Most New Zealanders say "house inspection". In the trade, it is a building inspection —the same service: an independent, qualified inspector examines a property's condition before you commit to buying it. If that is what you are after, you are in the right place, and our building inspection page covers the service itself in full.
What is worth knowing here is what is specific to houses. A standalone house carries a different set of risks than an apartment or a commercial building: it has its own section, a roof cavity and a subfloor you can usually access, far more cladding, corners and junctions, and often outbuildings and unconsented work. The other thing that changes what we look at is the era the house was built in — a 1920s villa and a 1998 plaster-finished house fail in completely different ways, and knowing which one we are walking into tells the inspector where to look hardest before they arrive. Both are set out below.
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New Zealand houses were built in distinct waves, and each wave left a signature set of problems. We ask the property's age when you book because it changes what the inspector focuses on that day.
Framed in native timber that has often outlasted the house built around it, and set on original piles that are now a century old. The structure is usually sounder than buyers expect. The questions are the piles, subfloor ventilation, borer in damp timbers, lead paint on anything original, and the quality of the additions done in the 1980s and 90s — a hundred years is a long time for unpermitted work to accumulate.
Built quickly to a standard that has generally served well, but by then native timber was running out, so you find more economy in the framing, joinery, and fixings. Concrete piles with corroded connections, original plumbing at the end of its life, and almost always at least one extension to the original small footprint. Asbestos is the other one — it was used in linings, roofing, vinyl and lagging well into the 1980s, and we will flag anything that looks like it.
Aluminium windows arrived, and with them new ways for water to get into a wall if the flashings and head details were done poorly. Polybutylene piping went into many homes during this period and is now a known failure risk. Insulation was minimal and often retrofitted badly later. Split-level and multi-level designs became common, often with a deck sitting over a living area—a detail that causes more problems than almost any other.
Fibre-cement sheets with a plaster finish, often over untreated timber framing, frequently with no eaves and parapet details that give water nowhere to go. This combination is behind the leaky building crisis, and it is the era our inspectors look at most closely. On one of these homes, the whole question is usually what is happening behind the cladding, and a visual inspection can only take it so far — see our monolithic cladding and moisture testing pages for what the next step looks like.
Cavity battens and treated timber became requirements, which removed the systemic risk of the decade before it. Newer houses still have problems, though —what we find is more often workmanship than design: junctions between sheet materials, poorly flashed balconies and decks, and details left unfinished at practical completion. If the house is still under construction or newly finished, the checks change, and our new construction inspections page covers those.
A written house inspection report starts at $499 plus GST. A verbal inspection, useful when an auction has been brought forward and you need an answer the same day, starts at $299 plus GST. Methamphetamine screening is available on the same visit from $279 plus GST if you want it.
The figure depends on the property, not what we find: its size, age, number of levels, how accessible the subfloor and roof space are, and how far the property is from the inspector. A small single-level home is at the bottom of the range; a large multi-level house with difficult access is at the top.
We confirm your quote when you book, so you know what you are paying before anyone attends. If you want the reasoning behind it, our guide to building inspection costs explains what drives the price, and our services page lists everything we offer.
Important: a house inspection is a visual assessment of accessible areas. We do not remove fixtures, lift floor coverings, cut into linings, or open walls. The inspection takes one to two hours on site, and you are welcome to attend. Where visible evidence warrants it, we will recommend follow-up testing and tell you who should carry it out — the report clearly states where a visual inspection has reached its limit.
Alert Building Inspections provides house inspections throughout New Zealand, including Auckland, North Shore, West Auckland, East Auckland (Howick and Pakuranga), Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, Tauranga, Dunedin, Whangarei, Rotorua, Hawkes Bay and Palmerston North. We list every area we work in on our locations page. A trade-qualified inspector attends in person, and we email your report within 24-48 hours.
Yes. House inspection, building inspection, and property inspection are three names for the same service: a written, independent, visual assessment of a property's condition by a qualified inspector. Nobody is offering you anything different when they use one term instead of another.
A house owns its section, so ground levels, retaining walls, driveways, paths, decks and stormwater drainage are all part of it. It has a roof cavity and usually an accessible subfloor. It has garages, carports, sleepouts and sheds, which may or may not be consented. It also has far more cladding, corners, and penetrations than a unit. An apartment inspection concentrates on the interior and the services within the unit, because the exterior and structure are usually body corporate property.
Yes, on every house inspection. We use pin-type and non-invasive meters at windows, doors, cladding penetrations, bathrooms and kitchen areas. Moisture is the single most useful thing we measure on a New Zealand house, because it sits behind the most expensive problems we find. Our moisture testing page explains how we take readings and what they mean.
We will flag anything that looks like it, and tell you which era it is typical of. If we confirm it needs a specialist to test a sample, we will say so rather than guess. Asbestos was used in New Zealand building products well into the 1980s, and lead paint was used on older homes, so both come up regularly on pre-1980s houses.
Not usually - a standard house inspection assesses the piles, foundations, cladding and weathertightness. A specialist report becomes worth considering when the visual inspection finds something that needs closer examination, or when the house is from an era where the risk is systemic. Our foundation inspection and weathertightness pages explain where each adds value.
One to two hours for a typical single-level home, and longer for a large, older, multi-level or difficult-to-access property. You are welcome to be there for the whole visit. We email the written report within 24 to 48 hours.
That is a different service - our new construction inspections cover the checks that apply at each stage of a build, which are different from the checks on an existing house. If the build is finished and you are about to settle, a standard inspection at practical completion is often worthwhile too.
Anything you can't see without opening the building up - behind linings, under floor coverings, inside sealed cavities. The report states plainly where access was not possible or where a view was obstructed, rather than leaving you to assume it was checked. A house inspection is also not a valuation, not a guarantee, and not a council compliance certificate.
Our inspectors cover most of New Zealand — so wherever you're buying, we deliver your report within 24 to 48 hours.
Confirm your quote before you commit. Call 0800 4 ALERT (425 378), or book online and we’ll be in touch the same day.
Not sure what you’ll receive? See what’s in a written building report →
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