The reasons you pay for an inspection is easy to understand, you pay for what you get with everything in life, you know that, or you should do by now as an adult.
If you google cheap building and pest inspections Adelaide, you will get all sorts of offers. Some starting from $329 for a building report or $295 from another business.
There is a reason that things are cheap, what you actually want is something reasonably priced.
My prices also start at a reasonable base figure of $350 and do so for a good reason and the price quoted is the price, none of this call and book, then to find out that that price was for a 2 bedroom unit.
My $350 price is for a 4 bedroom house in metro Adelaide. If for a two storey home I add an additional $100 and that is stated at the start of the conversation. If you want a Pest Report written up, sure that's an additional $150
Sure if you want me to check out a two bedroom unit, it still takes 90 mins even for a small unit. It's the set up for wet areas, then crawling through a roof space and a ladder to inspect the roof top. The bed rooms are the easy part and take the least amount of time. What is covered in an inspection is written in another blog if you want to know more, have click and read away.
So most jobs are $500 for both building and pest, but it's your call. I am happy to do just the building and only advise on the pest issues.
I am trained to operate and bring to every job a certified, calibrated Termatrac Termite detector. This offers you peace of mind.
I carry and use a Flir thermal camera and tramex moisture meter at every job.
I bring laser measuring and leveling tools to each job, to check for levels of bathroom floors for water flow issues.
I even have a gas leakage meter, electricity voltage detector that gets used on most jobs.
All my tools carried and used is also on a different blog, so if you want to know, have a click and read away.
So it comes down to what do you want for your money, if its just a report written on a few pages, go cheap and cheerful and try your luck with budget building inspectors.
All my work comes from word of mouth, not click bait, paid google ads or paid advertising, as all these costs are what makes the other inspectors charge more
Call Steve 0499611528 and lets get it done with Integrity.

​If you are wondering what happens during a house inspection, below is a typical inspection and the tools used.
Starting on the roof, loose or damaged tiles are noted, sagging roof lines noted to investigate later, gutters and flashing are checked for holding water or rust.
The exterior of the house is visually inspected for rising damp issues and checked with a moisture meter. Cracks in the exterior walls, wood rot in windows and timber trims are investigated. The eaves are inspected for sagging, moisture issues and asbestos.
The fences are inspected for damage, paths, driveways, are inspected for falls and the house perimeter points of termite access are investigated. Retainer walls, gates, down pipes, storm water and drainage are checked, prior to looking inside the house.
Roof cavity areas are inspected next, looking at why if any roof sagging issues were seen or any other structural faults that may be identified. Insulation is checked and tile battens or purlins checked for faults.  I have seen termite issues, poor construction and especially DIY efforts from renovations that remove walls, resulting in unstable roof construction. Some times the houses are simply not worth buying, as the illegal modifications must be repaired. Your house insurance will not cover work done by unlicensed  trades, so choose carefully that house or be smart and have it inspected prior to purchase if an auction or use your cooling off period if a standard house purchase.
Underfloor areas are then checked for termite activity, plumbing and building defects. I have found some really unsafe under floor areas, that once notified saved clients thousands of dollars.
Bathroom floor areas are checked for falls, walls and flooring checked for moisture issues and cracked or loose tiles. Ceilings are inspected for sagging, paint flake and if the exhaust fan is operable, as is the lighting. Bathrooms and the other wet areas have the greatest issues, so a lot of time is spent in these rooms. Repairs to bathroom areas can cost many thousands of dollars and often they have been poorly renovated, to assist in a fast sale. These bathrooms look great to you, but once I fully check them out the report will show you the defects that need repairs done urgently. Issues such as wood rot, swollen MDF architraves and door frames and the associated hidden mold issues that will be apparent a few months into your home ownership. You may find that your house insurance will pay to rectify the damage but not the cause, leaving you with a hefty renovation bill you never budgeted for.
Other rooms are similarly examined for floor levels, moisture in walls and floors from leaking bathroom areas. Ceilings for sag and electrical switches checked. 
Carport and garages often have failing ceiling areas, due to lack of insulation. This is common on more than half of the houses I inspect. If left unattended, the ceilings will collapse over time. This is another area that is not covered by your house hold insurance, as it is classified as lack of maintenance.  
Having the right technology and knowing where to inspect thoroughly is paramount for your house inspection. Having an accurate, quality tool for inspecting moisture issues, such as leaking pipes or taps in walls. A thermal camera is used at every job to check air flow and heating, cooling and moisture issues if appropriate. Being a qualified operator of the Termatrac termite radar tool and knowing where to use it to locate active termites is very important. Even the knocking stick is a tool used at every job, to locate loose tiles and find areas to check with the moisture meter, to see if a bathroom renovation that will cost thousands may be required.
I use my laser level for checking bathroom falls, especially in DIY renovations, as often this is an area that will be very expensive to rectify.
I carry with me the usual torches etc that are used to locate hard to see things such as patched or repaired walls, but also a cavity camera for checking hard or near impossible areas to see, when required.
I carry on me an electrical tester for testing live electrical wires that look suspect, as the roof space is often an area of DIY electrical work.
I even have a ferro detector for locating the depth and location of steel rebar and mesh. Often poorly installed mesh can cause concrete cancer and this is almost impossible to rectify without cutting out the rebar or mesh,  with large sections of concrete. This is not always an issue just for close to the sea housing.
Of course the most important factor is the experience of your chosen inspector. It is up to you to decide if someone who has bought into a franchise is the right person for you or some one  who has spent his life in the building industry.
Look at the reviews on google and decide yourself. 
As a small business owner, I will check everywhere I can, to ensure you are buying a great house. 

