That Home Loan Hub
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That Home Loan Hub
From UK Academics to NZ Innovation: Trevor Garrett's Impact on Building Inspections with Red LBP
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What happens when a seasoned expert uses cutting-edge technology to unravel the mysteries of property inspections? Join us as Trevor Garrett from Red LBP shares his remarkable journey from earning a master's degree in the UK to transforming the building inspection industry in New Zealand. With his leadership, Red LBP has grown from its roots in Christchurch, post-earthquake, to a formidable national presence with a team of 30 specialists. Trevor gives us a peek into his pivotal role in the Kapiti and Porirua regions and reveals how Red LBP maintains efficiency and excellence through a collaborative team approach. You'll gain insights into the company's commitment to providing reliable, fact-based property reports that benefit both vendors and buyers alike.
But that's not all! We also explore the powerful impact of various inspection reports in real estate transactions. From maintenance and pre-purchase reports to weather tightness evaluations, Trevor sheds light on the crucial need for transparency and stability in property deals. Discover the significance of advanced moisture testing equipment in detecting hidden issues that could derail a sale. Plus, find out how Red LBP's innovative online presence and marketing strategies have expanded their reach across platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and more. Trevor teases future episodes filled with case studies that promise even more valuable insights into the world of building inspections.
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Building Inspection Services and Red LBP
Speaker 1Hello , trevor . Trevor Garrett from Red LBP , thank you so much for joining me this morning .
Speaker 2No worries , many thanks for the invite .
Speaker 1Thank you . It's an absolute pleasure to have you because I believe in your services . I believe you provide something incredible for especially buyers out there , the vendors as well , but the buyers . Let's talk about who you are and what you do . What are your qualifications ? Let's talk about who you are and what you do .
Speaker 2What are your qualifications . So I've been in the industry for almost four decades and so along the way I picked up quite a few qualifications . My earlier ones were trade qualifications , trade cert and advanced trade certificate applications , trade cert and advanced trade certificate , and then later , as I worked my way along my career , I got a national diploma in construction management and then later I did a master's degree at a British university and it was an interesting thing because I was tracking for distinction all the way through the course and then just I didn't quite make it at the end so I ended up two marks short of a distinction so I had to settle for a merit which was a little bit , you know , flattened me a little bit , but you know , still it was a great outcome and , yeah , pretty proud of myself for that . It's a bit of a high achiever .
Speaker 1I'm hearing outcome and yeah pretty proud of myself for that . It's a bit of a high achiever .
Speaker 2I'm hearing yeah yeah , but it was good and a British university , so standards are very high and the expectation of written English being quite exact was you know it was a little bit of pressure but you know we worked through that and with a lot of support of my wife .
Speaker 1No , that's awesome . So what brings you to this industry ? What is Red LBP ?
Speaker 2So Red LBP originated out of .
Speaker 2Christchurch on the back of the earthquake damage and Dan , one of our directors . He spent a lot of time assisting people trying to get a better result out of EQC . Eqc at times were trying their best to spend as little as possible and get away with as much as possible , so Dan spent a lot of time supporting people and trying to get a better bang for their buck , and so that was kind of where it started . And then now we're a national company . We've actually just signed up Yesterday a new player in our team , so we're up to 30 now .
Speaker 1Wow .
Speaker 2And so we're a truly national company and we're pretty proud of that , because the growth has been quite massive in the last . I don't know really a lot in the last two years , but it's been progressing for five , six , maybe more years now .
Speaker 1So what areas do you cover personally ? If it's a national brand , what's your area of coverage ?
Speaker 2So what areas do you cover personally ? If it's a national brand , what's your area of coverage ? So my franchise area is Kapiti and Poirua , but I have a lot of support around me because we have guys who work in Wellington and the Hutt and Hore , whenua and places north . But yeah , those are the people around me . So at times when we get really busy , we support each other in the various areas . So you know , if I'm not free at a set time .
Speaker 2Often we can call one of the other guys to help people , because time is always of the essence .
