The top five reasons you need to add a Building Health Assessment (or Building Biology) to your building and pest inspections during house purchase
You probably wouldn’t buy a house unless you’d first had a building inspection completed, would you? So there are obvious gains to be had in adding a professional assessment of the healthiness of the same home before making such a large purchase.
It is essential that you know exactly what you’re getting. A building inspection is a report that describes the current condition of the property whereas a building health assessment can provide you with a written risk assessment of health issues that may arise or be exacerbated from living in that home, or a home in that vicinity.
Why is health in the home so important? Well we spend more than 90% of our time indoors. For small children who are vulnerable to their environment the time spent maybe even higher. This vulnerability to the home environment is a critical factor in family health and wellbeing as small children are disproportionally impacted by hazards in the home such as mould, electromagnetism and indoor air quality.
The reasons are:
- Have you ever gone into a home and instantly had a feeling about it? Choosing one property over another can sometimes come down to a ‘feeling’ when you drive up to the property, or when you enter the home. Sometimes your ’feelings’ one way or another may not be the most rational or trustworthy when comparing two homes with similar attributes. A home health assessment can make the difference with such a decision. Which is going to be the healthiest for you and your family in the long term, according to your current and future health needs. What value do you place on your families health? Many say there is nothing more important than the health of the ones you love.
- A building inspector can give you professional advice on how major problems can affect the property over time. He or she cannot advise you on the potential health implications of those defects be they water damage, mould or the types of finishes existing in the building. A Building Biologist can.
- Do your family have existing medical or physical challenges?
A building inspector can identify physical defects with the home you are considering. This can be useful in negotiation with a vendor and may lead to an adjustment in the purchase price or even pre-sale completion of existing defects. While they can provide an opinion on the financial soundness of the purchase at a particular price compared to others in the district. But you will need to look elsewhere if there are issues with your home in the areas of mould and dampness, electromagnetic radiation, geopathic stress, indoor air quality and water pollution, they will likely be unable to comment or quantify these. Some of these may never come out in a traditional building inspection These are issues that can be harmful and have resulted in families that were otherwise very happy with their home, having to move prematurely and not without significant cost, from a home that is harmful to their health. - A building biologist can advise on healthy and sustainable materials to be used in the construction or renovation of a home and also the suitability of the sites on which you are considering building a new home.
- You can be assured that building health inspections are carried out by an expert with professional qualifications in Building Biology and that they carry the relevant insurances in order carry out such inspections.