Frank Advice

Frank Murray - Jim's Building Inspections
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Do brand-new homes really need an inspection? Is that crack serious? Welcome to Frank Advice, where certified building inspector Frank Murray gives honest answers about Kiwi properties. Every week, Frank takes you inside a real inspection across Auckland, from family homes to commercial and industrial properties. What he found, why it matters, and three practical tips you can use straight away. No jargon. No scare tactics. Straightforward advice for buyers, homeowners, investors and business owners. New episode every Tuesday. Before you buy. Before you build. Get Frank Advice.

  1. 2d ago

    Ep 12: Is That Crack Normal?

    Episode 12 "The agent says it's just settling. Is it?" A woman sent me a photo of a crack above her hallway doorway before she'd even booked. Diagonal, freshly painted over, and worrying her. I told her it wasn't the crack I'd worry about first. This week I take you through the cracks I see in nearly every Auckland house and sort them the way I do on the day: the ones that are the house breathing, the ones I look twice at, and the ones worth putting an engineer in front of. The size of a crack tells you almost nothing. Something else tells you almost everything. In this episode: Why every house in Auckland cracks, and what the ground under it has to do with August and February The six kinds of crack I'd fill, paint and forget, and the one thing they all have in common The cracks that make me slow down, including the one most people walk straight past What I actually do with a crack on the day, and what I won't tell you about it Three practical tips: The three-month habit that answers the question better than staring at it Why the best crack detector in the house isn't a crack at all The question to ask about a crack that's been painted over, and what to do if the answer's vague Got a crack in your own place? Send me a photo. Square on, with a coin next to it, and tell me roughly where in the house it is. I'm @getfrankadvice on all the socials, and I'll tell you which kind it is and what I'd do next. All episodes: getfrankadvice.nz Book an inspection: jbitakapuna.top Follow Frank Advice so you don't miss an episode, and send this one to someone who's been staring at a crack in their hallway. Next week: Subfloors. The twenty minutes under the house that tells me more than the two hours above it. And the builder from episode six finally gets his ending.

    Ep 12: Is That Crack Normal?

  2. Oct 12

    EP 11: How to Choose a Building Inspector - Five Questions to Ask Anyone, Including Me

    “I’ve got three names. They all say they’re the best. How do I tell?” A woman rang me with that question one afternoon, and I couldn’t answer it. If I told her I was the best, she’d have to take my word for it, same as she would with the other two. So I gave her five questions instead. This week I’m giving them to you, and I answer every one of them about myself, on air, so you can hear what an answer sounds like. Take them to me. Take them to anyone. In this episode: The thing a building inspection has in common with nothing else you pay for, and why a good review can’t tell you what you need to knowThe question with a “not” in the answer, and why that’s the answer you wantThe one that isn’t a trap and isn’t a dig at anyone, but changes how you read the reportA bonus sixth question that most people forget to ask, about the cover that’s actually there for youThree practical tips: Why you ring two inspectors, not one, and what to listen for in the first couple of questionsThe thing to ask for before you book that tells you more than the price doesWhen to choose your inspector, and it’s earlier than most people do itGot a question about your own place? Send it through. I’m @getfrankadvice on all the socials, and I answer the good ones on the show. All episodes: getfrankadvice.nzBook an inspection: jbitakapuna.top Follow Frank Advice so you don’t miss an episode, and send this one to someone who’s about to book an inspection. Next week: Is that crack normal? Every house has them. I’ll tell you which ones I look twice at, and I want to see yours.

    EP 11: How to Choose a Building Inspector - Five Questions to Ask Anyone, Including Me

  3. Oct 5

    EP 10: Weatherboard, Brick or Plaster: What You're Really Buying

    A bloke rang me before I'd even seen the house. First thing he said, before hello, was, "We only looked at brick. Brick doesn't leak." Sixties brick and tile. Tidy. New paving all the way round, nice and level, right up to the wall. And a lounge wall that the thermal camera didn't like at all. He looked at me and said, "But it's brick." Last week was leaky homes, and a few of you came away from it thinking plaster bad, everything else good. It's not that simple. This week I take the three claddings that make up most of Auckland and tell you what each one is actually asking of you when you buy it, where each one goes wrong, and why "which one is best" is the wrong question. In this episode: Why a hundred-year-old villa is still standing on its original boards, and what you're really paying for when you buy weatherboardThe thing almost every brick house in New Zealand has in common, and the little gaps along the bottom row of bricks that hardly anyone knows the purpose ofWhy "plaster" is actually three different things, and why they don't age the same wayThe one sentence about where water gets into a house that I want you to take away from todayWhat was going on behind that lounge wall, and what it took to put rightThe three practical tips: The lap of the house that tells me more than the kitchen doesThe question to ask about a cladding instead of "what is it"The four corners I check on every house, whatever it's made ofGot a question about your own place? Send it through. I'm @getfrankadvice on all the socials, and I answer the good ones on the show. Listen: getfrankadvice.nz Book an inspection: jbitakapuna.top Follow: @getfrankadvice Next week: How to Choose a Building Inspector. Five questions to ask anyone you're thinking of booking, including me. I answer all five on air.

