We had Rob come out to do a building and pest inspection for us twice before we bought a house. It was very easy, they arranged the times with the real estate agent and gave me the details. Straight after the inspection (about 1.5 hours) he called to let me know of the major problems with the house and how severe it was. Within 24 hours I received the written report via email complete with photos. They gave us a 10% discount for using them the second time round - which saves you a bit of money as you may need to undertake inspections for a few houses before you're a successful buyer. Cost varies depending on the size of the house.

Approximate cost: $750

We needed to get our cement tile roof repaired (ridges need to be repointed, some tiles replaced as they had cracked or parts were missing, and a general paint to 'freshen' the look). While, we were happy with the overall outcome (so far, no leaks) and the contractor who did the work was pleasant, turned up on time and cleaned up (pressure cleaning is very messy, with mud from the roof going everywhere - he hosed off the neighbour's bin), we didnt have a very nice experience with the whole sales pitch and personnel from the head office. We didnt expect such pushy sales pitches (including a video demo from his laptop, over 2 hour talk and that there was a one day only discount). We had to deal with the head office as well for admin things and the manager there was very rude. The good thing though, is that we asked for a bigger discount and got it. So don't be afraid to bargain them, and don't feel pressured to sign on the day. We ended up hiring the Modern Group, as we didn't want a fly by roof restorer and it is very hard to ascertain the quality of the paint used. We figured that a big company would have a good reputation and hence cost quite a bit more, something that we traded in for a piece of mind.

Approximate cost: $6000