Australian Standard for Pre-purchase Inspections – AS4349

The Australian Standard for Pre-Purchase Residential Building Inspections is referred to as AS4349

This Standard is part of the AS4349 series of Standards, which covers minimum requirements for the visual inspection of Buildings as follows:

AS4349 Series of Australian Standards

AS4349       Inspection of Buildings

AS4349.0   Part 0: General Requirements

AS4349.1    Part 1: Pre-Purchase Inspections – Residential Buildings

AS4349.3    Part 3: Timber Pest Inspections

These standards were prepared by the Standards Australia Committee BD-085. Inspection of Buildings, to supersede AS 4349.1 – 1995.

Part 1 and Part 3 of the Standard are the ‘defining documents’ for pre-purchase residential building and timber inspections and reports across NSW.

Part 1: “Pre-purchase inspections – Residential Buildings, (second edition) 2007” concentrates on the building side of the standard.

Part 3: “Timber Pest Inspections, 2010” as the name implies, details the minimum requirements for inspecting and reporting on timber pests such as termites and borers.

Due to copywrite laws we cannot re-produce any sections of these Australian Standards directly. Like most good information these days it exists behind paywalls. Copies of the standard can be purchased by individuals or organisations.

However, we can give an outline of the contents of these documents. Careful, we warn of boredom attacks whilst reading…

Part 1 – “Pre-purchase Residential Building Inspections”

Section 1 – General matters like the scope and limitations of the standard. Referenced documents (such as the Building Code of Australia) as well as definitions of words and terms.

Section 2 – the Inspection Agreement. This sections details how our contracts with our customers must look and what information we must provide to our customers. Things like what will be inspected, and what won’t.

Section 3 – Inspection. This stipulates which actual areas of a building should be inspected and what ‘safe and reasonable access’ means for our inspectors. It includes “Table 3.2 Dimensions for Reasonable Access”. Section 3 also details the types of defects that should be reported on and the kind of language inspectors should use to describe these building defects. Section also makes recommendations for inspectors to keep detailed records of every inspection.

Section 4 – The Report. This part of the standard is quite specific about what information is to be included in the reports and how it should be layed out. It really leaves little room for interpretation. This level of ‘prescriptive nature’ by the standard has the intended benefit of making sure everyone has the same kind of information. Of course in reality nobody ever does.

Appendix A – Pre-Purchase Structural Inspection. The section details inclusions and items for exclusion from a ‘structural inspection’.

Appendix B – Strata and Company Title Property Inspections. This section relates to the specifics of inspection of strata buildings and details what is included and excluded from a strata unit inspection and report. In short, the interior of the unit and the immediate unit exterior or ‘immediate common areas’. This section outlines the distinction between ‘individual’ and ‘common property’. Appendix B also states “Sometimes pre-purchase inspections are not requested because of an assumption that an examination of the of the strata records alone will adequately inform the purchaser of potential defects. Body corporate records will only disclose those defects that have been brought formally to the attention of the body corporate. The records will not necessarily reveal all the defects.”

Appendix C – Building Elements and Services to Be Inspected. This is a series of tables detailing room by room the types of defects and the likely areas for inclusion during inspection. The tables can be summarised as follows: Building interior, Building exterior, Roof exterior, Roof interior, Subfloor areas, Site and Fences.

Appendix D – Exclusion of Items from Inspection. Whilst nobody wants to hear what’s not included, this list is intended to provide the inspector with some amount of personal interpretation to used as a level of protection against things we can’t see. The main focus of any building inspection is major defects and building elements that are visible and relevant to the builder’s area of expertise – buildings. Most exclusions are common sense, although some are a little surprising, so rest assured we report on anything we feel is important to you and within the context of the building type and age, regardless of whether the item is listed in Appendix D.

Appendix E – Cracking of Building Elements. This section tries to define cracking in building elements with a ‘Crack Categorisation Table’ Table E1. It sets out ‘damage categories’ 0-4 for cracking in brickwork. To be honest we never really found this table was helpful at explaining to customers aout cracks. Our inspectors have developed better ways to communicate to our clients, if cracking is serious or not.

Appendix F – Types and Examples of Defects. Another table, ‘Table F1’. Details the language inspectors shoudl use to describe and detail defects. Example words are listed such as: Damage, Distortion, Water penetration, Material deterioration, Operation defects, Installation defects or Incomplete building elements. You’ll notice these terms popping up in the building repo

Australian Standard AS4349.3 Inspection of Buildings

Part 3 – 2010 “Timber Pest Inspections”

Section 1 – Scope and general aspects of the standard, limitations and definitions of words used.

Section 2 – Inspection Agreements. Same as the Building inspection reports, this sections details how our contracts with our customers must look and what information we must provide to our customers. Things like what will be inspected, and what won’t as well the scope and limitations in more detail. The idea behind why the inspection agreements are so prescriptive to try to avoid ‘misunderstanding’.

Section 3 – The Inspection. Details the requirements for the Timber Pest Inspector’s level of experience and technical understanding as well as any state based legislation which is different between states in Australia with regard to inspections and termite related building codes. Section 3 details areas for inspection, dimensions for safe and reasonable access. It details Items to be Inspected, Inspection Proceedure, Conditions conducive to Timebr Pest Activity and types of Timber pest Damage. Section 3 also makes recommendations for timber pest inspectors to keep detailed inspection records including timber pest location details and evidence.

Section 4 – The Report. This section outlines the content that must be included in the timber pest reports, such as Observations, Safety hazards, Recommendations, Conclusions and Report Summary.

In summary, the requirements and limitations of AS4349 are relatively prescriptive and leave no room for building inspectors to invent their own kind of building or pest reports. These Australian Standards help to protect the customer from professional negligence, poor building reports and inconsistencies between reports on the same building. The standards also to try to ‘standardise’ the process of building inspections and reporting making it clearer what is expected.