New South Wales

To Buy Or Not To Buy (Off The Plan)

To buy or not to buy (off the plan) is an important issue for an increasing number of new homebuyers and property investors. When done responsibly with professional guidance (offered by Jim’s Building Inspections, for example) it can be a positi...
Read more

Due Diligence for Home Buyers

Literal meaning of Due diligence is doing a comprehensive appraisal of any buying task undertaken by a prospective buyer, especially to establish its assets and liabilities and evaluate its potential. It is utmost important to do your due diligenc...
Read more

Is Your Smoke Alarm Up To Scratch

Fires can spread rapidly (in less than five minutes) through your house, according to findings from a Fire & Rescue NSW report. Interesting also is that homeowners are encouraged to look at how many fire alarms in their house to cover all potenti...
Read more

Is your house cracking up?

Is your house cracking up? A long, spidery vein is inching its way across the dining room wall. It seems to be spreading even as you stare at it! You’re sure it wasn’t there yesterday! So what does this mean and how can it be fixed? Don’t...
Read more

Meth testing - the new norm for prudent home buyers

The New Norm? Including Meth checks in Pre-Purchase Building Inspections For home buyers there is nothing unusual about organising a Pre-Purchase Building Inspection on a potential property purchase. For smart buyers, a Pre-Purchase Building Inspe...
Read more

The Dirt On Property Depreciation

What’s depreciation? In a nutshell, it’s an allowance under tax laws in Australia for investors. It means they can claim deductions for expenditures in their property investments. Why depreciation? Even extremely well-built houses aren’t imm...
Read more

Property Management and Smoke Alarms are Good Friends

Property management and smoke alarms are good friends. Or at least they should be. Worst possible scenario: Inaction can lead to deaths and a stint in prison. It’s a familiar story, even in developed countries, however. From one BBC report: “A...
Read more

New homes & Termite zones

An increasing number of councils across Australia are seeing the value in designating residential zones as termite prone areas in an effort to help local communities avoid costly repairs and horror surprises in the future. Victoria is the only Aus...
Read more

Depreciation - A Most Valuable Deduction

Looking to claim? For property owners, depreciation is the gift that keeps on giving and another reason to talk with the professionals at Jim’s Building Inspections. To wit, investors deduct the amount of income-producing assets in decline over the...
Read more

10 Horrifying Traps a (Good) House Inspector Might Find

Number One: Asbestos. Enough said. Number Two: Termites. In a word: EVIL. Number Three: Fire hazards. Wouldn’t wish this upon my worst enemy. Number Four: Faulty smoke alarms. It’s a thing. Number Five: Ghosts. Okay, kidding. Okay, ma...
Read more