Advice on building inspection report

[Experimentee]

Hi all,

I have just received a building inspection report on a house I'm considering purchasing. A structural defect has been identified which may require underpinning work. The report makes it sound fairly serious.

As I have absolutely no knowledge in this area, I would appreciate opinions on whether this defect is serious enough to warrrant not buying this property.

If I was to continue to purchase the property, approx how much should be knocked off the price?

An excerpt from the report summary is below:

There has been major settlement and probable failure to the structural integrity of the concrete footings
supporting the brickwork to the front wall of the House – refer to issues such as:-
(a) Major cracking to the brickwork
(b) Major patched cracking to the brickwork
(c) Major gaps between windows and brickwork
(d) Unevenness to the wall level
Under-pinning works are required to the footings to repair the above. Under-pinning is basically the pouring
of a new footing either under or next to the existing footing. These works are designed by a Structural
Engineer. Re-laying of brickwork and other internal repairs may be required following under-pinning works.

This issue is considered to be a major structural defect.
There are some other cracks and other minor cracks to the other brick walls around the House as listed in
the Report. There are some other gaps between the brick walls and the windows in some places.
We recommend to monitor the cracks and the gaps in the future for any deterioration, that is, for any
widening and / or lengthening. If major deterioration occurs then further investigation is recommended.
As with the front wall to the House there can be a failure to the structural integrity of the concrete footings.
In these cases under-pinning repairs are generally required. Under-pinning repairs, if required, are
considered to be major structural defect works.
The cracking etc. listed above is generally due to settlement in the concrete footings supporting the brick
walls. Settlement can occur with a drying out, changing and shrinking in the soil conditions. Excessive
dampness conditions can also result in settlement issues. It appears there has been previous major
dampness under the House – refer Report for details. The excessive dampness and then the drying out of
the soil can lead to changes in the soil composition
There has also been settlement in the concrete footings supporting the brick piers – refer Sub Floor section
of this Report for details. Some under-pinning repairs may also be required to these piers.
In summary there has been major settlement and probable failure to the structural integrity of the concrete
footings supporting brick walls and brick piers. Various issues have occurred as a result of this settlement.
This issue is a major structural defect.

 

[Aaron_C]

It is a major structural defect. I think that says it all. Underpinning is quite expensive

 

[Jacque]

If you're still interested in buying, get a few quotes and let the vendor know that you will be doing this to obtain the cost of this deducted from the contract price. Don't waste any more time or money unless the vendors are willing to renegotiate here.

 

[veseli]

To underpin the whole house it could cost 10-$20,000 and then you have to repair the brickwork cracks, render it or whatever just to make it look good.

In many situations problem is solved by diverting water from the footings, i haven't seen the house so its hard to say, it could be slippery land, or large trees, but before underpinning i would start with diverting water away from the house.

No water in footings means no movement or cracking.

My suggestion, these house are hard to sell, and very often they are long on the market, everybody is running away from structural faults, so you could easily get it for much cheaper then average.

I'm a builder and i love those houses, but they are not for everybody, if you have to pay everyone it can get costly.

Another thing is, building consults often scare buyers to protect themselves, they make it look really bad, because they can get sued easily.

 

[wobbycarly]

*snip*
Another thing is, building consults often scare buyers to protect themselves, they make it look really bad, because they can get sued easily.

Very true, but "This issue is a major structural defect." is fairly bold!

 

[Tillie]

Off the topic a little bit, if I may..

If 'Experimentee' decides to pull out and let REA to know the reason, does REA has to disclose 'failed' building inspection report results for other potential buyers?

 

[Property Trader]

Hi Experimentee,

We have traded well over 100 residential properties. However, one thing we will not consider are properties that have underpinning issues. We have renovated a substantial number of properties but based on experiences in handling properties located in Brisbane, Queensland, I suggest that when you have a property that has underpinning issues and you fix it and then turn around the seller, you have to disclose the underpinning issues in your sales contract. You might want to check out the legislation on selling a house with underpinning issues in your State and find out the compliance obligations. We have a case in point with a house last year that was worth $350,000 on contract and the vendor was seriously considering our offer of $180,000 as it had substantial renovations costs as well. We decided to pull out in the end due to the disclosure issues upon reselling the property and buys do not pay more for a structural re-correction renovated property they just expect it.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Jason Moore