http://www.leadinghouseinspections.co.nz 

Garry Ledbury is a great guy and did our report for us when buying in Petone a couple of years ago. He's also about to do some further building work for us on our place 

Suggest you avoid "The NZ House Inspection Company". They completely downplayed some major issues on the house I bought, including painting, piling, and roof, it cost a lot to address them.

Thanks guys.

If you haven't already made a selection I would recommend Wellington Building Services www.wbs.org.nz . I have had good experiences with them.

Cheers

Matt

I've recently used Ian at All Building Inspections both on the buy and sell side. I will confess, we picked him because he was the first guy that was available at short notice but overall pretty satisfied. He was really pragmatic (didn't provide a builders report that said "Well, I haven't been able to look in the walls and there might be asbestos, lizard eggs and/or depleted uranium in there. You might like to consult a specialist about that"). Was really good on the sell side - he noticed a few minor things that were easily fixed and was happy to hold back the report until they had been done.

Habit were pretty good when we did a pre-purchase inspection.

He called me after emailing the report and explained what things meant.

http://www.thehabit.co.nz/

Being in the building industry, I do house building inspections for family, and pick up a lot of things that some inspectors miss. The problem is that it is unregulated so anyone can be a building inspector, and on Fair go they had a real estate agent, who had their own home inspection company WTH!
But I take a lot longer, and look at all the detailing and the council plans and consents. You would be surprised at how many building have unconsented works. So you should also do your own homework, as most inspection companies spend 1-2 house at the house, and won't always look at what the council records have on the house.  You actually have to spend at least a good half a day going through houses and investigating things properly.  I would suggest getting a retired builder who does inspections, over one of these companies who just follow a list and check boxes. Builders have a huge amount of knowledge. I did get one in for a second opinion who was an exbuilder, and he was very good, but not in your area. But whoever you use they have to have insurance.

Just realized you are doing this for selling. Why are you wanting one for selling? If it is found to be incorrect, and there is a problem that wasn't picked up, you could be liable for providing incorrect info to teh buyer. Buyers should always get their own inspection report done. There was a story on fair go a few years ago about this topic. Some agents do suggest to sellers to get one, but that is to make life easier for the agent, as they can give this out to people to cover any questions people may ask, and they also don't need to show inspectors around.

mattwnz:

 

Just realized you are doing this for selling. Why are you wanting one for selling? If it is found to be incorrect, and there is a problem that wasn't picked up, you could be liable for providing incorrect info to teh buyer. Buyers should always get their own inspection report done. There was a story on fair go a few years ago about this topic. Some agents do suggest to sellers to get one, but that is to make life easier for the agent, as they can give this out to people to cover any questions people may ask, and they also don't need to show inspectors around.

 

Interesting thanks @mattwnz. I would agree with you as we've always had to get our own inspections done.

We are selling via auction. According to the agent its better to get an inspection done before hand to garner interest from 1st home buyers and avoid conditional clauses.

I can't recommend anybody but I strongly urge you (as a lawyer) to get a written confirmation from any prospective inspector that they hold liability insurance and the details of such insurance.

tchart:

 

mattwnz:

 

Just realized you are doing this for selling. Why are you wanting one for selling? If it is found to be incorrect, and there is a problem that wasn't picked up, you could be liable for providing incorrect info to teh buyer. Buyers should always get their own inspection report done. There was a story on fair go a few years ago about this topic. Some agents do suggest to sellers to get one, but that is to make life easier for the agent, as they can give this out to people to cover any questions people may ask, and they also don't need to show inspectors around.

 

 

Interesting thanks @mattwnz. I would agree with you as we've always had to get our own inspections done.

 

We are selling via auction. According to the agent its better to get an inspection done before hand to garner interest from 1st home buyers and avoid conditional clauses.

 

I would suggest talking to your lawyer about getting the inspection done, and to make sure it doesn't leave you legally open in the case that the inspection misses things. A friends  got their own inspection done on a house they ended up purchasing, and it failed to find a leaky building problem, where it needed all new window, so they asked for compensation from to put the matter right from the inspection company, who didn't have any insurance or money to pay, so they had nowhere else to go. But if it was the seller who had provided the  report, the buyer could have then gone to the seller for compensation. Personally I would never get a building report done if selling, unless your house is a house that looks like it is a leaky building, and it is putting off buyers. But I know agents who do auctions like to ask that sellers get a building report done, as it makes things a lot easier for them, and if there are problems they can blame the report. But you can just say no, and if a buyer is serious they can chose to get one done. Many people still don't bother getting them done. Some agents have relationships with these building report companies,  which I don't think is a good thing.

 I know that in Wellington, most agents will want to sell your house through a tender, as that can potentially end up getting you a far better price than an auction. Also auctions are quite rare in wellington and the few I have been to in Wellington, haven't got a single legitimate bid, and the house has sold a few days later during negotiation.  An auction you don't usually get the top bids top price, where with a tender, people do submit their top price if they want the house.