Dilapidation reports in Wollongong

Wollongong is building upward and outward at once. Apartment towers in the CBD and North Wollongong sit on excavated basements next to older walk-ups. Knockdown-rebuilds and duplexes are replacing fibro and brick cottages through Corrimal, Fairy Meadow and Figtree. Each of those jobs puts vibration and ground movement into the houses next door.

A dilapidation report records the condition of those neighbouring properties before work starts. If an owner later says a crack is new, the builder can show exactly what was there, how wide it was, and where.

Why Wollongong sites need careful records

Much of the northern suburbs is built on the slopes below the escarpment. Sloping blocks mean retaining walls, cut-and-fill and stepped footings, and those details are often where existing cracking already sits. Older brick homes near the coast also show weathering, rusting lintels and mortar loss that are easy to mistake for construction damage later.

Parts of the Illawarra also sit within mine subsidence districts. Historic ground movement can leave its own pattern of cracking, which is another reason to have it recorded by an engineer before your works begin.

What we inspect

• Neighbouring houses, units and townhouses, inside and out
• Strata buildings, including common property and car parks
• Boundary fences, retaining walls, driveways and paving
• Council assets such as kerbs, footpaths and stormwater pits, where the consent asks for them

Suburbs we cover

All of the Wollongong LGA, including the CBD, North Wollongong, Fairy Meadow, Corrimal, Bulli, Thirroul, Austinmer, Helensburgh, Figtree, Mount Keira, Unanderra, Berkeley, Port Kembla, Dapto and Horsley.