Home inspection across Cape Town

What inspectors actually find in Cape Town

Winter driven rain

Cape winter fronts arrive from the north-west and west. Elevations facing into them take sustained wetting that a sheltered wall never sees, and old face-brick, cracked plaster or perished sealant lets it through.Checked: North-west and west elevations, window perimeters, wall cracking

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

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

Asbestos cement materials

Asbestos has been prohibited in South Africa since 2008, so anything present predates that. Intact, painted cement sheeting is generally low risk and often best maintained in place; the hazard is deterioration or disturbance — drilling, cutting, or high-pressure cleaning.Checked: Roof sheeting, ridging, gutters, eaves boards, older ceiling boards, vinyl tiles

Areas we cover

• DurbanvilleClay-rich soils on the higher ground produce seasonal foundation movement unusual for the Cape.
• BellvilleSubstantial 1960s and 1970s stock now at the point where the original electrical installation is the largest transfer cost.
• BrackenfellConsistent late-century stock where roof coverings are reaching end of life across whole streets at once.
• Kuils RiverClay soils and older housing together, so cracking here needs to be read carefully rather than assumed cosmetic.
• ParowPost-war stock where asbestos materials and original wiring frequently appear in the same property.
• GoodwoodOlder stock with additions built piecemeal, so the damp-proof course has usually been bridged somewhere.
• EdgemeadUniform 1970s development, which means whole neighbourhoods hit the same maintenance thresholds simultaneously.
• Somerset WestSits between mountain and sea with wildland interface on the upper edge and marine exposure on the lower.
• StrandBeachfront blocks take direct salt exposure while inland sections face ordinary inland-stock issues — one suburb, two profiles.
• Gordons BaySteep sites with retaining structures, plus wildland fire exposure on the mountain edge.

What it costs

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