Most buildings get inspected in pieces. A surveyor comes for the asbestos. Somebody else comes for the building. A third party does the mould, and usually nobody does the water.
You end up with four reports, four invoices, four site visits and nobody who can tell you which of the findings actually matters most.
A building and site health check is one scope, one team, one report, findings ranked by risk.
What it covers
Hazardous materials
Delivered by Virotech, our parent company and a specialist hazardous materials consultancy. Our hazardous materials surveying page has the detail.
- Asbestos. Any building constructed or refurbished before 1 January 2000 should be treated as containing asbestos until a survey says otherwise. Under the Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations 2016, a PCBU with management or control of a workplace must identify asbestos and hold an asbestos management plan for it. We carry out management surveys, refurbishment and demolition surveys, sampling, air monitoring and clearance certificates.
- Lead-based paint. Standard in New Zealand housing until the late 1970s and still sitting under later coats in a great many buildings. It becomes a live risk the moment somebody sands, scrapes or heats it.
- Methamphetamine. Screening and detailed sampling, assessed against NZS 8510:2017.
- Contaminants in soil. Heavy metals, hydrocarbons, PCBs and PFAS. Where the land has a HAIL history, the National Environmental Standard for Assessing and Managing Contaminants in Soil to Protect Human Health 2011 can require a preliminary site investigation before you subdivide, change the use, disturb the soil or pull out a fuel storage system.
Mould, moisture and air quality
Our core work, carried out in-house by New Zealand's only ACAC Certified Microbial Investigator. Moisture testing including temperature and humidity, air quality sampling, and identification of the type of mould present including whether allergenic or toxigenic.
More important than any of that is where the moisture is coming from. Most mould problems trace back to a failed flashing, a leaking pipe or a lack of ventilation, and until the moisture is dealt with, the mould comes back.
Drinking water
For any building not on town supply. Bacteriological and chemical testing of tank, bore and roof-collected water, assessed against the Water Services (Drinking Water Standards for New Zealand) Regulations 2022.
Building condition and maintenance
A surveyed assessment of the building fabric and how it is holding up: roof and cladding, junctions and flashings, joinery and glazing, subfloor and roof space, drainage and ground clearances — and how all of that connects to the moisture problems we find inside.
What you get is a condition assessment and a maintenance schedule you can budget from: what needs doing now, what needs doing in the next two years, and what to keep an eye on. There is more on our building surveying page.
This is maintenance and condition surveying. Building Warrant of Fitness sign-offs or acting as an IQP on your compliance schedule are additional and can be organised as required.
Healthy Homes
Full assessment against all five standards for rental properties, with the documentation landlords need. Where remediation follows, we can also carry out validation testing to confirm the work is done.
When a whole-building check makes sense
- Buying. Due diligence before you are committed, especially on a pre-2000 commercial building, a lifestyle block on tank water, or anything on a HAIL-listed site.
- Before you renovate or demolish. A refurbishment or demolition asbestos survey is required before the work starts, not after somebody has already cut into it.
- Taking on a portfolio. One baseline across every door, then an annual cycle.
- After an event. Flood, fire, a long-running leak, a burst pipe.
- Change of use or subdivision, which is often the point at which soil contamination obligations bite.
- When a tenant or a staff member has raised a health concern and you need an independent answer rather than an argument.
How it runs
- A scoping call. We work out what the building actually needs and what it does not. Most sites do not need everything on this page.
- A written scope and a fixed quote, including any travel, which we'll confirm before we start.
- Site work, in a single visit wherever the scope allows.
- One report, findings ranked by risk, with a clear set of next steps.
- A phone review of the report with the consultant who did the work.
Independent by design
We do not carry out asbestos removal. We do not do the physical mould remediation. We do not sell water treatment systems. We may advise on or project-manage the remediation, but we are not the ones carrying out the project.
That is deliberate. When our report says something needs doing, we have nothing to gain from it being bigger or more expensive than it needs to be, and the advice is worth more for it.
Where we work
Auckland, Northland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and Taranaki as standard, and nationwide for portfolio and commercial clients.
Common questions
Can I get just one part of this?
Yes. Most clients do. The scoping call is there to work out which parts are worth doing on your building.
Is this a builder's report?
No. A pre-purchase builder's report looks at construction and defects. A site health check looks at what is in the building and the ground that could affect the health of the people using it, plus the condition issues that drive those problems. They answer different questions and they work well together.
Do I need an asbestos survey if my building is newer than 2000?
Usually not for the original construction, but later work using older stock, and imported materials, do turn up. If in doubt we will tell you it is not needed rather than sell you one.
We already have an asbestos management plan. Is that enough?
It is the legal minimum, and it only stays valid while it reflects the building. Refurbishment, damage or a change of use all mean it needs revisiting.
How do I get a price?
Start with the scoping call. Once we know the building, its age, its size and which parts of the check are actually worth doing, we'll send a written scope and a fixed quote, with any travel shown separately and confirmed before we start.
