http://www.ratemyinspectors.com/

Rate My Inspectors, Brisbane (2026)

14/09/2023

Our founder Andrew Mackie-Smith co hosted a Webinar today with Kurt Hegetschweiler from Builders Coach. Kurt has been helping Builders transform their business to million dollar profit makers and part time property developers. Andrew covers Handover and Defect management. Join us for the fun chat.

29/06/2023

Learn from expert speakers, connect with builders, and get the tools you need to move your building company forward at the Professional Builders Summit.

29/05/2023

With the ball of energy and greatness that is Brad Filliponi at AREC2023. Caitlin Jenner photobombing us! I’m

28/05/2023

That’s the Gold Coast convention centre. Day 2 of AREC 2023 the number 1 Real Estate Conference in Australia.

07/02/2023

Rate My Inspectors team have finished our trip to ASHI Inspection World 2023 Conference in Las Vegas. There were many interesting insights and new techniques and technologies being used in the USA that Australian inspectors can learn from. Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing that content on social media and on blog posts.

12/11/2022

Rate My Inspectors founder Andrew Mackie-Smith made this video 7 years ago and it now has over 30,000 views. Check out the video to see what a well-built Carport looks like...

Inspectors often remember the worst properties and the dodgy industry players. We think it's worthwhile sharing examples of quality, compliant work done by Builders so that the industry and public have a positive example to emulate. Learning from a video is much easier than learning from an online copy of the National Construction Code or a copy of the Australian Standard.

Inspectors have a reputation for only finding the negatives - so how about we start celebrating the high-quality building work when we see it? Certainly, the inspector will need to be selective in their positive comments as there will always be concealed and excluded elements of the building that cannot be known and therefore should not be praised in a catch-all comment for liability reasons.

At a pre-purchase Building inspection, it's common to see carports that have been enclosed by installing a door at the front and infilling between the posts at the sides and rear. This is usually done by the owner after the final inspection has been completed. The reason it's done is to improve the security of any parked vehicle or stored items. The problem with this practice is that it often compromises the development approval conditions and can be a fire safety hazard. The owner has "Approval" for the carport to show a prospective buyer - so they feel like they have got away with it. With approved plans rarely being available to prospective buyers and a general lack of knowledge of the NCC by most buyers its no wonder that this is a loophole being exploited by many homeowners.

With the identification of unauthorized building work being excluded from a standard property inspection under AS4349.1, would you bring this issue to the attention of a buyer?

https://youtu.be/IDIxfvyAk40

10/11/2022

When buying a property it's sometimes possible to negotiate a price reduction. e.g. Finding some minor termite damage is a worry for some property buyers but to a more seasoned investor, it can often provide great leverage to negotiate a price reduction from a seller. In this case, the buyer could negotiate for the replacement of termite-damaged timber, installation of a termite management system, and mitigation of conditions conducive to future termite attacks.

This is just one example, I’ve helped lots of clients negotiate price reductions using reports that I have provided after a pest or building inspection. How is it done? Once you have received the reports, read them and then make a note of the major defects, safety hazards, and significant timber pest issues. Obtain cost estimates for rectification from one of the following sources:

• A building inspector
• Builder
• Cost consultant.

Better still, if time permits, try to obtain written quotes from licensed tradespeople. For example, a licensed roof plumber might provide a written quote for an amount, say $15,000, to replace a corrugated steel roof.

Examples of negotiable items when buying a property
Not quite everything is negotiable but many things are.
Here are a few:

• Roof is badly rusted and needs replacement.
• Stumps are badly rusted or concrete stumps are cracked and need replacement.
• Penetrating or rising damp.
• Inadequate surface drainage.
• A leaking hot water system.
• A leaking shower(s).
• Unauthorised building work.
• Dented metal roof tiles.
• Retaining wall failure.
• Significant termite, borer, or decay damage.
• Significant cracks.
• Leaking swimming pool.
• Ducted air conditioning is not working.
* Major Plumbing defects
* Major Electrical faults
* Extensive Asbestos

The seller is not legally bound to negotiate a price reduction. The willingness of a seller to negotiate a price reduction depends upon a range of factors. In particular, how motivated are they to sell the property? If the seller has purchased elsewhere and is going to be paying expensive bridging finance if settlement is delayed, then you are probably dealing with a highly motivated vendor. On the other hand, if the seller received multiple offers on the property and has a backup contract, your chances of negotiating a sizeable reduction are slim. Understanding the vendor’s motivation to sell An understanding of the seller’s level of motivation can give you insight into how far you can push the negotiations.

Getting one or two thousand dollars off the price is fairly common. Maybe the air conditioner doesn’t work or the hot water system is leaking. Larger reductions need a combination of identifying the problem, getting a cost estimate or quote, having a motivated vendor, and actually asking for what you want. Don’t be too greedy.

Negotiating large discounts when buying property
Negotiating large amounts off the price is not so common, but it is possible. We helped one client get a $20,000 reduction – twice (on each of his past two properties). Once because the house had badly cracked concrete stumps and needed complete re-stumping. The other was because the two-metre-high brick boundary fence wobbled when given a light push and was ready to collapse at any time, making it a major safety hazard.
I expect he will now be looking for a way to get another $20,000 off the price when he eventually purchases his next home!

