Bathroom inspections in Sydney
If something in your bathroom is not right and nobody has been able to tell you what, we will come and show you. Rick is a licensed plumber and bathroom renovator who has been working on Sydney bathrooms since 2009, and an inspection means he stands in the room with you, finds the problem, and explains what caused it and what it will take to put right.
Most people have been told something vague by someone who did not want to open anything up. This is the opposite of that.
This page is about inspections only. If you already know what you want done, our bathroom renovations page is the place to start.
What a bathroom inspection costs
| Option | What you get | Price |
|---|---|---|
| OptionOn site assessment | What you getWe attend, inspect the bathroom and talk you through what we find in person | Price$395 + GST |
| OptionWritten report | What you getThe same inspection, plus a written report with photographs that you can act on or send to someone else | Price$550 + GST |
Prices exclude GST. The inspection fee is a fee for the inspection, not a deposit against work, so the assessment is independent of whether you go on to hire us.
Most people take the written report, because the situations that lead to an inspection usually involve a conversation with a builder, a strata manager, an insurer or a real estate agent, and none of those go well without something in writing.
When people book a bathroom inspection
Five situations account for almost all of the inspections we do.
A recent renovation has gone wrong
Paint bubbling on the far side of a shower wall, water sitting on the floor, tiles cracking within months. Our page on failed bathroom waterproofing sets out the signs in full. You have paid for a bathroom and something is already failing, and you need to know what is wrong before you can have a sensible conversation with whoever built it.
You suspect a leak but nobody can find it
A damp patch, a musty smell, a water bill that has changed, or a downstairs ceiling stain. The difficulty with bathroom leaks is that the damage appears a long way from the source, and we explain why bathrooms get water leaks in Sydney separately.
You are buying a property
A standard building inspection covers a house. It does not usually take the bathroom apart, and the bathroom is where the expensive surprises are. An inspection before you exchange tells you whether the wet areas are sound.
You are about to renovate
Knowing what is behind the tiles before you accept a quote changes which quote you accept. It also stops the variation that arrives on day three.
You are in a dispute
With a builder, a strata scheme, a tenant or an insurer. A written report with photographs from a licensed contractor is evidence, and it changes the conversation.
What happens when Rick arrives
The inspection is a conversation in your bathroom rather than a form being filled in. Roughly how it goes:
- You tell him what you have noticed and when it started. Whatever you have seen matters, even if you are not sure it is related. It also helps to know how the room is used: how many people shower there and when, because that often points at the cause.
- He looks at the room, and then at the rooms around and below it, because bathroom problems usually announce themselves somewhere other than the bathroom.
- He checks the fall of the floor, the junctions, the grout and silicone, the shower screen seal, and every tap and drain connection.
- Where there is subfloor access he goes underneath, which on a suspended timber floor tells him more in five minutes than anything visible inside the room.
- He shows you what he has found. Not describes it afterwards, shows you, standing there, so you can see it for yourself.
- He tells you what caused it, what it will take to fix, and what happens if it is left.
Most inspections take one to two hours. You do not need to do anything to prepare beyond giving us access, clearing the space under the vanity and making sure he can reach any subfloor access point. It helps if you are there, because your answers go into the report.
What we check
- Waterproofing, as far as it can be assessed without demolition, including the shower junctions, the hob and around the floor waste
- The fall of the floor to the waste, which is what determines whether water drains or sits
- Tiling and grout, including hollow sounding tiles that have lost their bond, cracking and failed silicone
- Every tap, drain and fixture connection for leaks and corrosion
- Water pressure and flow
- The shower screen and how it is sealed, which is a common and overlooked leak path
- Ventilation, including whether an exhaust fan is ducted to outside or into the roof cavity
- Visible signs of moisture in adjoining rooms, which is often where bathroom problems first appear
- The subfloor where it can be accessed, which on a suspended timber floor tells us far more than anything visible inside the room
- Whether what has been installed meets Australian Standards
The inspection is a hands on visual assessment of the room, underneath it where we can get access, and everything we can test and see. We do not carry thermal imaging or moisture meters as a matter of course, and we are deliberate about that. Many bathroom problems are found without them, and there is no point paying several hundred dollars for a thermal imaging survey when the cause turns out to be a slow drip from a breach piece under a tap set. Where we think imaging or moisture readings are genuinely needed, we arrange them through trusted specialist partners we work with at an appropriate cost, so you only pay for that step when it will actually tell us something.
