To uncover opportunities to increase professional asbestos assessment when purchasing a home Specifically, the research aims to address the following … Uncover and explore all attitudes and behaviours surrounding asbestos inspections/reports in Australia among priority cohorts Measure awareness of asbestos inspections and reports among different stakeholders Explore general perceptions of asbestos inspections/reports Explore all rational and irrational factors such as price, fear, myths, social norms and any other attitudes raised across cohorts in relation to asbestos assessment reports Understand what drives inertia, for example, do home buyers know asbestos assessments are available? Are they considered to be a standard part of building inspections such as those of Architecture? To what extent does the inertia of banks and insurers drive the inertia of home buyers? Explore perceptions of DIYers regarding asbestos inspections and whether they would have more confidence in renovating had an asbestos inspection been carried out Examine all issues surrounding current consumption of asbestos inspection reports in Australia among all relevant cohorts Explore the gap between awareness and action. Is this an extensive gap? How hard would it be to close the gap? What factors would overcome barriers to change? What issues might inform strategies to close the gap? Does change require communication? If so what messages and themes might be significant? Which authorities might be credible in driving change? What emotional factors might drive change, for example, overcoming fear? What education is needed and where might this learning come from? Understand all the factors that might drive change in relation to the uptake of asbestos reports in the housing market Understand what drives awareness (or lack of awareness) of asbestos in the home and understand why this awareness does not convert into action in the form of reporting Determine the factors that currently drive the consumption of asbestos assessment reports Identify the barriers to purchase of asbestos inspection reports Explore the current appetite of all cohorts in terms of purchasing asbestos assessment reports Do buyers imagine asbestos assessments might affect property values? What other factors drive the current appetite among relevant cohorts?
Building inspection reports are conducted to avoid major structural damage that presents a financial risk. Sometimes they are done to assess possibilities for redevelopment. There is a discourse of ‘horror stories’ in the market and home buyers want to avoid “the house falling down.” Overall, building inspections are done to avoid the worst case scenario; they are disaster checks. Sometimes they are done in slow markets (like Tasmania) where houses do not go to auction as often as other cities, and time is available to buyers to construct an inspection as ‘leverage’ when making offers. However, many buyers in ‘hot’ property markets like Sydney and Melbourne at present do not always conduct inspections before going to auction and buying a house. In this research, home buyers in these buoyant property markets missed up to 4 properties before finally securing one at auction. If they were to conduct asbestos assessments prior to each auction, costs would escalate very quickly. When conducting a building inspection home buyers say they are most often looking for major structural damage in the form of… Bora Termites Roof issues Physical structure issues Tree root damage and so on “It’s not a huge risk. Not like termites.” (Sydney Home structural damage.” (Home Buyer Sydney) “Big ticket repairs.” (Home Buyer Melbourne) Some home buyers do not hold property related reports in high esteem. These people are experienced home buyers and real estate agents who have experience with reports. They believe they contain disclaimers and caveats, have a short legally responsible lifespan (some only a few weeks) and overall avoid taking responsibility and never liability. Pest inspections are considered not very reliable unless samples are taken (which they never are prior to purchase as the vendors generally do not allow for it) and pest inspectors often avoid going into roofs or under houses. People who think building related inspections are of poor value are likely to distrust asbestos assessments too. “They don’t do a thorough report.” (Sydney Home “They’re not worth the paper they’re written on.”(Sydney Home Buyer) “The building inspection reports have so many caveats. There are building inspectors I’d use for selling and ones I’d use for buying.” (Canberra Real Estate Agent) “The pest inspection is a farce – so completely full of caveats like ‘couldn’t get under the carpet etc.” (Canberra Real Estate Agent)