway Terrace are sold off the plan, often two years before they are finished, so the first time a buyer sees the real thing is the pre-settlement walk-through. An inspector on that walk-through records the tiling, waterproofing, joinery, window and door operation, balcony falls and finishes against the contract, while the developer is still obliged to fix them.

The report also notes what was seen in the lobby, car park and common corridors, because those defects become strata levies once the scheme is handed over.

A two storey home squeezed onto a 300 square metre Schofields lot leaves no room for error at the slab, the frame or the waterproofing, and none of those can be checked once the house is lined. Stage inspections visit at slab pre-pour, frame, lock-up, fixing and waterproofing, then completion, and flag what needs fixing while it is still cheap to fix.

The stage report is short and photographed, and most owners forward it to the site supervisor and the private certifier the same afternoon.

Second-hand homes in Schofields come in two kinds. The 2012 onward estate houses need a workmanship check: waterproofing, flashings, drainage, cracking and finishes that were never rectified after handover. The remaining original homes on the old acreage blocks need the opposite, a conventional older-house inspection of roof, subfloor, moisture and structure.

A pre-purchase building inspection covers whichever you are buying, and says what is inside the builder's statutory warranty where that still applies.

The termite pressure in Schofields comes from the edges: the old acreage lots with mature gums and buried timber, the creek corridors toward Riverstone, and the market garden soil the estates were built on. Estate homes with timber fences, decks on posts or mulched garden beds against the slab are the ones that turn up activity.

The combined inspection reports visible building defects, moisture and drainage alongside termite activity, damage and the conditions that invite it.

A townhouse or apartment near Schofields station is also a share of a strata scheme, and the scheme's records tell you what the walls cannot. A strata report reviews minutes, defect claims, special levies, insurance and, where the building qualifies, its position under the Strata Building Bond and Inspections Scheme.

Read with a pre-settlement or pre-purchase inspection, it shows both the unit and the building it sits in.

Some Schofields problems only show up once the estate around you is finished: a neighbour's retaining wall that now drains into your yard, a shared driveway that has settled, a balcony membrane that failed after the second summer. A defect investigation report takes a single problem and establishes the cause and the extent.

With most of the suburb still inside the two and six year statutory warranty periods, that written finding is usually enough to get the builder back or to open a claim with NSW Fair Trading.

Several Schofields estates and townhouse projects were left part-finished when their builder entered administration, and the owners have ended up dealing with icare, NCAT or both. Each wants an independent report that itemises, photographs and costs every incomplete, defective and non-compliant item.

Owner Inspections prepares expert witness reports to that scope for Schofields owners, whether the claim is on the Home Building Compensation Fund or against a builder who is still trading.