Another client was purchasing a $1.6 million property. I found that the ceiling height to the ground floor bedroom was approximately 50mm less than the minimum legal height of 2.4 metres. This effectively made the room not legally suitable for habitable use – in other words, the seller could not call this room a bedroom when advertising the property for sale. The client’s own research was that three-bedroom houses in this upmarket Brisbane suburb generally sold for about $40,000 less than four-bedroom houses. On this basis, he successfully negotiated a $40,000 price reduction. The contract price reduction was agreed upon between the solicitors and adjusted on the day of settlement. Happy days for the client!

Even small discounts can help when buying property
A client bought a ten-year-old townhouse and while at the inspection (when using an electronic moisture meter) The shower was leaking which was causing damage to the ceiling below. I also found that the fire separating wall was incomplete, making the unit and its occupants at a greater risk of death, injury, and loss from fire. On the basis of my findings, the client successfully negotiated that the seller agreed to have both issues rectified by suitably licensed contractors prior to settlement. The value of the work was approximately $7,500. Part of the negotiated agreement was that the seller used only licensed tradespeople and provided a Form 16 Certificate to certify that both the waterproofing to the shower and fire-rated wall were compliant with the National Construction Code and relevant Australian Standards. The client also arranged for us to ensure that these works were completed by attending the pre-settlement inspection on their behalf.

Not everything is negotiable

Of course, there are many things that are not normally negotiated, such as:

• Leaky taps
• A few cracked tiles
• Peeling paint
• Minor damage to fences
• Marks and scratches
• Chipped floor tiles
• Chipped bath
• A cracked window
• Stiff windows
• Loose towel rail
• Lawn needs mowing
• Minor cracks in the driveway
• Termite barrier expired
• Split system air conditioning needs servicing
• Garage door has small dents.
While minor defects are not usually subject to negotiation, remember that a large number of minor defects is in fact a major defect that you can negotiate on. An example of this is poor workmanship where numerous minor painting, plastering, tiling, and carpentry defects can reduce the overall quality of a building and therefore lower its value. If this is the case, email your solicitor or conveyancer a list of these issues along with a cost estimate for their rectification. Attach a copy of the relevant reports by forwarding the email from the
inspector(s). Instruct them to request a price reduction for those items.

Warning: Don't buy a building with Structural defects
I’ll leave you with a warning. If a building has major structural defects like subsidence that has caused structural cracks and other damage, or the building has extensive and severe timber pest damage, I strongly advise you not to bother to renegotiate a better price and instead find a better property. After all, this is what a building and pest inspection is for – to help you avoid buying a ‘money pit'. In my experience, the cost reductions clients negotiate for these flawed properties often do not meet the costs required for their proper professional rectification.

10/11/2022

Is Rate My Inspectors worth it for Inspectors?

Yes, 💯 There is a fantastic FREE version. No catch. Here is a list of the features and benefits of the free account...

Signing up is quick and easy. It takes just 5 minutes to set up your account. In fact, we have over 12,000 inspector profiles on our platform so it's likely you only need to claim your account and add some extra information.

It’s Australia’s largest website marketplace for Inspectors. With more than 12,000 inspectors listed and over 50 types of inspections on offer we are Australia’s number 1 place to be if you offer inspections or need an inspector.

We promote you. Rate My Inspectors is promoted on Realestate.com.au, Google Adwords, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn to Buyers, Sellers, Sales agents, and Property managers.

Reduce your advertising and marketing costs. One Google AdWords lead for an inspection service can cost $20. Get free leads from Rate My Inspectors sent to your email. TIP: You will get more leads if you add more details to your free profile.

Receive more enquiries. Let more people find you. They can call you direct, visit your website, or request a quote.

Stop competing on price alone. It's cringeworthy to see inspectors advertising their service with nothing more than the name of the inspection and the price. Let’s move towards a more professional industry and let prospective clients understand the massive value and risk mitigation your service provides.

Choose to sell existing Reports to generate more profit. Set up a secure Stripe payment account with us. Easily upload your reports. You set the price, not us. Start selling reports and make money while you sleep. You may be asked a question or two by the buyer. On Auction properties, you can do the report for one client and sell it to many others. All clients will need to accept your terms and conditions giving you more legal protection and reducing the risk of litigation.

Your own unique profile. Your business is more than just a price for your service. Now you can display your unique combination of skills, experience, inspection types offered, equipment, service area, sample reports, Bio, Licenses, Sample reports, Inspection agreement, and more. This comprehensive profile helps your prospective clients understand why they should choose you and why it's worth paying a premium to use your service.

Share your Sample Reports on your profile. Prospective clients can see what they will receive for their inspection. You can make the sample reports free and display as many as you like. One for each type of inspection. Our experience is that this leads to more leads converting to clients when they know what they are getting for their money.

Share your Inspection Agreements with prospective clients on your profile. That way they can understand the scope of your inspection.

Add links to your Social Media on your profile. Get more followers to increase your visibility.

