It is increasingly common on the Gold Coast for a seller or agent to hand buyers a ready-made building and pest report. It looks convenient — the inspection is "already done". Before you rely on it, it is worth understanding what a vendor-supplied report is and is not.

Who the inspector was working for

An inspection report is prepared under a pre-inspection agreement between the inspector and their client. With a vendor report, that client is the seller. The report may be entirely accurate — but the agreement, and the inspector’s professional duty, sit with the person selling the property, not the person buying it.

Questions worth asking

  • When was the inspection done? Conditions change quickly, especially termite activity
  • Was it carried out in accordance with AS 4349.1 and AS 4349.3 by a licensed inspector?
  • Can you speak to the inspector and ask questions about the findings?
  • Does the agreement extend any responsibility to you as a relying party?

The independent alternative

An inspection commissioned by you, under a pre-inspection agreement in your name, gives you an inspector who answers your questions, walks you through the findings, and prepared the report for your decision — not the sale. With same-day reports, independence costs little against the price of the property it protects.

For more on choosing your own independent inspector, see our guide to choosing a building and pest inspector and our pre-purchase building and pest inspections page. The FAQs cover more on process and independence.

Why is a building and pest report only a snapshot of one day?

Because the report records what was observed in the readily accessible areas at the time of inspection, and nothing about the weeks either side. A clear timber pest result on a vendor report means no activity or damage was observed on the day the seller's inspector attended, not that the property is clear on the day you sign.

Across 68 of our own inspections, termite activity or damage was confirmed at 16 properties, 14 of them standalone houses, mostly established ones. The first activity is usually in the yard, at a tree stump, a rear boundary fence or garden timber in contact with the ground, before it reaches the building. Slower items move too: shower silicone and grout deteriorate, garden beds creep over the slab edge, a wet season leaves the subfloor damper. Each is a condition conducive to timber pest attack, and each can arrive after the seller's inspector left.

Access changes as well. A visual, non-invasive inspection does not move stored items or furniture, so a report prepared while the home was furnished may record areas that could not be reached. If the property has since been emptied for sale, those areas are open now, but the report in your hands never saw them. Our guide to why a clear result at purchase does not last covers the rest.

Does a vendor report with few findings mean the property is clear?

No. It means few findings were observed in the areas that were readily accessible on the day. Across 68 of our own inspections, 54 properties had at least one major defect, and conditions conducive to timber pests, usually moisture-related, were present at almost every one. A short report deserves as many questions as a long one.

Start with the limitations section, not the summary. A report prepared in accordance with AS 4349.1 and AS 4349.3 records the areas that could not be inspected and why: a roof space without safe access, a subfloor too low to enter, a locked shed, a wall lined with stored goods. The fewer the findings and the longer that list, the less the report is telling you. An inspector working for you can be asked directly why an area was not entered and what that leaves unknown; the seller's inspector was engaged to answer the seller.

What should you check in a vendor-supplied report, and when should you commission your own?

Check who inspected, what they could reach and how much has changed since. Then commission your own if you are the one making the decision. In particular:

  • The inspector's QBCC licences: a Completed Residential Building Inspection licence, and a separate Termite Management licence for the timber pest side. Both can be checked by name or licence number on the QBCC public register at qbcc.qld.gov.au.
  • The limitations and "not inspected" entries, and whether the roof space and subfloor were entered or recorded as limited access.
  • Whether the durable notice was sighted. In our own inspections it is often missing or not visible, which means a termite management system could not be confirmed on site. Ask the seller for the installer's documentation, or the body corporate for a unit.

Commission your own as soon as the contract is signed, so the written report lands inside the building and pest clause period, and before you bid at auction, where the contract is unconditional at the fall of the hammer. Until then, the vendor report tells you one useful thing: where the seller's inspector looked, and where to ask yours to pay close attention.

To arrange your own independent building and pest inspection, call 0431 114 815. The fixed price is confirmed before you book.

For a building and pest inspection on the Gold Coast, CYTE inspects in accordance with AS 4349.1 and AS 4349.3 and delivers the written report the same day.