Building and pest inspections in Queensland: what they cover and miss

In this article

Written by

Kooky

Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.

About Kooky and Shaka →

A Queensland home is sold as it stands. The seller is not required to tell a buyer whether the building is structurally sound, and nobody guarantees the roof, the stumps or the bathroom waterproofing of an established house. The buyer's main protection is to have the property examined before the purchase becomes final, by people licensed to do it.

That examination is the building and pest inspection. Most buyers order one, and most contracts for established homes are made conditional on it. Fewer buyers know exactly what the two reports are meant to find, what they are not meant to find, and which other checks sit beside them. This guide sets that out, using the guidance published by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission, the state's building regulator, and by the Office of Fair Trading.

Queensland Building and Construction Commission guidance for home buyers and its pre-purchase inspection complaint process.

Two inspections, two licences

What buyers call a "building and pest" is two inspections, often done in one visit and sometimes by one person. The QBCC treats them separately because they need different licences.

The pre-purchase building inspection is carried out by a licensed residential building inspector. The termite inspection is carried out by a licensed pest controller. The QBCC's advice to buyers is to get both before finalising a purchase, and to check the licence of whoever is engaged before hiring them.

The Office of Fair Trading says the same thing more briefly. Its guidance on inspections notes that combined building and pest inspections are available, and tells buyers to make sure the inspector holds a current licence from the QBCC. A licence can be checked on the QBCC's public register by name or licence number.

A person who holds only one of the two licences can only do that half of the work. Where a single firm offers a combined inspection, the report should make clear who inspected what and under which licence.

What the building inspection looks for

The building inspector's job is to find defects that exist on the day. The QBCC lists the kinds of problem a pre-purchase inspection is there to identify: faulty roofs, leaking ceilings, cracked walls, damaged foundations, mould, waterproofing failures and drainage problems.

Those examples show the purpose. The report is meant to tell a buyer about the condition of the structure and the things that are expensive to put right. A cracked tile or a sticking door may be noted, but the reason to commission the report is to learn whether the house has a serious fault that is not obvious to someone walking through at an open home.

Inspectors work to an Australian Standard for pre-purchase inspections of residential buildings, AS 4349.1, and their reports usually follow its structure: a description of the property, the areas inspected, the areas that could not be inspected and why, a list of defects sorted by seriousness, and a conclusion about the overall condition compared with homes of a similar age and type. Buyers should expect the report to say plainly whether any defect is considered major.

In a Queensland house the inspection will normally take in the roof exterior where it can be reached safely, the roof space, the interior room by room, the exterior walls, the subfloor where there is one, and the site: paths, retaining walls, fences, drainage and any outbuildings. For the many Queensland homes built on stumps, the subfloor is one of the most informative parts of the visit, because it shows the condition of the stumps, bearers and joists and any sign of moisture.

Where the building report stops

The QBCC states the central limit in one sentence: a pre-purchase building inspection is not a warranty against future defects. It records what a competent inspector could find at the time. It does not promise that nothing else is wrong, and it does not promise that nothing will go wrong later.

Several practical limits follow from how the inspection is done.

It is a visual inspection. The inspector does not cut into walls, lift fixed floor coverings, move the seller's furniture or dig beside footings. A defect hidden behind plasterboard, under tiles or beneath stored boxes may not be found. Reports list the areas that were obstructed or inaccessible, and that list deserves as much attention as the list of defects.

It depends on the weather and the day. A roof leak may leave no trace in a dry month. Drainage that fails in a summer storm can look adequate in June.

It is not a specialist assessment. A building inspector is not acting as an electrician, a plumber, a structural engineer or a pool safety inspector. Where the report recommends a further opinion from one of those trades, it is describing a question the inspector could see but could not answer.

It does not check approvals. Whether a deck, a carport or a room built in under the house was approved by the council or a private certifier is a matter for a records search, not a site visit. The inspector may remark that something looks like an addition, but that is not a finding about its legal status.

Asbestos is a separate matter again. The QBCC says most homes built before 1990 contain asbestos, and warns that disturbing it releases tiny fibres that can cause fatal lung disease. A building inspector may note materials that look likely to contain it, but confirming asbestos requires a sample and laboratory testing. For a buyer planning to renovate an older Queenslander or a post-war home, that is worth knowing before the first wall is opened.

