A building inspection report is a written record of a property’s condition at a point in time, prepared by a qualified inspector after a visual inspection. It sets out what was inspected, the condition it was found in, the defects observed, and — the part most people skim — what the inspector could not get to.
That last section is where the value hides. A report is only as good as its coverage, and the coverage is defined by the limitations page, not the photos.
We should be upfront about where we sit. We are a CASA-licensed aerial imaging operator in Melbourne’s south-east. We do not carry out inspections and we do not write reports. We supply high-resolution roof and facade imagery to the people who do — and to owners handed a report with “no safe access to roof” printed in it.
The main types of building inspections
“Building inspection” covers several different products. They are not interchangeable, and buying the wrong one is a common, expensive mistake.
Pre-purchase building inspection. The standard one. A visual inspection of a residential property before settlement, usually carried out against Australian Standard AS 4349.1, covering the structure and readily accessible areas. It is a condition report, not a valuation and not a compliance certificate.
Building and pest inspection. A pre-purchase inspection combined with a timber pest inspection (termites, borers, fungal decay), often reported separately under AS 4349.3. In much of Australia the pest component is not optional in practice.
New-build stage inspections. Carried out during construction at defined stages — base, frame, lock-up, fixing — so defects surface while they are cheap to fix and the builder is contractually on the hook. Each stage produces its own report.
Handover or practical completion inspection. The final inspection before you accept the keys, producing a defects list the builder is expected to rectify. Once you have taken handover and made final payment, your leverage drops sharply.
Dilapidation inspection. A dated record of a property’s existing condition before nearby works — excavation, demolition, piling — begin, so any later damage claim has a baseline. Often commissioned by a neighbour or a builder rather than an owner. We have written a fuller piece on what goes into a dilapidation report if that is the one you need.
Structural inspection. Where a general inspection has flagged movement, cracking or sagging and an engineer is engaged to assess cause and remedy. This produces engineering advice, not a condition summary.
What a good building inspection report contains
Format varies, but a competent report has all of the following. If yours is missing one, ask why.
Identification. Address, date and time of inspection, weather at the time, the inspector’s name and registration or licence details, and who commissioned the report. Weather sounds trivial until a leak claim turns on whether it had rained that week.
Scope and method. What was covered, what standard it was carried out against, and how — visual only, from ground level, from a ladder, from within the roof space.
Condition summary. A plain-language overview of the property’s condition relative to its age and type, not against a new build.
Defects, itemised and located. Each defect described, classified by severity, tied to a location. “Cracking to external wall” is close to useless. “Stepped cracking to the external brick wall, north-east corner, approximately 1.2 metres above ground level” can be found again by the next person.
Anchored photographs. Every defect photo should be identifiable — which elevation, which room, which part of the roof. Unanchored photographs cause more disputes than they settle.
Recommendations. What warrants further investigation by a specialist, and how urgently.
Scope and limitations. Covered below, because it deserves its own section.
The section everybody skips: scope and limitations
Every building inspection report has a section recording what the inspector could not access or see. It sits near the back, in smaller type, and it is the most important page in the document.
Read it first.
Inspectors work to a standard that limits them to areas that are “readily accessible” and safe to enter. In practice: a ladder of limited height (commonly interpreted as around 3.6 metres), no walking on roofs that are steeply pitched, wet, brittle or fragile, no entry into roof spaces with insufficient clearance. Those limits are reasonable. Nobody should fall off a roof to complete an inspection.
But the consequence is worth stating plainly: “roof not accessed” and “no safe access to roof” are among the most common limitations recorded, and when they appear, the most expensive single component of the building has not actually been inspected.
A full roof replacement, a re-bed and re-point of ridge capping, corroded valley irons, failed flashings, a rusted-through box gutter — these are four- and five-figure items, and the least likely to be visible from the ground or a short ladder. The same applies to upper-storey facades, parapets, chimneys, eaves and gutters. A ground-based inspector can tell you a great deal about the ground floor and very little about the top of the building.
