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...

In Queensland, it has been a widespread practice for homeowners to build rooms in the subfloor area of high-set homes. Whilst this may be done correctly by a licensed builder in many cases this work has been undertaken by the homeowner, without legislated building...

High Rise Units / Apartment Building and Pest Inspections Pre-Purchase Building and Pest Inspections are essential when buying a property, whether it is a land house, a high-rise unit, or an apartment. Building and Pest Inspections for New Home There is a common...

ASBESTOS HELP 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 The term Asbestos is given to a number of naturally occurring...

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...

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...

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...

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. It’s a townhouse 9-1/2-feet-wide (the interior is only 8-1/2 feet wide) and 42 feet  long, billed as the narrowest house in New York City. The...

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...

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...