What the pest inspection looks for

The second report is about timber pests, and in Queensland that chiefly means termites. According to the QBCC, the licensed pest controller checks three things: whether termites are present, whether there is evidence of termite damage, and what termite management system the home has.

The relevant Australian Standard is AS 4349.3, which covers timber pest inspections. Reports written to it also comment on conditions that make an attack more likely, such as timber in direct touch with soil, garden beds built up against walls, leaking taps, or poor ventilation under the floor.

Termite risk exists across the state. The QBCC notes that infestations affect homeowners everywhere in Queensland, and that North Queensland carries a higher risk, to the point that building work there requires a higher standard of termite protection than in the south.

The management system is the part buyers most often overlook. The QBCC describes the main types used in Queensland construction: a monolithic concrete slab with protected penetrations, a chemical barrier applied under the slab and around the perimeter, graded stone, and stainless steel mesh. Homes may also be built with termite-resistant materials such as treated or naturally resistant timber, masonry, steel or concrete.

Under the Building Code of Australia, a home must carry a durable termite management notice. The QBCC says it shows the method of protection used, the date of installation, the life expectancy of any chemical according to its label, and the recommended inspections and maintenance. It is typically fixed inside the electrical meter box. A buyer can look for it during an open home.

A clear pest report therefore has two parts: no live termites or damage found in the areas inspected, and a management system that is identified and in date. A report that finds no activity but cannot identify any protection is telling the buyer that the cost of installing or renewing a system may follow the purchase.

Like the building report, the pest report is limited to what can be reached. Termites work inside timber and behind linings. Inspectors use tools such as moisture meters and tapping to detect what cannot be seen, but they do not open walls. The report will again list the areas that could not be inspected.

How the inspection fits the contract

An inspection only protects a buyer if the buyer can still act on the result. In Queensland there are three ways that can happen.

The first, and the most common for a private treaty sale, is a condition in the contract. The Office of Fair Trading explains that a contract of sale may be conditional on matters such as finance approval, a satisfactory building and pest inspection, or the sale of the buyer's existing home. It adds a warning that buyers sometimes miss: it is the buyer's responsibility to check that the conditions they want appear in the contract before signing. A verbal understanding with the agent that the sale is "subject to building and pest" has no effect if the condition is not written in.

The second is the statutory cooling-off period. A standard residential contract in Queensland gives the buyer five business days to change their mind, and the Office of Fair Trading notes that a buyer who withdraws in that time may have up to 0.25 per cent of the purchase price deducted from the refunded deposit. Five business days is enough to have an inspection done if it is booked immediately, but it is a narrow window, and the buyer can waive or shorten it in writing.

The third is to inspect before making an offer at all. That is the only option at auction. The Office of Fair Trading is explicit that auctions have no cooling-off period, and auction contracts are unconditional. A bidder who wants a building and pest report must commission it during the campaign and accept that the money is spent whether or not the bid succeeds.

The wording of the condition matters. Standard contracts set a date by which the buyer must tell the seller whether they are satisfied, and what happens if they say nothing. The detail is a matter for the buyer's solicitor or conveyancer, and it varies between contracts. The general point is that the inspection has to be booked, done and read in time for a decision before that date.

Reading the report

Building and pest reports are long, and much of the length is standard wording about scope and limitations. The parts that carry the findings are usually short.

Start with the summary and the classification of defects. A major defect is one serious enough that it needs fixing to avoid unsafe conditions, loss of use or further deterioration. Minor defects are the ordinary wear of a lived-in house. Almost every report on an established home lists minor defects, and a long list of them is not in itself a bad result.

Then read the limitations as they apply to this property. "Roof void not inspected: no access hole" or "subfloor inspection limited by low clearance" are findings in their own right. If the part of the house that could not be seen is the part most likely to hide a problem, a buyer can ask whether access can be arranged for a second look.

Next, look at what the inspector recommends. A recommendation to obtain a structural engineer's opinion on cracking, a plumber's camera inspection of drains, or an electrician's check of an old switchboard is the report doing its job. Each is a known question with a known cost to answer.

What a buyer does with the findings is a decision for them and their adviser. Some proceed as they are. Some ask the seller to carry out repairs or to adjust the price. Some end the contract where the condition allows it. Sellers are under no obligation to agree to a reduction, and in a competitive sale may decline.

Checks that sit beside the inspection

Several things a buyer might assume the inspection covers are handled elsewhere.

