Topic hubs

Every essay on this journal lives in one of five hubs. There are no orphan pages: if you can read it, you can reach it from here, from the masthead, or from the footer.

Victorian terraced houses in Civic, Newcastle, New South Wales

Before you sign

Pre-purchase inspections

How a building inspection works in New South Wales, what AS 4349.1 actually covers, and how to time the report around exchange, auction and cooling-off in Newcastle.

Coptotermes acinaciformis, a common Australian subterranean termite

Timber, moisture, insects

Pest and termite

Termite risk in the Hunter, what a timber pest inspection looks at, and the difference between a combined report and a dedicated pest inspection.

Houses on South Street, Adamstown Heights, Newcastle

The houses themselves

Hunter housing stock

Weatherboard cottages, fibro, brick veneer, coastal corrosion and mine subsidence — the building types that define Newcastle and the Hunter.

Jesmond House, a Victorian Italianate residence in Newcastle

The paper trail

Reports and standards

Licensing in NSW, the fine print of limitations and exclusions, and the tools — moisture meters, thermal cameras — that sit behind a serious report.

A Victorian townhouse on Beaumont Street, Hamilton

What you do next

After the inspection

Renegotiating with a report in hand, sequencing repairs on an older house, walking away, and living with a fair but imperfect result.