No. Peter is a qualified Building Inspector having completed a Diploma on Building surveying. Some companies doing pre-purchase building inspections in Melbourne are not qualified Building Inspectors as recognized by the Victorian Building Authority.

In Victoria, the pre-purchase Building Inspection Industry is not regulated. The person carrying out your building inspection does not have to be a qualified or registered Building Inspector, a builder, a carpenter or have any experience in the construction industry.

You can be car salesman one day and the next day you can start doing pre-purchase house inspections.

Including Peter, there currently are only 3 other house inspection businesses in Melbourne that we know of who are actually qualified Building Inspectors recognized by the Victorian Building Authority.  Peter is a qualified inspector and Doug Brooks who is a qualified bricklayer and timber pest inspector and has been working with Peter for 5 years.

Some House Inspectors claim they are qualified house inspectors having completed a short course but these courses do not qualify them as “Building Inspectors” and are not recognized by the Victorian Building Authority. This is why they say they are qualified “house inspectors” and not building inspectors as this would get them in hot water with the Victorian Building Authority.

Qualified Building Inspectors are recognized by the Victorian Building Authority (formerly the Building Commission) and they require a vast knowledge of Building Defects, the Building Code of Australia, the Building Act and the Building Regulations to the satisfaction of the Building Authority. To be registered Building Surveyors they need to sit before a panel at the Building Authority.

At a bare minimum we believe you should only engage someone with need a building carpenter or bricklayer qualification or lengthy experience in the construction industry.