Speaker 1Okay , always of the essence . Okay , that's awesome when you do have a team that you can sort of fall back on , because , as you said , time is of the essence . What sort of reports would you be doing ? Is it first-time buyers ? Is it vendors' reports ?
Speaker 2Yeah , so I do a combination of the both . The vast majority of my reports are for vendors , I think , because Kapiti Por is quite a mature market and so a lot of vendors do go to market with their reports . And then the balance buyers . And for us there's no difference between the two reports , vendor or purchaser .
Speaker 1We report facts and leave other stuff behind , and so our product should be the same no matter which side of the transaction is paid for , it's good that you mentioned that , because often you know buyers come to me and they say oh , the vendor has already prepared a report . Can we use that , or should we be getting our own report and things like that ? When I see Red LBP I'm like it's trusted , go for it . If I see other companies because I don't really know well of them I am a bit suspicious and I would normally recommend the buyers to go and get their own report if they can .
Speaker 2Yeah , most lawyers would tell their clients they should get their own report , and that sometimes stems from the fact that the vendor's report say through a purchaser's eyes is in the vendor's name . There's no duty of care . But what we do is when we do a vendor's report , we'll actually transfer the name of that report into the buyer's name and then there is no issues of duty of care and that makes people a lot happier and a lot more confident . Sometimes can make the transaction cheaper , because if they're not having to pay for a report they can get our one , and that's quite attractive to a lot of agents .
Speaker 2It means also people are not having multiple organisations tramping through their house and get it done once and all as well .
Types of Building Inspection Reports
Speaker 1What sort of reports do you do Like ? What's the range there ?
Speaker 2So we've got a few different types of reports . We'll do a maintenance report for those people who are not necessarily selling but they may want some help , some advice . You know sort of categorise things , big advice . You know sort of categorise things , big things , small things what needs to be done now or in the future , and help them make a plan for their home . Others , other reports are just the standard pre-purchase report which is suitable for a vendor or a purchaser . And then there's the more riskier homes , the monolithics , where we'll do a weather tightness report which is quite a bit thicker . It's quite a higher level of scrutiny gets applied to the house , particularly on that weather tightness element , and so they are a bit more expensive but you get a lot more closer review of the property .
Speaker 1Yeah , because that was going to be . My question is do you do moisture testing ?
Speaker 2Yes . So when it comes to moisture testing , there's quite a number of different products on the market . Some of the mainstream guys only use a device that will only measure 40 mils into the wall , where more advanced gear will measure right through the wall , so up to 120 millimetres . So a house could potentially have some weather tightness issues and the lesser moisture meter may not pick them up , and I've had that happen a few times where I've gone into a property for a purchaser and found that there were moisture issues that we found that the previous guy didn't so , which is a bit of a shame . And I do from time to time , speak to a couple of my competitors and make some suggestions . Sometimes they're interested and others , yeah , go away , mind your business , it's okay , I like to help everybody .
Speaker 1I was about to say you sound like a very helpful guy , trevor , but that's the thing . If you can help your industry to get better . You sound like a very helpful guy , trevor , but that's the thing , like , if you can help your industry to get better , then it will save a lot of grief across the board .
Speaker 2Like , if the vendor knows they've got issues with the property straight up , then it's much better to address that with the purchaser versus vendor getting an okay report and then the purchaser going and spending money and getting not so okay report and then the finance will collapse because of that , and so that's one of the strengths of the argument of getting a vendor report , because a vendor will know in advance if the property has any question marks about it , and that's If they know that in advance there's one , there's an opportunity for them to do something . Or it could be a question of disclosure so that when offers come in , they're less likely to fall over .
Speaker 2And then if it's a fairly biggish issue , then the price would be set fairly .
Speaker 1Reflective of that yeah .
Speaker 2And so real estate agents generally prefer to have a builder's report to go to market , because the way they get paid too , if they don't sell something they don't get paid , so they like it . Some vendors will say , oh well , you know it's not really in our interests , but if a transaction falls over at the last minute , well , it kind of is in their interest , it is yeah .
