Realsure - the house inspectors

Setting the standard – Accredited Building Surveyors

To be a building surveyor you must be more than a self-proclaimed expert.

An accredited building surveyor is an industry assessed property inspection expert.

All property inspectors from national property inspection company Realsure Ltd have become the first in New Zealand to receive the newly created Building Surveyors Accreditation, as part of the industry drive to ensure home buyers can have confidence in the quality of house inspections they receive.

The Accredited Building Surveyors Programme was developed by The Building Officials Institute of New Zealand and a special interest group made up of inspection and surveying industry professionals to protect home buyers and sellers.

The new programme ensures accredited inspectors have the knowledge, ethics and experience to conduct their jobs to the highest possible inspection standards.

The accreditation programme will be managed by the Building Officials Institute of New Zealand and is formal industry recognition of the professional ability, education and standard of competence required to undertake building survey inspections.

Once accredited the individual will have undergone a stringent assessment procedure and will have successfully obtained accreditation as set out in the programme. The accreditation process will be managed by the Building Surveyors Accreditation Division (also referred to as the National Accreditation Division) of the Building Officials Institute of New Zealand. This process does not contravene the Privacy Act.

For the purposes of clarification for this programme, a Building Surveyor is someone who carries out the following:

		Pre purchase inspections
		Safe and sanitary reports / Unauthorised works reports
		Problem solving and advice
		Investigation inspections
		Quality assurance Inspections
		Council building record inspections
		Maintenance inspections
		Asbestos sampling

Realsure Director Bruce Symon, who chaired the special interest group involved in developing the programme, says that having accredited inspectors supports their business in providing the highest standards of service.

“There are many in the industry who do not currently have the right training and qualifications to do the job properly, and there is no way for home buyers to know this. We want to be able to provide the consumer with the best possible options when choosing an inspector.”

Inspectors will carry an accreditation card that demonstrates their commitment to the highest standard of work ethic and a dedication to professional improvement that is hoped will lift the profile and image of the profession in New Zealand.

The Building Officials Institute of New Zealand chief executive Len Clapham says that the programme will undertake assessment, training and development for the profession, including auditing.

“The accreditation process will be a structured method of evaluating the competency of building surveyors to undertake pre-purchase and pre-sale surveys, safe and sanitary reports, investigation inspections, quality assurance inspections, council building record inspections, maintenance inspections and sampling of lead and asbestos.

“The move to achieve a higher standard of professionalism and service will result in another measure of protection for the consumer and is an exciting initiative for improvement in the industry.”

Bruce Symon is hopeful that the programme will encourage the confidence of home buyers and sellers in the property inspection process.

“Ever since we started out in this industry we have been trying to lift the standards of property inspections. We see the results of negligent property inspections and believe that this programme is one step further towards eliminating the cowboys.”