    EP 10: Weatherboard, Brick or Plaster: What You're Really Buying

  4. Sep 28

    EP 9: Leaky Homes: The Warning Signs Every Kiwi Should Know

    A woman rang me from a footpath once. She was standing outside an open home, and she said, "I'm looking at it right now. Is this one of those leaky homes?" I had to tell her I couldn't answer that. Nobody can, not from the street. Anyone who says they can spot a leaky home from the footpath is guessing. But I said, "Describe it to me, and I'll tell you whether it's the kind of house where I'd want to find out." So she did. And I said, "Right. Let's find out." This week: what a leaky home actually is, what you can and can't see from the footpath, and why the warning signs most people watch for are the ones that turn up last. In this episode: Why "leaky home" isn't a type of house, and what it actually describesFive things you can spot from the footpath, and why one on its own tells me very littleWhy the signs people watch for are usually the last ones to show upThe discovery that makes most buyers panic, and why it can be good newsWhat a moisture reading can tell me, and what it can'tA word for anyone who already owns a house from that eraThe three practical tips: What to check before you fall for a house, and why you don't need to be an expert to do itThe paperwork to ask for before you let one thing worry youThe one situation where "we'll sort it out later" is the most expensive sentence in the purchaseGot a question about your own place? Send it through. I'm @getfrankadvice on all the socials, and I answer the good ones on the show. Listen and get in touch: getfrankadvice.nz Book an inspection: jbitakapuna.top Follow @getfrankadvice everywhere. Next week: weatherboard, brick or plaster. The three claddings that make up most of Auckland, and what you're actually buying with each one.

    EP 9: Leaky Homes: The Warning Signs Every Kiwi Should Know

  5. Sep 21

    EP 8: Questions Every Buyer Asks - and Who Can Actually Answer Them

    A bloke followed me out to the driveway halfway through an inspection. He said, "I asked the agent whether this house had ever leaked, and she went all vague on me. I reckon she knows something." He'd been sitting on that for three days. Hadn't slept much on it either, by the look of him. She wasn't lying to him. But from where he was standing in that driveway, careful and evasive look exactly the same. Most buyers ask the right questions. They just put them to the wrong person, and then they read the answer wrong and spend a week worrying about nothing. This week: five questions nearly every buyer asks, and who actually holds the answer to each one. In this episode: Why a careful answer usually isn't the answer you think it isThe most asked question in New Zealand property, and the three places the answer actually livesThe question people ask in a hallway that takes me two hours and a torch to answerThe one question I'd tell you to stop asking, and the better one to ask insteadThe easiest answer to get in the whole episode, and almost nobody goes looking for itWhat the agent is far and away the best person to ask, and why buyers underuse themThe three practical tips: The follow-up question that turns a vague answer into a useful oneTwo minutes, costs nothing, and you'll come away with things that are not in any document anywhereWhat to order before you ask anybody about consents, and why the order mattersGot a question about your own place? Send it through. I'm @getfrankadvice on all the socials, and I answer the good ones on the show. Listen and get in touch: getfrankadvice.nz Book an inspection: jbitakapuna.top Follow @getfrankadvice everywhere. Next week: the first question on today's list gets an episode of its own. Has this house ever leaked, what a leaky home actually looks like from the footpath, and why the warning signs are not the ones most people are watching for.