Water testing has shown that Adelaide and regional South Australia has the largest rate of ice usage in the country. This worrying fact does affect you, as the manufacture of drugs in domestic housing is very common. The reality is that rental accommodation makes shifting from house to house to assist in hiding drug labs from police very easy.
When looking at purchasing your next family home this is of concern as the residue from the manufacture of substances such as ice, stay with the house. It is absorbed into the painted house walls and ceilings as well as the grouted floor areas of the home. Carpets, curtains and other soft furnishings absorb the dangerous chemicals as does the timber framework in the roof areas, where the vents are dumping the poisonous chemical vapors. It also is commonly vented into the ceiling space through exhaust fans or holes, as the chemical smell is very strong.
When looking at a house to purchase, several give away signs may be present such as the following.
Vents cut into the ceiling space, through walls or windows.
Hooks or hanging rods hanging from the ceiling.
Unusual chemical smells or other items being used to mask the smell from you at the inspection. Often smelling like cat urine
Hazing on windows.
Burnt areas in the rear yard used to burn up chemical packaging that could not be placed in the bin.
Chemical waste staining around sink areas of the house, such as the bath, kitchen sink or laundry sink areas.
Chemical staining to bench tops, tiled areas and stove cook top areas.
Generally the houses are rental and often not well maintained as no trade repairs would have occurred, as it is primarily a production area for drugs not a family living environment. 
If you see any of the signs as mentioned above combined with recently painted walls and steam cleaned carpets, alarm bells should be ringing in your head. If you seriously are still interested in the property, I suggest you have the contract written allowing for testing and the associated waiting time for the results written into your contract. If this scares off the seller or real estate agent, you should be concerned.
I would suggest talking to the owners of the neighboring houses, I often do when doing the inspection. Why would you want to be told after you bought the house about these issues?
To test for traces of drug related chemicals is a process that is time consuming and also a guessing game as only small swab areas are done due to the costs involved.
Companies such as Asbestos SA / Hazmat Australia can provide this service for you, Andrew Butler can be contacted on 0476943768.