Speaker 2So you know there's a bit of diversity in viewpoints on that and you know both sides probably have solid arguments . So just as , let's say , horses for courses , some people want to do it and some don't , and then you just work with what you've got .
Speaker 1But I'm a great believer of forewarned , forearmed .
Speaker 2Forearmed right .
Speaker 1So if you know , yeah , what are you dealing with ? So , trevor , when you're expecting a house , what are you actually looking for in there ?
Speaker 2So you know we've been talking about weather tightness . Probably the most primary thing is the exterior envelope .
Speaker 2performing , you know , is the roof sound or is it need a little bit of future maintenance or it needs some immediate maintenance . And then the exterior walls of windows we're looking at , you know , are they flash ? Windows flash well with the ? Is the cladding clear of the ground and things like that . So that's the most important bit is the exterior envelope . And then , as we look at all of those items in the interior and the services , what sort of maintenance demands do they have ? You know , how worn are they ? Do they need some bit of refresh ? Because they have , you know , window sticking or something like that . So we're checking all of that . That's pretty important . And the bathrooms are really important because they're basically wet areas inside . So nobody wants water escaping from a bathroom and fortunately , from my experience I'd say about 30% of all showers that I see leak .
Speaker 1Wow .
Speaker 2And that's quite a high percentage .
Speaker 1Why is that ?
Speaker 2Often it's workmanship . It is quite a specialised field to install a shower . Some plumbers do them , some builders do them , some guys just specialise and only do them alone . And although I don't know who's put them together when I come along , but I know when they leak . It's not extremely difficult for me to tell . And you know simple stuff like just taking the shower eyes and pointing in the corners and turn the water on and see if any water escapes . But other ones are a little bit more tricky , like tile showers . We might use a thermal image camera on those and see if temperature's leaking out of a shower . So there's a few little techniques we use , but yeah , and often they're not that difficult to fix . Sometimes they have some more , let's say a little bit more sinister hidden problems .
Speaker 1Because that's the thing like if the water is leaking and it's been for quite some time , then there is some gradual damage going on behind the scenes and rotting away the floorboards .
Speaker 2And depending on how severe it is or how visible it is , it may be only a little bit and it might just need some sealant work . And you know that's it . Other times it needs something a bit more radical .
Speaker 1No , that's cool In Kapiti because you are around here . What sort of problems do you see mainly with the houses , apart from monolithic ?
Speaker 2Yeah , that's a good question . So because we're a coastal area , a lot of homes suffer from marine-related corrosion to the roofs the closer you get to the sea , the more severe it is and so picking out houses that you know , getting the level of severity right in your report so that you know okay , yes , there's some surface rust .
Speaker 1Some painting could solve this problem , or oh , this rust's a bit more scaly .
Speaker 2Or you know , okay , yes , there's some surface rust , some painting could solve this problem , or , oh , this rust's a bit more scaly . Or you know , there's a few other bits and pieces wrong there . You know it might need a little bit more . So , yeah , definitely that one . Some areas are not connected to the city sewage system , so some have septic tanks .
Speaker 1I was like , how is that possible ? Hold on a second , the city sewage system , so some have septic tanks .
Speaker 2I was like how is that possible ? Hold on a second . Yeah . So yeah , in Paikakariki all the houses are on septic tanks , so they have slightly different maintenance demands for those properties . And yeah , so that's important . They don't leak and let stuff into the ground . So that is something that happens there . And then other areas that are a little bit more rural have bore water for drinking rather than city water . Bore water can be what's called hard water , and so it can have a lot of effect on hot water cylinders and caliphant water heaters and things like that . So sometimes they suffer problems because of the hard water or let's say a slightly higher requirement for maintenance .
Speaker 1Yeah , and do you put all of that in your reports as well ? For people .