    EP 8: Questions Every Buyer Asks - and Who Can Actually Answer Them

  6. Sep 14

    EP 7: Red Flags Buyers Walk Straight Past at Open Homes

    A client asked me to meet her at an open home a while back. Not an inspection, she hadn't got that far. She just wanted a second pair of eyes. By the time I'd walked from the letterbox to the front door, I'd stopped three times. Inside, the agent was doing a good job on the kitchen, and my client turned to me and said, "So? What do you think?" I said, "I think I've got three questions, and I haven't been inside yet." She hadn't seen any of them. Nobody does. Not because they're hidden - because nobody's ever told them they're worth looking at. This week I'm giving you all seven: three from the path, four from inside. Take them to the next open home you go to and you'll see the place differently. In this episode: The one rule that stops a red flag turning into a reason to panicThree things you can spot before you've touched the door handleThe three seconds you've got when you walk in, and what to do with themThe one you can actually test while everyone else is admiring the benchtopWhy I'm careful with number six, and what I'm not accusing anyone ofThe room everyone rushes through, and the question you can't answer from inside itThe three practical tips: What to do while everyone else is queuing in the hallway with their shoes offThe difference between a buyer who looks at a door and one who opens itWhere to write your list, and why the car on the way home is too lateGot a question about your own place? Send it through - I'm @getfrankadvice on all the socials, and I answer the good ones on the show. Listen and get in touch: getfrankadvice.nz Book an inspection: jbitakapuna.top Follow @getfrankadvice everywhere. Next week: you've got your list of questions. Now, who do you actually ask? Some of them the agent honestly can't answer - and that's not their fault. I'll tell you who can.

    EP 7: Red Flags Buyers Walk Straight Past at Open Homes

  7. Sep 7

    EP 6: Should You Ever Skip the Building Inspection?

    A builder rang me a while back. Not for a client - for himself. He was buying a house. Twenty-odd years in the trade, runs his own crew, has probably built more houses than I've inspected. And he said, a bit sheepishly, "Frank, I feel like I should know the answer to this. Do I need an inspection? I mean - I'm a builder." I asked him what he was trying to find out. He laughed. Then he stopped laughing, because he realised he didn't know. This week I'm asking the opposite question to the one I usually get asked, and answering it honestly. There are different ways of checking a house. They cost different amounts, and they get you different things - so whichever one you choose, you can choose it with your eyes open. In this episode: The question to ask yourself before you decide what kind of check to getFour questions hiding inside "is this a good house" - and why most buyers never separate themWhat a builder mate's walk-through genuinely gets you, and the one thing it can'tThe five things that make the gap between a cheap check and a full one get much biggerThe thing I'd want you to hear from an inspector, which isn't what you'd expectThe three practical tips: What to write down before you decide what level of check you're paying forWhat to ask for even if you go with the cheapest optionThe one thing that shouldn't be making this decision for youGot a question about your own place? Send it through - I'm @getfrankadvice on all the socials, and I answer the good ones on the show. Listen and get in touch: getfrankadvice.nz Book an inspection: jbitakapuna.top Follow @getfrankadvice everywhere. Next week: the red flags buyers walk straight past at open homes - seven things I notice in the first ten minutes that most people never see.

    EP 6: Should You Ever Skip the Building Inspection?

  8. Aug 31

    EP 5: Buying at Auction - What You Must Do Before the Hammer Falls

    I inspected three houses for the same couple in about nine weeks. The first one, the bidding went past what they had, and they drove home. The second one, same story. Two inspections paid for, two houses gone to somebody else - and the wife said to me on the phone, half laughing and half not, "we're spending a fortune on houses we don't own." Then came the third house. And what I found in the first forty minutes changed the number they were willing to go to. They bought it. This week: buying at auction - where every safety net you're used to is gone, and everything you'd normally do after you sign has to happen before you bid. In this episode: The one sentence that explains the entire challenge of buying at auctionFour jobs that all have to be finished before the auctioneer starts - and whose is whoseThe two words on your loan paperwork that don't mean what most bidders think they meanWhat I found on the third house, and what it changed about the way they bidThe honest answer to "what if I pay for an inspection and don't get the house?"The three practical tips: When in the campaign to book your inspection - and why the usual timing leaves you with a report you can't useWhere and when to set your maximum number, and what to take off it firstThe two free phone calls to make before you bid, and the question to ask each personGot a question about your own place? Send it through - I'm @getfrankadvice on all the socials, and I answer the good ones on the show. Listen and get in touch: getfrankadvice.nz Book an inspection: jbitakapuna.top Follow @getfrankadvice everywhere. Next week: should you ever skip the building inspection? I'm a building inspector, so you can probably guess what you think I'll say. You might be surprised.

    EP 5: Buying at Auction - What You Must Do Before the Hammer Falls
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About

Do brand-new homes really need an inspection? Is that crack serious? Welcome to Frank Advice, where certified building inspector Frank Murray gives honest answers about Kiwi properties. Every week, Frank takes you inside a real inspection across Auckland, from family homes to commercial and industrial properties. What he found, why it matters, and three practical tips you can use straight away. No jargon. No scare tactics. Straightforward advice for buyers, homeowners, investors and business owners. New episode every Tuesday. Before you buy. Before you build. Get Frank Advice.

Information

  • Creator
    Frank Murray - Jim's Building Inspections
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    13
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Frank Murray - Jim's Building Inspections
  • Show Website
    Frank Advice