None of this makes the report bad. It makes it incomplete in a specific, documented way — and the inspector was honest enough to tell you where.
A checklist for reading a report you have received
Work through this building inspection checklist before you decide on the property:
- Read the limitations section first. List every area recorded as not accessed. That is your blind spot map.
- Check whether the roof appears in it. If it does, you do not have a roof condition assessment — you have a report on everything else.
- Confirm the inspection date and weather. Dry weather tells you less about drainage and leaks than an inspection after rain.
- Check the inspector’s registration or licence. Requirements differ by state, so check what applies where the property is.
- Confirm every defect has a location. If you cannot find it from the description, neither can your builder when quoting the repair.
- Check the standard used, and the address. AS 4349.1 for pre-purchase residential, AS 4349.3 for timber pest. Address errors happen more often than you would expect.
- Separate “major defect” from “maintenance item”. Price the major ones before you commit.
- Note anything referred to a specialist. A recommendation for structural engineering assessment is a signal, not a formality.
- Ask about the blind spots. A good inspector will tell you straight what they could not see and what it would take to see it.
What a building inspection report costs
We will not quote figures we cannot stand behind. What drives the building inspection report cost: size and number of storeys, the building’s age and complexity, whether a timber pest inspection is combined with it, travel, and turnaround time. Combined building and pest inspections are generally cheaper than booking the two separately.
Get two or three quotes and compare inclusions — particularly whether roof space entry is in scope, and what limitations the inspector expects to record for a building of that type. The cheapest report with the longest limitations list is not the cheapest report.
Where aerial capture fits
This is the honest version of our pitch, and it is a narrow one.
A registered building inspector or building consultant carries out the inspection, forms the opinions and writes the report. We do not inspect, assess, certify or advise on condition. What we do is remove one access limitation.
Operating within CASA rules, we capture high-resolution imagery of the roof and upper facade — every plane, every valley, ridge capping, flashings, gutters, penetrations — at a resolution where the inspector can assess what they are looking at. Where it helps we produce an orthomosaic so each image ties to a position on the roof rather than floating loose in a PDF, and files are delivered with capture metadata intact.
That gets used two ways: before the report, so the roof section is based on something and the limitation shrinks; and after the report, where you have been told the roof was not accessed and need to know what is up there before you settle or agree a repair scope.
Either way, the imagery is data. The judgement stays with the qualified professional. That is the line, and we do not cross it.
Frequently asked questions
What is included in a building inspection report?
A building inspection report includes the property address and inspection date, the inspector’s details, the standard used, an overall condition summary, an itemised list of defects with locations and photographs, recommendations for further investigation, and a scope and limitations section recording what could not be accessed.
What does “no safe access to roof” mean in a building inspection report?
It means the inspector could not safely get onto or close enough to the roof to inspect it, usually because of height, pitch, brittle roofing material or weather. The roof condition has not been assessed. Since roofing is one of the most expensive building components to repair, it is worth having that area captured separately before you rely on the report.
What are the main types of building inspections?
The main types are pre-purchase building inspections, combined building and pest inspections, new-build stage inspections during construction, handover or practical completion inspections, dilapidation inspections that record condition before nearby works, and structural inspections carried out by an engineer where movement or cracking has been identified.
How much does a building inspection report cost in Australia?
Cost depends on the size and number of storeys, the age and complexity of the building, whether a timber pest inspection is combined with it, travel distance and turnaround. Combined building and pest inspections usually cost less than booking both separately. Compare inclusions rather than headline price, particularly whether roof and roof space access are in scope.
Can a drone replace a building inspection?
No. A drone captures imagery; it does not inspect, assess or certify anything. A registered building inspector or building consultant carries out the inspection and forms the opinions. Aerial capture removes an access limitation by providing high-resolution imagery of areas a ground-based inspector cannot safely reach, which the inspector then interprets.
General information only. This article is not a substitute for a professional building inspection or advice from a registered building inspector, building consultant or engineer.