Speaker 2Yeah , we give lots of all of that in your reports as well for people and don't get serviced at all . But the manufacturer says , you know , sort of every 18 months or two years a gas fitter should give them a once-over and make sure they run well . And heat pumps a lot of people don't realise that every few months you should be opening a heat pump .
Speaker 1Really and clean it out yep . I have not been doing that , yeah .
Speaker 2It's not a hard job . It doesn't require lots of skill . There is variability from brand to brand , but that's a simple thing . Okay , and yeah , and often the performance of the heat is probably not that noticeable , but its energy consumption will go up , so it's probably only subtle things are going on , but yeah , they definitely run better when they're maintained .
Speaker 1Yeah , no , that makes sense . Thank you for the timely reminder . I'll go and look at my heat pump today and anyone else that's listening , please go and look at your heat pumps and gas fittings . So that's cool , trevor . Thank you so much . I mean um a lot of first-time buyers . They are concerned right when they're buying a house , and especially if they're buying um an older property versus a brand new property . Um , and I try to encourage them to stay away from the monolithic properties because they can pose that extra risk and the stigma that you know comes along with that . In your ideal world , if you could suggest a first-time buyer to buy something which is an existing property , older property , what sort of properties are ranked better ?
Speaker 2than others . So , yeah , so they've all got pros and cons . I mean , you hear the words brick and tile a lot , yes , and lots of people like brick because it doesn't require a lot of ongoing maintenance and they seem to come with tile grooves . For me , yeah , I like timber cladding . It does require more painting , but when it comes to a bit of abuse it can be more resilient , because if the paint flakes or falls away or it gets a bit of impact damage , you can actually patch it up and repaint it and make it look new again .
Speaker 2Brickwork if you get , say , a little bit of shaky ground and the mortar cracks or something like that , patching up mortar and making it look pristine is quite difficult because over time and coloured mortars and stuff like that it stands out . So you might have done a great job in doing some repairs , but it stands out . So it's not aesthetically pretty . So because I think most people like to have the house looking great all the time or when they go to do maintenance they want it to look great again and sometimes it doesn't quite come off . So I don't think there's any particular building products that are better than others . They all have their own pros and cons and again it's , I would say , a personal preference thing .
Speaker 1Yeah , and I guess the key is to get the reports done if you can , to understand what you are . What you need to do , yeah , what you need to do and what you're getting yourself into Now . That's fantastic , Trevor . Thank you so much for your time today and , before we wrap up , I just got a question for you in terms of what's your favorite motto in life .
Speaker 2Favorite motto .
Speaker 1Yeah , what do you live by ? I love to get to know people on a personal level a little bit .
Speaker 2I don't know if I've got something particular , but I've heard a saying a few times lately which is quite funny and you know I've had conversations with people recently and sometimes it always gets the politics and stuff and you're really not enjoying hearing the discussion or it's fruitless because it just goes around in circles . It doesn't have to be politics , but conversations go around in circles and I was told , never enter into an argument with an idiot because they'll always beat you on experience .
Speaker 1Oh , I love this one . I think that's the one I live by as well , often because you just can't , yeah , you just can't so no , thank you .
Online Presence and Marketing Strategies
Speaker 1That's brilliant , thank you , and where would people find you if they need to look you up ?
Speaker 2Okay , so , oh well , we're all over the place . You know , obviously , our website redlbpconz . We're on Insta , facebook , LinkedIn and TikTok .
Speaker 1TikTok , you're on . Tiktok , yeah , we're on .
Speaker 2TikTok , yeah , and we have a fantastic marketing team that operate out of Auckland , our head office in Christchurch , and they're constantly producing some really great material and it's all over the place . So you only need to just get on any device type in Red LBP and you'll get blown away . How much is out there .
Speaker 1That's awesome , trevor . Thank you so much for coming along today . I hope to have you again in the future and share , and what we can do next time is dive into actual case studies of where things you know went good or bad or south . So , thank you , it was a pleasure to have you and having this interaction with you .
Speaker 2No worries , thanks very much .
Speaker 1Have a good one .
Speaker 2Very good .