Estate agents now recommending home inspections
Home inspections have become an unstoppable trend in the South African real estate industry. More and more estate agents are recognising the need to increase transparency in the home buying process by way of supporting home inspections. Estate agency MD, Berry Everitt, in fact, recently called for home inspections to be made compulsory in order […]
HouseCheck wins accolades
Our Tableview franchisee Annelize McCarthy is a person who truly represents the HouseCheck spirit of customer service and attention to detail. Here are some recent accolades sent to Annelize by satisfied HouseCheck clients. I am including these as a blog because I think that the views of these clients really show why a home inspection […]
Conflict of interest
Below is email correspondence this week between HouseCheck inspector, Gerrie van Niekerk, and a satisfied client from Cape Town: Good morning Gerrie. Thank you for the detailed report, it is extremely professional and helpful. Is there a company you can refer us to for the waterproofing problem? Regards Janette. Gerrie replied: Hi Janette, Thanks for the […]
Bad mortar work on roof capping causes roof leaks
One of the most common problems found by HouseCheck inspectors when checking roofs with concrete tiles is badly installed ridge capping tiles. This common defect is often difficult for the layman to spot from the ground – all the more reason for cautious home buyers to invest in a professional home inspection. Unless attended to, […]
Builders sometimes cut corners with tiled roofs
HouseCheck home inspectors find that builders sometimes try to cut corners by neglecting the required mechanical fixing of sections of tiled roofs. The result can be loose tiles, which can be sucked or blown out of position, thereby posing a danger to people below and also making it fairly certain that rain water will penetrate […]
Home inspection is a good career choice
Home inspection is an exciting new career choice which is fast opening up for South Africans. This process could now be accelerated and between 2 000 and 6 000 jobs for home inspectors may be created if home inspection became mandatory in South Africa, as recommended by Berry Everitt, MD of Chas Everitt. John Graham CEO of […]
Estate agent boss calls for compulsory home inspections
A leading estate agency principal has called for mandatory home inspections in order to protect the large number of first time home buyers in South Africa. Chas Everitt MD, Berry Everitt, says that new entrants to the property market are usually novices when it comes to assessing the condition of a property. Everitt, writing in […]
Poor drainage causes huge problems
HouseCheck home inspectors frequently encounter poor ground water management when inspecting houses. This includes bad management of rain water from the roof and also incorrect ground levels and grading of the property. Gerrie van Niekerk, Operations Director of HouseCheck points out that erf grading and drainage can have a significant negative impact on the building […]
Water-damaged safety glass
Safety glass, which is used in larger windows and in sliding doors in South African houses, can be permanently damaged by water, if the seals around the glass pane are defective. HouseCheck home inspectors often encounter this problem, which home buyers or sellers may think is simply dirt on the glass, or badly applied varnish […]
Foreign home buyers increase again
While fewer South Africans were selling their homes in order to emigrate, the percentage of foreign buyers of local houses was rising, reports John Graham CEO of HouseCheck. Graham says that the FNB estate agent survey for the last quarter of 2012 shows that the percentage of home sellers who were selling to emigrate dropped […]