When buying a house, you need a building inspector who can literally smell a coverup even when there is very limited evidence to confirm it. And this is where Simon excels. Just this week we had signed a contract for a house in Charlemont. Simon went there and found a drop of 4cm in the foundation from front to back, but the house was otherwise showing no signs of stress from foundation movement. But something didn’t sit right with him and this is where experience counts. He suggested a structural engineering report and an underground plumbing check before the 5 day cooling off period ended. We advise the agent that this was required or we would remove our offer. And then the truth about the house trickled in from the vendor. Initially verbally stating the issue was resolved 3-4 years ago, repair work was done and the house has not had any further issues with no movement since. We asked for the reports which were finally provided and Simon was dead right. On receiving the report, it was clear the house had literally just had major works on multiple areas of brickwork where cracks had appeared and every room in the house (except for the toilet and ensuite) to repair and coverup significant damage of a house under stress from movement. On contacting the builder, they refused to admit the foundations had stopped moving, and an additional plumbers report confirmed plumbing works was a major issue and had not yet been fully resolved, so we pulled out of the contract saving ourselves 10 of $1,000s in future repairs. When buying a house, you want a building inspection by someone with a second sense that something isn’t right and Simon clearly has that ability. Simon is simply a brilliant building inspector. Go no where else..
