Plumbing Checks Before You Buy a House in Melbourne

Quick answer: A standard pre-purchase building inspection is visual and usually does not include a camera down the sewer line or a pressure test. On anything older than about 1980, the two checks worth paying for separately are a drain camera inspection and a look at the age and compliance of the hot water unit. Also ask the vendor for compliance certificates for any recent plumbing work.

Buying is the one moment where a plumbing problem is still someone else’s. Once you settle, a cracked sewer line under a driveway is entirely yours, and it is not a cheap thing to inherit. I get called to a lot of houses in the first year after purchase, and most of what I find was findable beforehand.

What a building inspection does not cover

A standard pre-purchase inspection is a visual assessment. A good inspector will note obvious damp, corroded pipework they can see, and water staining. What they generally do not do:

• Put a camera down the sewer or stormwater lines
• Pressure test the water service for underground leaks
• Lift the cover on the hot water unit to check its compliance plate and age
• Verify that past work was done by a licensed plumber

None of that is a criticism of inspectors. It is outside the scope of what they are engaged to do. It just means the most expensive plumbing risks are the ones nobody has looked at.

The drain camera inspection

This is the one I would pay for on any older property, and especially in the established suburbs with big street trees — Oakleigh, Glen Waverley, Heathmont, older parts of Dandenong.

Homes built before roughly the 1980s usually have earthenware or clay sewer lines with joints every metre or so. Tree roots find those joints. A camera run tells you whether you are buying a line with decades left in it or one that needs relining, which is a genuinely large number.

It is also the only way to spot a collapsed or dropped section before you own it.

Check the hot water unit

Find the compliance plate on the side of the unit and read the date. Most storage units last 8 to 12 years, some longer. If the plate says 2011, you are likely buying a replacement, not a hot water service.

Also worth noting:

• Is it gas, electric or heat pump? That changes both running cost and replacement cost.
• Is it sized for the household you are moving in, or the one that lived there before?
• Is the relief valve discharging constantly? That is a fault, not a quirk.

Our guide to replacing versus repairing hot water covers what a replacement actually involves.

Ask for compliance certificates

In Victoria, most plumbing work over a certain value must be carried out by a licensed or registered plumber, who then issues a compliance certificate for the work. The Victorian Building Authority maintains the register.

Ask the vendor or agent for certificates covering any recent plumbing — a bathroom renovation, a hot water replacement, a re-pipe. If a renovated bathroom has no certificate behind it, you are looking at work that may not have been done by a licensed plumber, and that becomes your problem at the next leak. It can also affect insurance.

The Section 32 vendor statement is worth reading for the same reason.

Suburb-specific things to look for

What matters depends a lot on where you are buying:

• Newer estates (Cranbourne East, Berwick Springs, Lyndhurst, Clyde): reactive clay soil movement, and flexi-hoses fitted at build that are now near the end of their ten-year life.
• Post-war suburbs (Dandenong, Springvale, Clayton, Oakleigh): galvanised water pipe narrowing from the inside, and clay sewer lines with roots.
• Coastal (Edithvale, Chelsea, Frankston, Carrum): high water table, sub-floor damp, and stormwater with nowhere quick to drain.
• Semi-rural (Baxter, Somerville, Pearcedale): septic systems and rainwater tanks rather than mains, which need their own inspection.

A quick walk-through you can do yourself

At the open for inspection, without any equipment:

1. Run the kitchen tap and a shower at once. Watch for a big pressure drop.
2. Check under every sink and vanity for staining, rust or a bowed cabinet base.
3. Flush every toilet and watch how quickly the bowl clears.
4. Look at the ceiling below any upstairs bathroom for old water marks.
5. Find the water meter and check the dial with all taps off.
6. Look at the gutters and downpipes and see where the stormwater actually goes.

None of that replaces a proper inspection, but it will tell you whether to bother booking one.

Getting it checked

I do pre-purchase plumbing assessments across Melbourne’s eastern and south-eastern suburbs, including a camera run on the sewer line and a written report you can use in negotiation. It is a lot cheaper before settlement than after.

Buying and want the plumbing checked first? Call 0407 756 172.