Leaking and dampness in walls, ceilings and floors can be the result of many things.
I recently came across a dwelling with many dampness related issues, from multiple sources.
As a structure with multiple levels, leak points came from all over the building.
Rendered wall sheet cracking had allowed for wall moisture in all 3 floor levels to the extent that the removal of the external wall board sheeting was recommended to rectify this issue.
Cracked mortar to the tiled roof top area and failed sealant joints had allowed for moisture ingress to the ceiling area below. Rectification work would require the ceiling to be removed, as well as the tiling grout joints requiring removal and re grouting. The flooring on the third level had leaked and allowed moisture to soak into the flooring substrate and cause swelling and subsequent tile cracking. To rectify this area, the tiling would need to be removed and the flooring substrate replaced.
An out of view box gutter had blocked due to a curtain blowing into it and allowing the box guttering to overflow. The box gutter overflow however was positioned over the cracked wall sheeting. This allowed for leaking into the wall  areas of the rooms below.
Moisture had leaked right down to the ground floor ceilings and floor areas.
Lack of painting maintenance had also allowed for the window trim timbers to have excessive wood rot, as the timbers were located on the second and third storey.
On this same house the tiled laundry floor area had excessive cracking with moisture visibly leaking out of the cracks.
My job as an inspector is not to judge the property and suggest if the client should or should not purchase it, but to advise on the faults.
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​Trusting that the building inspector is fully investigating your future house is very important for many reasons. I spend a minimum of 90 mins looking over, through and around the property. Looking for issues that you did not notice at the 10 minute open house. I carry tools fit for the purpose of building and termite inspections with me at all times. The T3 Termatrac termite radar unit is used on all pest inspections looking for termite movement within a wall frame or flooring, and also a Tramex moisture metre to look for dampness issues that are attractive to termites. During house inspections, I use a Flir thermal camera for looking into walls for moisture irregularities, an electrical testing tool to check for correctly disconnected old wiring, a cavity camera for hard to see areas that require further investigation. I even carry a metal scanner for checking the location as well as the depth of steel rebar and mesh hidden in concrete slabs. This is important to determine if DIY concrete has been adequately constructed or if it will fail in just a few short years. I use laser measuring and levelling equipment to see if house slabs have subsided as well as checking for movement in walls.
The most important tool is the knowledge of what to look for and report on, this can only be had with many years of building experience. All the tools in my car are useless without training and experience.
To put it simply, if the building inspector you have chosen, just walks around with a camera, a pen and a piece of paper, you are probably not getting value for your money spent or a real report on the actual condition of the house.

Old electrical wiring is something that I test if it looks dangerous. I am not an electrician and all electrical work should always to be performed by an electrician, so my job as an inspector is to note issues in the report for you the purchaser to act upon if you buy the house. Often old electric water heaters or evaporative air conditioners are disconnected or removed from the roofing space in older homes. In most of these houses the wiring has been correctly terminated or disconnected. I however still do find  poorly insulated, cracked and exposed live wiring, or junction box's not covered from home DIY projects in quite a few houses. Accidentally touching any of these while crawling through the ceiling space can be hazardous. Electrical work when done by licensed tradesman is generally very tidy, with clips holding the wiring tightly back to the hanging beams and along rafters, additional wiring has been trimmed off when the cable run was installed. When wiring is seen coiled up you know that the work is sub standard or most likely it has been a DIY effort.
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Due to restrictions and just common sense, the way building inspections are being done has changed because of this pandemic.
For the home owners safety, latex gloves, face masks and hand sanitiser are applied during the inspection of the house. My gloves are replaced during the inspection multiple times, to stop the transfer of germs from different surfaces that I have touched and hand sanitiser applied prior to the new gloves, in case the gloves tear. The mask is a P2 grade (N95), so the return air is filtered through the mask, not dumped through a valve into your house. Your safety is important, as is mine to me. Each house inspection has a new mask and the old one dumped with the gloves in my bin for disposal. My tablet and phone are wiped down with antiseptic after each inspection too.
I would recommend that you do not at this point in time, be present for the inspection, due to the risks associated with touching surfaces that may not be sterile. Of course when you do move into the house, you will give it a good clean, but during the private inspections it may have been touched by many people.
Keep safe, keep ringing for inspections if you are buying and we are allowed to work doing them for you.
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Ant caps are used as a physical barrier, to deflect the termite mud works, so the termite workings can be seen and then treated appropriately once observed. A physical barrier such as an ant cap, will not stop termites, but allow for a visual inspection to be able to be done more easily. The house pictured above has none installed. A pest control company has obviously inspected this property and applied a chemical barrier. This is obvious due to the wall penetrations that have allowed access into the underfloor areas.
Note that due to the poor demolition, unsupported floor joists are now also an issue. 
​Debris from the demolition is also scattered around inhibiting viewing for possible termite mud workings.
This house had no active termites that I could locate, the under floor area was dry and ventilated, reducing the risk of termite activity.
The treatment chemical used was Premise, that has an active working life of 5 to 7 years and it was last sprayed in 2010 so was well overdue.
I recommended to my client that this termite treatment should be on going and to contact the last company involved, as they should also reinstate some of the brickwork.
​ I recommend this as I have duty of care to the purchaser.

Evaporative air conditioners can cause rust issues with roofing,guttering and down pipes. This is due to the reticulation of water increasing the salinity of the water run off.
Ideally PVC pipework should direct the water into a down pipe, not just a gutter and if the down pipe is PVC, no issues with rust can can develop. Unfortunately, this is not often done and hence rust issues, like in the photo above can happen.  This down pipe is extremely damaged but more commonly surface rust or rusted sections are seen around the down pipe near the air conditioner overflow. 
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