A pre-sale building and pest inspection is one a seller commissions before listing a property, rather than waiting to find out what a buyer's inspector reports during a tight contract due-diligence window. It follows the same scope as a pre-purchase inspection — a visual, non-invasive assessment carried out generally in accordance with AS 4349.1 and AS 4349.3 — with the written report issued to whoever commissions it. For a seller, that means seeing what a buyer's inspector is likely to find, on your own schedule, before a contract clock is running. In our own inspections, a large majority of Gold Coast properties turn up at least one major defect, so for most vendors the practical question is not whether an inspection will find something — it is whether you find out first.

Why get your own inspection before you list

Once a property is under contract, most Queensland buyers have a short, fixed inspection period specified in the contract to commission their own inspection and act on the result. If a finding turns up in that window, you learn about your own property at the same time as the person deciding whether to keep buying it — on their timeline, not yours. A pre-sale inspection puts the same information in your hands before the property is even listed, while you still control what happens next: arranging a specialist's assessment, addressing what is practical, or listing with a clear, written picture of the property's condition rather than a mid-contract surprise.

What turns up most often on a pre-sale inspection

The recurring findings on a pre-sale inspection are the same ones a buyer's own inspector would report, because it is the same building. Across 50 of our own combined building and pest inspections spanning the Gold Coast, Brisbane fringe and Northern NSW, 39 properties — about 78% — had at least one major defect, and 41 — about 82% — had at least one serious safety hazard. Moisture and waterproofing issues in wet areas and balconies are the most consistent finding, particularly in homes built through the 1980s and 90s. Roof defects — slipping tiles, deteriorated flashings and bedding — and subfloor conditions in older raised homes are close behind. On the timber pest side, conducive conditions such as garden beds bridging the slab edge, timber-to-soil contact and a missing or unclear durable notice are common at almost every property we inspect, whatever its age.

  • A written, photo record of the property's condition before it goes on the market
  • Time to arrange a specialist's assessment for anything flagged, on your own schedule
  • Fewer surprises during the buyer's own inspection period
  • A same-day report you can choose to share with prospective buyers, or keep for your own planning

For the detail behind these figures, see our articles on identifying minor and major structural defects and why subfloor ventilation matters.

The report belongs to whoever commissions it

A pre-sale inspection is commissioned in the seller's name under a signed pre-inspection agreement, and the written report is issued to the seller. If you choose to pass that report on to prospective buyers, it is worth knowing it carries different limitations for them than one they commission themselves — the inspector's agreement, and the professional duty that comes with it, sits with the party who commissioned the report, not with a buyer relying on it secondhand. We have written about this in more detail from the buyer's side in our guide to <a href="/vendor-supplied-reports">vendor-supplied reports</a>. Most conveyancers will still recommend an independent inspection in the buyer's own name — a pre-sale inspection is a genuinely useful head start for the seller, not a substitute for the buyer's own due diligence.

What it does not do

A pre-sale inspection is a visual, non-invasive assessment of the reasonably accessible areas at the time of inspection. It is not a compliance certificate, a warranty, or a guarantee that a buyer's own inspector will not observe something different later — particularly if time passes between the two inspections, or the property sits vacant in between. Where a finding needs more than a visual assessment — cracking in a masonry wall, movement in a deck or balcony structure, elevated moisture in a wet area — the report recommends the right specialist, a structural engineer, a licensed tradesperson or a timber pest manager, rather than diagnosing the cause itself.

Worth raising with your agent

If you are working with a selling agent, a pre-sale inspection is worth raising early in the campaign. A written report in hand at listing gives an agent something concrete to work with when buyer questions come up, instead of fielding them cold during an open home. It sits alongside — not instead of — a strata or body corporate records search for a unit sale, since the two documents answer different questions about the same property: one reports the physical condition of the building, the other its financial and administrative position.

Our FAQs cover more on who commissions and pays for an inspection, and what a durable notice is and why it matters. Our guide to choosing a building and pest inspector covers what to check before booking one, whether you are buying or selling.

To arrange a pre-sale building and pest inspection, call 0431 114 815. The fixed price is confirmed before you book, and the written report is with you the same day.