Faulty electrical works are a safety risk for people and fire risk to your home. We’ve all seen the repercussions in the media of what can go wrong when standard safety measures are not taken into account, such as installing insulation in ceilings over the top of electrical cables.
Depending on the length of contract until settlement, we recommend you leave a minimum of 14 days to have an answer - not because it takes this long to book an inspection, but you still need to consider the outcome of the inspection. If you find there are queries that you want answers to, or negotiations you need to have after you've seen the report, you still have to meet the timeframe you've nominated in the contract before your sale is unconditional.
The property market in Brisbane’s northern suburbs has recovered and it’s definitely a seller’s market.
Remarkably the average time for a property to be listed is currently only 8 days whereas two years ago it was 90 days (as stated on Channel 7 News - March 5, 2014). With roughly between 15 and 90 people attending each open house, the competition to get a valuable and worthwhile home before the prices re-adjust to the market is tough.
As of December 2013 the Queensland Building Services Authority will be replaced by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) as the regulator for the Queensland building industry.
As one of the largest overseers of employers in Queensland, the biggest reform in 20 years will see the creation of the QBCC. Reflecting the sector's large economic growth the QBCC will have a board with members from different business areas including construction, law, finance and insurance.
From December 20, 2013 the Department of Housing and Public Works revised the Building Regulation 2006 (BR) and schedule 7 of the Sustainable Planning Regulation 2009 to give a more consistent approach to buildings in flood hazard areas. You can find more information and factsheets on the Department's website:
Top 10 building defects
Each month, the Building Services Authority (BSA) releases a list of the ‘Top 10 defects’ reported in the Queensland building and construction industry.
Note: the ‘number of defects’ figure accumulates over the financial year and begins again at ‘0’ each year from 1 July. The June defect report was:
|
Rank |
Defect category |
Number of defects |
|
1 |
Over the past 15 years and thousands of inspections, ABIS have researched numerous technologies. In recent years, we have adopted thermal imaging which has proven to be a very useful tool in improving the quality of our inspections.
However, due to recent outrageous claims from unscrupulous inspectors, we feel compelled to do some "myth busting".
According to Cabe, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment which surveyed residents of homes built between 2003 and 2006 within an hour’s travel of London, the UK builds the smallest homes in Europe so the British are now probably sleeping standing up.
The average room in a newly built dwelling in France is 26.9 square meters compared with 15.8 square meters in the UK.
The average floor space of a newly built home in Australia is 206 more than double the size of a tiny 76 in the UK.
Here's your chance to grab an eternity of fame next to Marilyn Monroe according to the Telegraph. A burial plot next to the late starlet is up for sale on eBay for with bids starting at $710,000.
The crypt is located in Westwood Village Memorial Park, where Natalie Wood, Dean Martin and the recently passed Farah Fawcett are also buried. Hugh Hefner, whose Playboy Mansion is located in the same neighborhood, reportedly paid upwards of $80,000 for a crypt there in the same cemetery.
Here’s an unusual feel-good foreclosure story from Diane Tuman, Zillow Content Manager that may have a positive ending and perhaps create an entirely new career for an American woman who is an actress and divorced mother of three. In a creative measure to save her house from foreclosure, she held a bake sale with her goal to bake and sell 100 homemade “mortgage apple pie cakes” at $40 each.
Overseas, million-dollar homes are being turned into nightclubs by teenagers, unbeknownst to their owners until police arrive to break them up.
Undertaking a spot of renovation can uncover nasty surprises which may even escape detection by a diligent building inspection according to Richard Savill of the London Telegraph.
Ironically, a funeral director has found a perfectly preserved 400-year-old cat behind the wall of his cottage when builders were stripping his bathroom.
The cat, is in recognisable shape with claws and teeth, is quite scary-looking and larger than today's domestic cat.
According to Marian Burros of the New York Times, Michelle Obama will be digging up a patch of the South Lawn to plant a vegetable garden, the first at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden in World War II. And no one, including the president, will escape being conscripted to pull weeds.
The skinniest house in New York City is for sale for the fat price of $2.75 million or $2,777.00 a square foot.
Ever have the urge to drink your own shower water? It may soon be possible.
Eco-thinkers have come up with an amazing new way to create drinking water - by putting plants in the bottom of your shower.
After you have washed in the special eco-shower, the water passes down into a series of physical filters and is treated by plants growing around your feet.
Can you really be so busy that you can't walk a 25 million dollar cheque into the bank? Believe it or not an American real estate agent deposited the cheque via a drive-through teller window. Apparently this was standard procedure for this real estate agent who often conducted large transactions in this way. Turns out the cheque bounced big-time, but not before the agent had wired 23 million dollars of funds into other accounts.
Unlike airplanes and ships, houses are not constructed to facilitate inspection with inspection panels etc. The condition of safety critical components is often hidden inside walls or other areas of the house. If you have an older home it is strongly advised that Building Inspections be conducted regularly to check safety critical items. Although such items may be hidden an experienced inspector may be able to pick up potential problems before they fail completely.
From January 1st 2012 the Queensland Government will provide an asbestos information help line on 13 74 68 and information on Asbestos is currently available on www.health.qld.gov.au/asbestos
Whilst this may be done correctly by a licensed builder in many cases this work has been undertaken by the homeowner, without legislated building approval and with the work not carried out to any recognised standard. If you are contemplating buying a highset home that has been built in under you should make sure that the following have been addressed.
