Is a structural engineer necessary?

Discussion in 'The Buying & Selling Process' started by JudgeDreadz, 22nd Oct, 2009.

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  1. JudgeDreadz

    JudgeDreadz Well-Known Member

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    I just received a building report (contrary to my mortgage broker and conveyancer's recommendations, saying it is a waste of money on a strata property) and am thoroughly disappointed.

    The number of disclaimers, and further references to structural engineers essentially rendered the report worthless. Somehow, I don't think this is an isolated case after talking to some people in the office who recently purchased property.

    So I am wondering, has anyone used structural engineers INSTEAD OF building inspectors? Are they much more expensive? Were they worth it?
     
    JudgeDreadz, 22nd Oct, 2009
    #1
  2. BillV

    BillV Well-Known Member

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    a building report and/or a strata report is all I'm getting.

    If you feel there is need to consult a structural engineer then this is not the right property for you and it's time to move on to the next one.
     
    BillV, 23rd Oct, 2009
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  3. JudgeDreadz

    JudgeDreadz Well-Known Member

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    its not that i feel the need for a structural engineer, it is just that there were so many of these in the reports

    or

    for shelling out $400, i found it a little frustrating. i expect a little more insight.
     
    JudgeDreadz, 24th Oct, 2009
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  4. BillV

    BillV Well-Known Member

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    I've never seen many such remarks
    I guess it depends on who you get?
    Perhaps you could ask to see 1 of their previous reports?
     
    BillV, 24th Oct, 2009
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  5. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    I think it does come down to expectations a little.

    If you expect to get a fully comprehensive report which covers everything and also gives you some form of recourse if it turned out something was missed ... then I think you'd probably need to get an electrician, plumber, master builder, structural engineer, etc etc to give you full reports - that would probably cost thousands.

    I usually get a building inspection done - with the expectation that it should point out anything major that I might have missed. It's about avoiding nasty surprises (not little surprises).

    We nearly bought a house which it turns out had rotten beams in the roof - the whole roof was sagging and would likely have needed replacing with a few years, but we hadn't noticed and the building inspection picked it up and we ended up not proceeding with the purchase - potentially saved us several hundred times more than the fee we paid for the report.

    We could have gone back and tried to renegotiate a lower price based on this new information - but we weren't interested in a house that required major maintenance at that point.

    As for unit blocks ... I've never bought a unit (except when I bought the entire block of four units - but that was a unique situation), so I have no real advice to offer there.
     
    Simon Hampel, 26th Oct, 2009
    #5
  6. Wendy Bergsma

    Wendy Bergsma New Member

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    I am finding that building reports, more recently, include disclaimers to cover themselves, however I still believe that I would not be advisable to purchase a property without one.
    If you are looking at a property to renovate, and want to do major structural changes, then a structural engineer could be useful in advising you on what walls you can remove etc, etc. but if you are purchasing a property and do not intend to do any major structural changes, then a report by a structural engineer probably will be a waste of time.
    Take the builders report for what it is, a look over the property to highlight possible glaringly obvious problems that you may have missed, but understand that they will include disclaimers with everything they say!
     
    Wendy Bergsma, 27th Oct, 2009
    #6
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