About the journal — Building Inspector Newcastle

Building Inspector Newcastle began as a working name on a regional website about pre-purchase inspections. The Wayback Machine did not return a usable archive when this edition was rebuilt, so we kept the name, the place and the work, and recast the site as a journal rather than a quote form.

The Hunter is a particular housing market. It has weatherboard cottages in the inner suburbs, fibro along the lake and the coalfields, brick veneer from the long suburban decades, and a salt-air strip from Stockton to Redhead that eats steel for breakfast. Mine subsidence is not a rumour. Termites are not a Sydney problem that stops at the Hawkesbury. Buyers still go to auction with a building report they have not had time to read.

We write for those buyers, and for vendors who would rather hear the truth before a stranger's inspector writes it down. We also write for the trades and the mildly obsessed — the people who want to know what AS 4349.1 actually covers, why a moisture meter is not a crystal ball, and when a “fair” report is an invitation to live in a house rather than a reason to walk.

What we are not

We are not a building inspection company. We do not book jobs, we do not issue reports, and we do not recommend a particular firm. If you need an inspector, use a licensed practitioner in New South Wales and read our reports and standards hub before you ring anyone.

How we work

Copy is written in Australian English. Claims about standards, licensing and process are checked against public documents. Photographs are Creative Commons or public domain, downloaded into this repository, and credited on the page and on the image credits page. Corrections go through the contact form. The editorial standards page is the rulebook.

If you want to write for the journal, read the guest essay guidelines. Paid or promotional links, when we accept them at all, carry rel="sponsored".