Case Study: Commercial property with Termite damage and leaking balcony

Buildingpro had been referred to a local business with the request to carry out a pre-purchase Building and Pest inspection on a 1700m2 Office building. The Office was currently headquarters to a number of businesses including a Multinational Company.

During briefing discussions by phone our client made us aware of their concern about some settlement issues where the original building had been joined to an extension.  NB We ask for relevant information via our ‘Pre-Inspection Questionnaire’.

Buildingpro conducted the inspection and amongst other findings there were two significant defects. The first was extensive Termite damage to the internal timber walls of the ground floor office area. The termite damage was well known to the tenants but was not disclosed to the purchaser before entering into the contact to purchase.

We identified all areas of visible damage and identified the likely entry point as being garden beds being placed against the external brick walls that were higher that the internal floor levels, this had allowed the penetration of moisture to the wall cavity that then established the right conditions for termites to attack the building.

There was no history of termite inspections or treatments available. The extent of damage was determined using visual evidence, a Tramex Moisture Meter and a Flir i5 Thermal Camera.  Further ‘Invasive’ inspection was recommended to more fully determine the extent of damage to internal timber walls.  This Invasive inspection would involve obtaining the sellers permission for Buildingpro to make some inspection holes into the internal plasterboard walls in the areas of termite damage for us to obtain access to inspect the condition of the framing using a Borerscope.

As Buildingpro is both licensed Builders and licensed Timber Pest inspectors we are able to make this assessment.

The second significant defect was patches of water leak damage under a large suspended concrete balcony area.  I concluded that failure of the waterproof membrane was the likely cause of the damage.  We recommended that the client obtain a further assessment and quote to rectify from a Waterproofing expert.

Our client was prepared to conduct the recommended further investigations but due to time constraints imposed by the contract the decision was made to negotiate a price reduction from the seller.  With advice from Buildingpro as to relative risks and probable expenses, the client successfully negotiated a $70,000 price reduction and was very pleased with the services they received from us.