Dont assume you are speaking to a registered builder

The person you speak to about your building and pest inspection should be a registered domestic builder with a registration starting with DBU or CDBU, meaning domestic builder unlimited, the C starts for Company and denotes the person trades under a company name.

In Victoria there are no requirements for anyone providing this service to have any qualifications, experience or registrations. Those who tell you they are registered are doing so because there are so many out there who are not.  This does not mean they are not good at their jobs but the contract you as the buyer have likely signed says the person must be a registered domestic builder, so if you don't use one you are not complying with the contract and any findings may be meaningless.

Also in Victoria you cannot call yourself a “building inspector” unless you hold a specific category of registration for “building inspector” ; these people typically inspect new homes that have a building permit, not existing structures.  It is illegal to call yourself a building inspector in Victoria unless you hold this registration, even though a building and pest inspection is an inspection and you are inspecting a building.  Many people doing these inspections are calling themselves “building consultants”.

Every person does a building and pest inspection differently with different tools and has a different process.  Remember this is a highly unregulated industry with no governing body.

Prices vary wildly with many group providers charging cheap rates but you get what you pay for in life and this will be no exception.  

A typical home will take around 60 minutes to inspect and should include the use of specific equipment such as a thermal imaging camera, moisture meters and include inspecting the entire home including sub floor, roof space and roof exterior.

Some building consultants are now using drones to inspect the roof too, Worksafe forbids walking on a roof without fall protection.

There are restrictions to what can be done during an inspection, the access to the roof space and sub floor along with pipes, debris and building elements can also block access.  

It is the job of the building consultant to identify major defects in the building - a major defect is considered to be “a defect of sufficient magnitude where rectification has to be carried out in order to avoid unsafe conditions, loss of utility or further deterioration of the property”

This can be a leaking roof, leaking bathroom, moisture issues under the floor, floor inquiring restumping due to poor condition timber stumps, broken structural elements, unsafe building works or many other issues.

Some issues are larger in terms of scope, complexity and cost than others.  It's important to remember that everything is fixable and these reports are by their very nature highlighting negative aspects of the property.