Seller disclosure. Since 1 August 2025, sellers in Queensland have had to give buyers a disclosure statement and prescribed certificates before the contract is signed. The Queensland Government's summary of the scheme is clear about what it leaves out: the seller is not required to disclose the structural soundness of the building, the property's flooding history, or past building and development approvals. Those remain for the buyer to investigate.

Flood. Because flood history is outside the disclosure statement, a buyer has to look it up. Queensland councils publish flood mapping for their areas, and a building inspector may note signs of past water entry, but a clean building report says nothing about the level floodwater reached in an earlier event.

Home warranty insurance. The QBCC runs the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme, which applies where a licensed builder does residential work worth more than $3,300 on houses, duplexes, townhouses and low-rise units. Cover lasts six years and six months from the earliest of the date the premium is paid, the date the contract is entered into or the date work starts, and it passes to later owners. The QBCC offers an insurance search on a property, so a buyer of a newer home or one with a renovation can find out whether cover is still running. There is a catch that makes the pre-purchase inspection more important: the scheme only covers defects in a newly purchased house if the buyer did not know about the problem before buying.

Owner-builder work. If an owner-builder completed work in the six years before the sale, the seller must give the buyer a written notice, which warns that the work is not covered by the home warranty scheme. The buyer signs and returns a copy before the contract is signed.

Pools. A seller must provide a current pool safety certificate, or a Form 36 notice that there is none, before the contract is entered into. A buyer who settles without a certificate must bring the pool up to standard and obtain one within 90 days of settlement. Where the pool is shared, as in a unit complex, that duty falls on the body corporate.

Solar. The Office of Fair Trading suggests asking the seller for the installer's warranty documents and maintenance schedule, and notes that any work on the system needs a licensed electrician.

Units and townhouses

Buyers of units sometimes skip the building and pest inspection on the reasoning that the body corporate looks after the building. It is true that the structure and common property of most unit blocks are the body corporate's responsibility. That is a reason to inspect differently, not a reason to skip it.

An inspector engaged by a unit buyer examines the inside of the lot and whatever common property can be reached: the unit's wet areas, balconies, ceilings under a roof or another unit's bathroom, and visible parts of the exterior, the car park and the roof. Water entry and waterproofing failures are among the defects the QBCC lists, and in an apartment they are the ones most likely to become a cost shared among all owners.

The report cannot assess the whole building. It is one half of a unit buyer's investigation. The other half is the body corporate's own records: the sinking fund balance, the minutes of meetings, and any reports on defects or major repairs. An inspector's note about staining in the basement means more when read beside committee minutes that discuss, or fail to discuss, the same leak.

Termites are not only a house problem. Townhouses and low-rise blocks with timber framing are exposed in the same way, and the pest inspection applies to them equally.

When an inspection misses something

Inspectors are licensed, and there is a process for buyers who believe a report failed to identify damage that was there to be found.

The QBCC's process starts with the inspector. The buyer writes to them, by letter or email, setting out the concern, and keeps copies of the correspondence and the report. The QBCC suggests allowing a reasonable time, for example 14 days, for a response.

If that does not resolve it, the buyer can lodge a complaint through the QBCC's online portal. The commission asks that this be done as soon as possible after receiving the report, because delay makes it harder to establish what the property was like at the time. The QBCC assesses the complaint and may inspect the property.

The limit on what the regulator does is important. The QBCC can produce an investigation report, which the buyer may use in a court or tribunal. It does not sue the inspector for the buyer or award compensation. In the commission's words, the buyer must take their own action against the inspector, and the usual forum is the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

That is one more reason to read the scope and limitation sections of a report when it arrives. An inspector is answerable for what a careful inspection within the stated scope should have found, not for what was sealed inside a wall.

The pre-settlement inspection

The last look comes just before the keys change hands. The Office of Fair Trading advises a final inspection two to three days before settlement, to confirm the property is in the same condition as when the contract was signed.

This is not a second building inspection. The buyer walks through, usually with the agent, to see that nothing has been damaged or removed, that included items are still there, and that any repairs the seller agreed to have been done. Storms happen between contract and settlement, especially over a Queensland summer, and this visit is when a buyer would learn of damage while it can still be raised before settlement.

Taken together, the building report, the pest report and the checks around them do not remove the risk in buying an established home. They turn unknown risks into known ones, at a point where the buyer can still decide what to do about them.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

About Kooky and Shaka →