Residential
Dilapidation Reports

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What Purpose Does A Dilapidation Survey Serve?

90% of legal claims by neighbours are for pre-existing cracks, tilting, heaving, subsidence or water ingress. Your neighbours are often not aware of their current property condition and only begin to observe cracks as an example once they feel vibration and/or hear construction noise from your residential building site. They then blame you for what is often a pre-existing condition they have not previously noticed. 

You can avoid these unnecessary claims by engaging Best Inspections to inspect every millimetre of your neighbour’s property prior to you commencing any demolition or building works.

Why Use Best Inspections?

We are fully insured and qualified to conduct dilapidation surveys in every suburb, municipal council and state, Australia wide.

Best Inspections can email completed reports to clients from site. No need to wait 2 or 3 days.

Our inspectors inspect each property as though it is ours. We are there to protect our clients against any possible claim for pre-existing damage. 

There is no Australian Standard for the format of dilapidation surveys therefore there are many companies/inspectors conducting dilapidation surveys and their reports will not be accepted as evidence within NCAT, District or Supreme Courts. 

Our reports are court tested and extensively detailed with measurements of crack widths lengths and direction of cracks, tilting, heaving, or subsidence recorded by way of photographs, digital callipers, and text description. 

We use an app developed by our company to prepare and complete each report onsite.

We can customise reports to suit each client’s requirements. 

What Should Be Included In A Dilapidation Survey?

The report should consist of photographs of any tilting, heaving, subsidence, cracking, deviation of any structure and include any evidence of rising dampness, lateral or falling water ingress present within any building being inspected. 

Photos must be date and time stamped. 

A description above or below the photo/s must describe location and direction of photo/s and what the photos are capturing. 

Any cracking photographed must have width measured and detailed. The exact location that a crack width was measured must be described so this crack width can be checked at later date if required. The crack direction being vertical, diagonal, or horizontal must be described within text. Note: only cracks greater than hairline thickness can be measured. 

An approximate measurement is required for any tilting, subsidence or deviation within a structure that has such movement. 

There are many other important facts that should be included within a dilapidation survey which only Best Inspections includes due to our vast court experience.

When inspecting residential dwellings other than apartments it is important to include the exterior walls, paths, retaining walls, steps, driveways, balconies, patio’s, pool copping, fences, interior walls, floors, ceilings, or any part of the residential property that could be structurally affected. It is also important to identify any drummy/cracked/loose wall or floor tiles. Note inspectors can only comment on areas that are visually and physically accessible.

It is common to only inspect interior walls, floors, ceilings, and balconies of strata properties such as apartments. Common areas are inspected separately to each apartment.

Importance Of Post Dilapidation Reports

We strongly recommend you also conduct a post dilapidation survey following completion of your project. This avoids you being blamed for change in adjoining properties following completion of your project. 

Australia Wide

Our inspectors are local to the suburbs/city they inspect within. 

Best Inspections have inspectors based throughout coastal and country New South Wales, Queensland, ACT, Victoria, and South Australia. 

Project Size

No project is too large, too small, or too complex. Best Inspections inspect all projects ranging from backyard extensions to local, state, and federal government infrastructure projects.