What is a building inspector in South Africa?

A building inspector may be certified either as a residential or commercial building inspector, as a plumbing, electrical or mechanical inspector, or other specialty-focused inspectors who may inspect structures at different stages of completion.

They are usually certified in one or more disciplines qualifying them to make a professional judgment about whether a building meets building code requirements.

The National Association of Building Inspectors of South Africa (NABISA) – is a Voluntary Association (VA) of South African professional building inspectors.

NABISA Building Inspectors must:

• Avoid conflicts of interest, or activities, that compromise, or appear to compromise the building inspector’s independence or objectivity.

• Not inspect for compensation, any building or property in which the building inspector has, or expects to have a direct or indirect financial interest,
• Not receive financial compensation, directly or indirectly, for any repair, replacement, or upgrade of any systems or components carried out on the inspected property within one year after the inspection.
• Act in utmost good faith toward each client and towards all other interested parties when carrying out the work of building inspector.
• Perform services and express opinions based on the inspector’s genuine personal conviction and only express opinions within the building inspector’s personal areas of education, training and experience.
• Be objective in his/her reporting and not knowingly understate or overstate the significance of reported conditions.
• Avoid any behaviour which may harm the public, or discredit NABISA, or the building inspection profession, or reduce public confidence in the profession of building inspection.
• Ensure that advertising, marketing, and promotion of the building inspector’s services or qualifications shall not be fraudulent, false or deceptive.
• Report without delay any suspected substantive and deliberate violations of this Code of Conduct by any member of NABISA, of which the building inspector becomes aware, to the NABISA Board of Directors.