Tuesday, October 9, 2012

QA vs Independent Inspector

Interesting issue this one, everyone has an opinion and one I have been wanting to ask for awhile.

The builders say they aren't required and not worth the money while the inspectors say its worth it if only as an insurance policy for your investment.

Each are paid by opposing parties, so have vested interests in opposite directions and it appears each has varying degree of attention to detail.

So the M employed QA guy went through our place weeks ago and obviously prior to handover and rated it a 98.3%. How the hell that is worked out is beyond me, but a pretty good score none the less.

Our engaged Independent Inspector found quite a few obvious issues that was over looked by the QA guys including,
  • A window lintel was not painted at all,
  • The fire box was still not to code - frustrating given he raised it in April at his early inspection,
  • The heating duct was not connected to the outlet - ok if you intend to heat and live in the roof space,
  • Insulation wasn't correctly installed in all places,
  • The carpet still had visible lines through it which needed replacing, and
  • Two of the 5 ceiling mounted vents / fans didn't have dampeners which are required for the star rating.
Excluding paint imperfections and other tidy ups, the above are a couple of really obvious, easy gets if your inspector is on his game and / or has a quick look through the manhole into the roof.  Our independent inspector did. Not so sure about whoever did the QA.

With a mark of 98.3% - which is a great score - I can't help feel like I was copying the paper of the student next to me and really deserve a score less than awarded....

I must say M fixed all remaining items without fuss (although at their leisure), so we are really happy overall with our house but the question remains - QA vs Independent Inspector ?

Cam

2 comments:

  1. This is interesting as we are about the start the serious stuff, slab, frame etc and have been debating whether or not we should get an independent inspector in or not. We will most likely towards the end of the build but do you think it is worth having one for the frame stage? We have been told its a definite and been told its a waste of money!

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  2. It depends how pedantic you are, I bet the same inspector could come around another day and pick up more things, even on a wet day you might be able to pick up the leaking roof, whereas a dry day you can't. Some people have a better attention to detail than others, some have been doing it too long to care, and that's how I feel the M inspection is. Do you believe I got a 100% score, even though there were things picked up. If you don't have this talent, then go pay someone to do it for you. If not settle for the builders QA. It's not like the house will fall over if the paint ain't right anyway.

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