Display your Bio on your profile. Do you speak another language or love fishing? Share it on your profile so prospective clients have more reasons to choose you as their inspector.

Display how long you have been in business on your profile. If you have been in business for a while then be proud of it and share it. Longevity in business builds trust.

List your service area on your profile. How far do you want to travel? 50km? More? You set your service area. For a Franchise group, we can upload the territories so that there are no disputes between franchisees.

List the types of Inspections that you offer on your profile. Your prospective clients may not know all the services you offer unless they see them listed. Add on other services and charge money for them. E.g. Testing kitchen appliances are working or providing cost estimates for repairs are services you can offer and get paid extra.

Display your other benefits/services on your profile. I.e. White card (Safety induction card), Safety plan (SWMS), Working with Children (Blue Card) or special equipment like a Drone or Thermal camera? Then list these on your profile to gather more interest and inquiry.

Get a Backlink to your website on your profile. This improves your organic SEO and helps you get more visits to your website.

Display your phone number on your profile. Get calls direct from the Client. They have your number to call you.

Display your reviews on your profile. Your reviews are displayed on your profile and can easily be shared on your Social media channels.

Get more reviews on your profile. You have your own unique review link that you can share with your client, the agent, and the seller (if you like) so that they can leave you a review.

Get up to 3 reviews on one inspection. It takes effort to get a review. Now you can share your review link with one click or post it on your own website. If you deal with Agents, ask them to leave a review of your services. You can get reviews from Buyers, Sellers, and Agents in one transaction.

Your client gets their own free account too. This enables them to find your details, reports, and quote requests. They can also easily give you a review and delete or edit it if necessary.

Be more profitable. With more enquiries generated, you can choose more Profitable work. Ultimately you need an excess of demand to have the confidence to charge what you are worth. More enquiries mean you can expand your business or you can increase your prices. Or better still, do both!

Find other inspectors. There will be inspection services you can’t provide. E.g. You do Building and Pest inspections but the client needs an HVAC inspection. Refer people to Rate My Inspectors when you can't service their needs, knowing they will have a choice of specialist Inspectors in their area.

Privacy is maintained. We never share your data. Unless you specifically give your permission. Make sure your inspection agreement

Your data and the client's data is secure. We have Bank-level encryption of your data with two-factor authentication. All your data is stored in Australia on AWS servers. The same service is used by Australian Governments and Banks.

Our Technology is top-tier. Our technology team is based in Australia. We are built on the same technology stack as LinkedIn. We are continually upgrading our technology to be faster, more secure, and better.

Our user experience is exceptional. Our app has been designed to work intuitively and to work on all devices, mobile, and desktop with all browsers. Try it and see.

Stay up to date. Check our Blog for Inspection related posts. Join our Social channels to post your content and read other comments. Moderated by an inspection industry veteran to ensure content stays relevant and useful.

Local help desk. Our Help desk is based in Brisbane, Australia. Local people that understand inspections and how things work in Australia.

Our founders are award-winning, inspection industry experts. The founder of Rate My Inspector is one of Australia’s highest-profile inspectors who has personally completed over 14,000 inspections and authored many articles and a book on inspections. Our founder has won many awards as an inspector including the best Building and Pest inspector in Australia in 2018 and the Building Consultant of the Year for Queensland in 2017 and 2018.

We are 100% Australian-owned and based in Australia. Let’s keep the jobs in Australia, and pay the taxes in Australia.

We are backed by Government. In 2019 we received a government grant to commercialize inndox (the parent company of Rate My Inspectors). This grant was issued by Advance Queensland on behalf of the Queensland Government.

We have the support of key players within the inspection industry. Jim’s Building Inspections has over 165 inspectors that have reports available for sale on Rate My Inspectors. They are currently performing between 5000 and 6000 reports every month across Australia.

Our mission is to improve the Property inspection industry in Australia. We will do this by putting the inspector first and creating the environment for inspectors to be regarded as professionals on the same level as Architects, Engineers, and Certifiers and to charge fees that are appropriate for the level of risk and complexity that the job requires. We all know there are some cowboys out there - we want to help them become professionals we can be proud of.

More features and benefits are coming. Rate My Inspectors is building an inspection community with many great features. By supporting us we can more quickly grow the free services and benefits we provide to inspectors such as training, discounts on purchases, and events both virtual and live. We have goals for the Australian inspection industry and would love to sponsor a world-class in-person annual conference and awards night that we can all look forward to every year.

Want more? Check out our paid subscription plan for even more features and benefits.

13/10/2021

Property inspectors play an important role in assisting property buyers and owners to maintain a building in a safe and healthy condition. Early identification of defects can save thousands of dollars in rectification costs. The valuable contribution of dedicated professional property inspectors has been largely ignored by the Building and Real estate industry, and it's about time we had our own annual awards. So finally it's here, the Rate My Inspectors annual awards.
Awards will be given to inspectors with the most 5 star reviews in their suburb, state and nationally. If you are an inspector and would like to nominate for these awards, or if you would like to nominate your inspector for an award please visit www.ratemyinspectors.com to register your interest.

Rate My Inspectors

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