Inspecting properties
Exterior and site
The street and neighbourhood as much as the building itself — drainage, roofline, cracking and retaining walls, and what a visible condition can and can't tell you.
- Exterior inspection starts at the street — road type, traffic, noise sources and neighbouring land use, not just the building.
- Work around the site in a consistent order — ground levels, roofline, walls, retaining structures, site slope.
- The type and pattern of a crack or stain matters more than its bare presence.
- None of this is a diagnosis — it's what to describe accurately to a professional inspector.
- Check neighbouring properties too, since drainage and retaining-wall issues often aren't confined to one title.
Start with the street, not the front door
Exterior and site inspection genuinely starts before you reach the property boundary. Note the road type — a quiet residential street behaves very differently from one carrying through-traffic — parking availability, nearby public transport, and anything audible: rail, tram, aircraft, industrial activity or a nearby entertainment venue. None of this shows up in listing photos, and a single daytime visit can easily miss it if that particular visit happens to be quiet.
Neighbouring land and future change
Look at what borders the property, not just the property itself — a neighbouring commercial or industrial use, a construction site, or a large vacant block can all materially affect daily living and are easy to overlook when you're focused on the listed property. If something nearby looks like it could change (a development sign, a vacant block, a rundown neighbouring property), note it as a planning question to research separately — see the Researching Locations hub for how to investigate planning and development activity properly.
What to look at on the site itself
Work around the outside of the property in a consistent order rather than glancing at whatever catches your eye: ground levels and drainage away from the building, the roofline and gutters, external wall surfaces for cracking or damp staining, retaining walls and fences, vegetation growing close to the structure — large trees close to the house are worth particular attention, since roots can damage footings and underground plumbing, and overhanging branches can be a safety and maintenance issue — the driveway and garage, and the general slope of the site. Look at neighbouring properties too — a shared drainage or retaining-wall issue affects more than one title.
Reading a visible condition carefully
A hairline crack in a rendered wall is not the same signal as stepped cracking through brickwork. Damp staining near ground level is not the same signal as a stain on an upper-storey ceiling. None of this is something a buyer's own inspection can diagnose — the point of observing carefully is to know what to describe accurately to a professional inspector, not to reach a conclusion yourself.
Site and services
Note visible services — meter boxes, stormwater and sewer access points, any solar installation — and whether the site slopes toward or away from the building. A property on a downhill block relative to its neighbours warrants closer drainage attention than one that sits at the high point of a street.
Practical checklist
Exterior and site checklist
- Note road type, traffic, parking and any audible noise sources (rail, aircraft, industry, venues)
- Look at neighbouring land use and anything nearby that could change
- Check ground levels and drainage direction around the building
- Look at the roofline, gutters and downpipes from ground level
- Note any cracking, damp staining or recent patching on external walls
- Check retaining walls, fences and vegetation growing close to the structure
- Note the site's overall slope relative to neighbouring properties
Questions for a professional
- Is this cracking or staining pattern consistent with normal settlement, or does it warrant further investigation?
- Would you recommend a structural engineer or drainage specialist based on what you've seen here?