Home inspection across Johannesburg

What inspectors actually find in Johannesburg

Expansive clay heave

Clay soils swell through the rainfall season and shrink through the dry months. Foundations move with them and brickwork cracks where it cannot accommodate the movement. Large trees and slow under-slab leaks turn seasonal movement into differential movement, which is what actually causes damage.Checked: Crack pattern and width, door and window squareness, floor level, tree proximity

Hail and summer storm damage

Highveld storms drive rain horizontally into elevations that shed ordinary rainfall without trouble, and hail bruises roof sheeting and tiles in ways that only leak months later once the coating has failed.Checked: Roof covering, flashings, parapet junctions, gutter and downpipe capacity

Sectional title boundary disputes

Where water enters through common property — roof, parapet, external wall or common plumbing — the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act puts the repair on the body corporate, even though the damage shows inside the section. A written report identifying the entry point is what settles the argument.Checked: Point of entry, and whether it sits on common property or in the section

Ageing electrical installations

Pre-1990 installations often carry old wiring, no earth leakage protection, and boards extended piecemeal over decades. A certificate of compliance is a legal requirement on transfer and is frequently the largest unbudgeted cost in an older-suburb purchase.Checked: Distribution board, earth leakage, visible wiring, bonding

Areas we cover

• SandtonHighly expansive clay under much of it, and cluster developments where the body corporate boundary is rarely well understood.
• BryanstonMature trees close to foundations on clay soil — the classic Johannesburg combination for differential movement.
• FourwaysRapid-build era where roof, waterproofing and stormwater workmanship vary sharply between adjoining developments.
• RandburgBroad age range, so hail-damaged roof coverings and ageing distribution boards commonly appear together.
• RosebankOriginal 1930s houses sit beside recent high-density development, and the two need entirely different inspections.
• MorningsideDense cluster stock where shared roofs and boundary walls make responsibility for a defect the first question.
• RivoniaOlder stands with mature trees and long service runs, so under-slab plumbing leaks are a live risk on clay.
• SunninghillUniform cluster developments where one waterproofing detail repeated across a scheme fails across the scheme.
• MidrandFast-built estate stock on variable ground, where stormwater and foundation design differ markedly between phases.
• Hyde ParkVery large roof areas and mature trees, so both roof condition and clay movement are consequential.
• WoodmeadSloped, clay-rich sites where retaining structures and foundation movement need reading together.

What it costs

Indicative market ranges for guidance, not quotes. Full cost breakdown →