Online Bids ?

Is there such a firm? Comparable to RACV or NRMA? I thought most building inspections where done by independent builders or small to medium sized firms. That's who i used last time i had one done.

 

They have launched !

PTY Auctions > Home

 

As I recall, McGrath tried online auctions a few yrs ago without much success. After all, if you can't be there to bid, you can always bid via phone through a colleague or the agent (or agent's assistant).
I wouldn't be surprised to see them disappear, or become simply a gimmick in the entire auction process.

As to building/pest reports, I think it would be ideal if there was an independent body/company who were completely impartial and that way the vendors could be legally obliged to provide a b/p and strata report (if applicable) to form part of every contract. The trouble is, however, that the entire b/p inspectors industry is made up of thousands of individual operators, with larger companies such as Archicentre clearly not yet large enough to make the moves required to dominate the marketplace.

No matter how impartial a vendor-issued report may claim to be to the buyer, when there's such a large amount of money at stake, it's only natural that purchasers would wish to make their own investigations, and this includes research prior to auctions, unfortunately. As much as you may loathe them, they will continue to be around and if you don't elect to get the correct searches done beforehand, caveat emptor, as the saying goes.....