What we find most often
The problems repeat, which is what happens when the same shortcuts are taken across an industry.
- Waterproofing that has failed at a junction rather than in the middle of a surface. The corners and the floor to wall angles are where it goes.
- A floor that does not fall correctly to the waste, so water sits after every shower.
- A shower screen sealed badly, or a prefabricated screen fitted to a space it does not suit with the tiling built up to accommodate it.
- Leaks at the pan connector behind the toilet, which is a slow leak nobody sees until the floor around it has deteriorated.
- Exhaust fans ducted into the roof cavity rather than to outside, which moves the moisture problem rather than solving it.
- Yellow tongue flooring in a wet area, which is a substrate not suitable for a bathroom and is one of the most common things we find under the tiles.
- Work that was never certified, with no Certificate of Compliance and no waterproofing certificate in existence.
One customer, Katherine, described what we found in her recently finished bathroom as an incorrectly installed bath, no fall in the floor, and a shower that had been made too narrow because the gyprock measurements had not accounted for the tiling, so water splashed out of it every time it was used. None of that was visible to her. All of it was visible within a few minutes to someone who builds these rooms.
What you get in the written report
The written option covers the on site visit and a PDF report with photographs of everything we found, what caused it, and what it will take to put right. It is usually with you within one to three business days, and on the same day where the situation is urgent.
The report is yours to use. If you send it to a builder, a strata manager or an insurer, we are willing to stand behind what is in it.
Why a licensed plumber and bathroom renovator rather than a building inspector
A building inspector assesses a whole property against a checklist and is generally not licensed to carry out plumbing work. That is the right service for buying a house and it is not the right service for understanding why one bathroom is failing.
A bathroom failure is almost always a plumbing or waterproofing problem, and diagnosing it requires knowing how these rooms are put together, in what sequence, and where the shortcuts get taken. Rick holds NSW contractor licence 379721C, which covers plumbing, drainage and gasfitting as well as kitchen, bathroom and laundry renovation, and he has been building these rooms since 2009. That is why he can look at a failure and tell you which stage of the original job it came from.
We carry twenty million dollars of public liability cover, we are members of the Housing Industry Association, and our licence and ABN can be verified through the links at the foot of this page.
What happens after the inspection
You get the findings, and what you do with them is up to you. Some people take the report to the contractor who did the original work, using it alongside our guide on how to compare bathroom renovation quotes. Some take it to their insurer or their strata manager. Some use it to decide whether to buy a property. Some ask us to quote the repair.
We will quote if you want us to and there is no obligation, and the inspection fee is a fee for the inspection rather than a deposit against work. That matters, because an inspection that is free only if you then hire the inspector is not an independent assessment. It is a sales visit with a clipboard.
Common questions about bathroom inspections
How much does a bathroom inspection cost in Sydney?
$395 plus GST for an on site assessment with a verbal report, and $550 plus GST for the same inspection with a written report and photographs.
Can you inspect the waterproofing?
We can assess it as far as it is possible to without demolition, which means examining the junctions, the grout, the silicone, the fall of the floor and the areas around the waste and the hob, and looking for evidence of water where it should not be. A membrane sitting under a screed and tiles cannot be seen directly by anyone. What can be established is whether it is doing its job.
What types of property can you inspect?
Houses, units, apartments and commercial premises across Sydney.
Water sits on my bathroom floor after a shower. Is that a problem?
It means the floor does not fall correctly to the waste. Sometimes that is how it was built and it is a nuisance. Sometimes it means the floor has moved, and movement means something underneath has changed. Which of those it is worth knowing, because the second one gets worse, and what a subfloor repair costs becomes the next question.
Will the report help with a dispute?
It gives you a written, photographed assessment from a licensed contractor, which is the thing most people in a bathroom dispute do not have. What weight it carries depends on the forum, and we will not overstate that. What we will do is describe accurately what we found.
Book an inspection
Call Rick on 0401 165 779 or send us the details of the property and what you are concerned about, and we will arrange a time, including outside normal working hours.