AS 4349.
1—2007
AS 4349.1—2007
Australian Standard®
Inspection of buildings
Part 1: Pre-purchase inspections—
Residential buildings
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This Australian Standard® was prepared by Committee BD-085, Inspection of Buildings. It
was approved on behalf of the Council of Standards Australia on 4 December 2007.
This Standard was published on 20 December 2007.
The following are represented on Committee BD-085:
• Association of Consulting Engineers Australia
• Australian Consumers’ Association
• Australian Environmental Pest Managers Association
• Australian Institute of Building
• Australian Institute of Building Surveyors
• Building Services Authority of Queensland
• Concrete Masonry Association of Australia
• Engineers Australia
• Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation
• Housing Industry Association
• Institute of Building Inspectors
• Insurance Council of Australia
• Master Builders Australia
• Royal Australian Institute of Architects
This Standard was issued in draft form for comment as DR 06729.
Standards Australia wishes to acknowledge the participation of the expert individuals that
contributed to the development of this Standard through their representation on the
Committee and through the public comment period.
Keeping Standards up-to-date
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Australian Standards® are living documents that reflect progress in science, technology and
systems. To maintain their currency, all Standards are periodically reviewed, and new editions
are published. Between editions, amendments may be issued.
Standards may also be withdrawn. It is important that readers assure themselves they are
using a current Standard, which should include any amendments that may have been
published since the Standard was published.
Detailed information about Australian Standards, drafts, amendments and new projects can
be found by visiting www.standards.org.au
Standards Australia welcomes suggestions for improvements, and encourages readers to
notify us immediately of any apparent inaccuracies or ambiguities. Contact us via email at
mail@standards.org.au, or write to Standards Australia, GPO Box 476, Sydney, NSW 2001.
AS 4349.1—2007
Australian Standard®
Inspection of buildings
Part 1: Pre-purchase inspections—
Residential buildings
Originated as AS 4349.1—1995.
Second edition 2007.
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COPYRIGHT
© Standards Australia
All rights are reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or copied in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without the written
permission of the publisher.
Published by Standards Australia GPO Box 476, Sydney, NSW 2001, Australia
ISBN 0 7337 8504 2
AS 4349.1—2007 2
PREFACE
This Standard was prepared by the Standards Australia Committee BD-085, Inspection of
Buildings, to supersede AS 4349.1—1995.
The objective of this Standard is to provide persons and organizations concerned with pre-
purchase inspections of residential dwellings with the basic criteria necessary in order to
facilitate inspections and reports that satisfy the requirements of both the client and
inspector.
This Standard may be applicable for inspections of residential buildings carried out for
purposes other than pre-purchase inspection. This Standard does not include compliance
with building regulations or assessment of a building under construction.
This Standard is part of the AS 4349 series of Standards, which covers minimum
requirements for the visual inspection of buildings, as follows:
AS
4349 Inspection of buildings
4349.0 Part 0: General requirements
4349.1 Part 1: Pre-purchase inspections—Residential buildings (this Standard)
4349.3 Part 3: Timber pest inspections
The changes to previous edition of this Standard comprise the following:
(a) Modification of scope and general section:
(i) Clarifying scope, application, limitations.
(ii) New definitions.
(b) New section for inspection agreement.
(c) Modification of inspection process—Clarifying areas to be inspected, defects,
inspection records.
(d) Modification of inspection report section—Clarifying report content.
(e) New normative appendices:
(i) Pre-purchase structural inspection.
(ii) Building elements and services to be inspected.
(f) New informative appendices:
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(i) Strata and company title property inspection.
(ii) Exclusion of items from inspection.
(iii) Cracking of building elements.
(iv) Types and examples of defects.
(g) Inclusion of commentary to some clauses.
Notes to the text contain information and guidance. They are not an integral part of the
Standard.
The terms ‘normative’ and ‘informative’ have been used in this Standard to define the
application of the appendix to which it applies. A ‘normative’ appendix is an integral part
of a Standard. An ‘informative’ appendix is only for information and guidance.
3 AS 4349.1—2007
This Standard incorporates commentary on some of the clauses. The commentary directly
follows the relevant clause is designated by ‘C’ preceding the clause number and is printed
in italics in a panel. The commentary is for information only and does not need to be
followed for compliance with this Standard.
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AS 4349.1—2007 4
CONTENTS
Page
FOREWORD.............................................................................................................................. 5
SECTION 1 SCOPE AND GENERAL
1.1 SCOPE ........................................................................................................................ 6
1.2 LIMITATIONS OF STANDARD ............................................................................... 7
1.3 REFERENCED DOCUMENTS .................................................................................. 7
1.4 DEFINITIONS ............................................................................................................ 7
SECTION 2 INSPECTION AGREEMENT
2.1 GENERAL .................................................................................................................. 9
2.2 PURPOSE OF INSPECTION ...................................................................................... 9
2.3 SCOPE OF INSPECTION........................................................................................... 9
SECTION 3 INSPECTION
3.1 GENERAL ................................................................................................................ 12
3.2 AREAS TO BE INSPECTED.................................................................................... 12
3.3 DEFECTS.................................................................................................................. 13
3.4 INSPECTION RECORDS ......................................................................................... 14
SECTION 4 THE REPORT
4.1 GENERAL ................................................................................................................ 15
4.2 REPORT CONTENT................................................................................................. 15
APPENDICES
A PRE-PURCHASE STRUCTURAL INSPECTION.................................................... 18
B STRATA AND COMPANY TITLE PROPERTY INSPECTION.............................. 19
C BUILDING ELEMENTS AND SERVICES TO BE INSPECTED............................ 20
D EXCLUSION OF ITEMS FROM INSPECTION ...................................................... 25
E CRACKING OF BUILDING ELEMENTS ............................................................... 27
F TYPES AND EXAMPLES OF DEFECTS ................................................................ 29
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5 AS 4349.1—2007
FOREWORD
The purchase of residential property is an important decision and should be supported by
knowledge of the physical state of the property. Independent and objective advice is often
required to enable informed decisions.
It is implicit in this Standard that the inspection includes subjective appraisal by an
inspector competent to assess the condition of residential buildings. It is not expected that
this Standard will be relevant where an inspection involves wholly objective application of
a prescribed technique of appraisal. In any subjective application it is inevitable that
different inspectors or even the same inspector, on a different occasion, may reach different
conclusions. The Standard seeks to provide an appropriate balance between reliability of
outcomes, economic constraints and the flexibility required to address numerous different
types of residential building.
The inspection is not intended to include rigorous assessment of all building elements in a
property.
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AS 4349.1—2007 6
STANDARDS AUSTRALIA
Australian Standard
Inspection of buildings
Part 1: Pre-purchase inspections—Residential buildings
SECT ION 1 SCOPE AND GENERA L
1.1 SCOPE
This Standard sets out minimum requirements for the inspection of and preparation of an
associated report on a residential property carried out by a suitably qualified inspector in
order to provide advice to a prospective purchaser or similar interested party. The
inspections specified herein may be useful in circumstances other than where a property is
subject to purchase.
NOTE: For example an owner or similar interested party may seek an assessment of the condition
of the property valuation purposes.
The respective State or Territory legislation may include requirements beyond this
Standard.
This Standard covers to residential buildings including, but not limited to the following:
(a) Freestanding houses.
(b) Semi-detached houses.
(c) Terrace-style houses.
(d) Villas.
(e) Town-houses and row housing.
(f) Multi-unit residential buildings.
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© Standards Australia www.standards.org.au
AS 4349.1-2007 Inspection of buildings - Pre-purchase
inspections - Residential buildings
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