The building inspection comes back and it's worse than you hoped: the roof needs work, there's moisture in a bathroom wall, the wiring is older than the listing suggested. Most buyers treat this as bad news. It isn't — it's the single strongest renegotiation window in the entire purchase, and it arrives after you've already won the deal.
The vendors who pay for defects are the ones facing a buyer who handles the report correctly. Here's how to be that buyer.
Arithmetic, not haggling
The renegotiation that works is not "the report was bad, can we do $20k less?" — it's a deduction the vendor can check. Get genuine written quotes from contractors for the material defects, add them up, and present the reduction as arithmetic: "the roof quote is attached; our offer is the agreed price less that cost."
Framed that way, there's nothing to argue about. You're not reopening the negotiation or punishing the vendor — you're pricing the same house, now that both sides know what it actually is. A reduction with a documented reason is never cheeky.
Keep the quotes honest
The temptation is to pad the numbers. Resist it. Vendors call inflated quotes: they get the work done cheaply themselves, cancel your contract, and relist higher — and you've lost the property over a bluff. An honest quote is leverage; an inflated one is an invitation to check.
Pick your defects the same way. A failing roof, active moisture, or unsafe wiring are material. A dated but functioning hot-water system is not. Mixing cosmetic items into the list weakens the legitimate ones.
Credit or reduction beats vendor repairs
Where you have the choice, take money, not promises. A vendor arranging their own repairs has every incentive to choose the cheapest contractor and the fastest patch — they won't be living with the result. A price reduction or settlement credit for the quoted amount gets the work done to your standard, by your people, on your timeline.
The script
Send it in writing, to the agent, with the quotes attached: "The building report identified [defects]. We've obtained written quotes totalling $[amount], attached. We remain committed to the purchase at the agreed price less that cost — $[new figure]. Happy to proceed to exchange on that basis this week."
Note what that script does: it reaffirms you're proceeding, ties every dollar to a document, and puts a fast close on the table as the reward. The vendor's alternative is relisting, disclosing or re-discovering the same defects with the next buyer, and losing weeks. Most take the arithmetic.
If they say no
A flat refusal tells you something too. If the defects are real and priced honestly, a vendor who won't move is betting the next buyer's inspector misses what yours found. You can hold your number, meet partway on the smaller items, or walk — and if you walk, cancel in writing and tell the agent the price you'd still proceed at. Failed contracts have a way of coming back to that number weeks later.
Mid-renegotiation and not sure your reply is right? Paste the agent's last message into Negotiately and review a drafted response, or read the wider guide to negotiating a house price.