Major defect, minor defect, safety hazard
Three terms get used in reports and they mean different things. Confusing them is the most common reason a buyer panics at a report that does not warrant it.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Major defect | Rectification is required to avoid unsafe conditions, loss of utility or further deterioration. Significant, and worth understanding properly before you commit. |
| Minor defect | Ordinary wear, weathering and maintenance. Present in almost every established property. Normal, and usually budgetable. |
| Safety hazard | Something presenting a risk to people, regardless of whether it is causing damage to the building. Loose balustrades, inadequate fall protection and electrical items are the common ones. |
A safety hazard is not automatically a major defect and a major defect is not automatically a safety hazard. They are separate classifications answering separate questions: is the building deteriorating, and is someone likely to get hurt.
What a major defect actually looks like on the Gold Coast
In our own inspections, the items that get classified major are rarely the ones buyers are worried about at the open home. The recurring ones cluster in a few places.
- Moisture and waterproofing in wet areas and on balconies, particularly in older properties where the original waterproofing is now decades old. The membrane itself is concealed behind tiles — what gets reported is elevated moisture and damage to the surrounding finishes.
- Roof defects: slipping or cracked tiles, deteriorated flashings, failed bedding and pointing, corrosion at penetrations.
- Subfloor conditions in older raised homes: inadequate ventilation, persistent moisture, deteriorated supports.
- Structural movement, where cracking is consistent with something more than ordinary settlement.
Where cracking to masonry, a concrete slab or a load-bearing wall is observed — including cracking that has been repaired previously — the appropriate recommendation is further assessment by a structural engineer. An inspector reporting on a visual inspection is not in a position to determine the cause or the remedy for structural movement, and a report that confidently does so is overreaching.
My report lists a major defect. What now?
Read it in this order. First, anything classified as a safety hazard, because those concern people rather than just the building. Second, anything classified major. Third, any recommendation for further investigation by a specialist — an engineer, an electrician, a plumber — because those are the items where the inspection has reached the limit of what a visual assessment can determine.
What the report will not do is price the repairs or tell you how long they will take. That is deliberate. Estimating rectification cost is a different exercise requiring a different trade, and an inspector guessing at it does you no favours. Take the findings to the relevant licensed trade for a quote.
For more on reading a report end to end, see identifying minor and major structural defects.
Does a major defect mean I should not buy?
Usually not. Major defects are a normal feature of established housing stock, and most are fixable, budgetable items once you know they exist. The purpose of the report is not to talk you out of a property — it is to make sure you are negotiating and budgeting from facts rather than from an impression formed at an open home.