Mr Khalil has become renowned for exposing the dodgy workmanship of tradies on new homes, sharing them to his more than 408,000 followers on social media.

His latest mission with his company Site Inspections took him to a suburb southeast of Melbourne’s CBD, and a housing estate that seemed to be riddled with the same problem: water leaks.

“Balconies leaking, roof leaking, the works. And people have just moved in. Unbelievable,” Mr Khalil said.

Faint stains forming on ceilings and walls on a number of homes showed something was amiss. And a flash of a thermal camera – which detects surface temperature – proved the inspector’s instincts.

In one living room alone, he spotted three leaks. A number of homes had stains forming on garage ceilings, or outside the car port or front door.

“I mean most of the homes are leaking already and homeowners haven’t moved in yet,” Mr Khalil said in the video.

He later told Yahoo Australia there was “water underneath the ceiling for most, maybe 90 per cent of the jobs” in the estate.

The reason, he explained, was that the balconies lacked a “moisture management system” and the panelling and rendering around the homes was not flush or sealed to code.

“So water does go behind the cladding and it needs to come out, but what they’ve done: they’ve sealed it and that’s where you get the water downstairs from,” he said.

The balcony drainage system was also an issue – with a single strip drain and small outlet the only way to remove any water that lands on the surface.

But there was nothing to drain water that goes under the tiles.

“It just goes underneath the tiles and gets trapped here. That’s why underneath these tiles is water … sitting,” Mr Khalil said.

“And you can imagine how many balconies are like that here. [It’s] a complete shemozzle, guys.”

While data has revealed the cost of building a home in Australia has soared by more than $80,000 in recent years, the crunch of soaring costs and labour shortages has left families with unfinished homes, or shoddy building jobs on their properties.

Mr Khalil said there is now a lot of noncompliance going on and shortcuts being taken in the homes he has inspected.

Site Inspections sales and marketing manager Ed Waldman told news.com.au the company was on a mission to educate homeowners and tradies about common issues, which range from “cosmetic” problems to more serious cases of “noncompliance” involving breaches of Australian building standards.

He said roofing leaks and poor waterproofing are “big issues” Site Inspectors pick up on.

“The builder is given a compliance certificate by the tradies saying the work has been done in a compliant fashion … but we are finding 90-something per cent of jobs in these two areas alone are non-compliant.”

Mr Khalil told Yahoo Australia many issues come when Aussies buy off-the-plan homes, which they are then not allowed to get privately inspected before collecting the keys. And when they finally take possession of their new home, the damage is already done.

Homebuyers in Victoria are urged by Consumer Affairs Victoria to thoroughly inspect their newly purchased properties and document any issues on the handover sheet.

This period, commonly called the ‘defects liability period’ in the contract, allows discussions with the builder to address concerns.

Mr Khalil told news.com.au that once a builder is handed a list of defects and non-compliant items, it is “usually” fixed relatively painlessly.

“It’s private, smaller builders that give the homeowner trouble because they’re losing money – it’s going to cost them money to fix all those items,” he said.

“And don’t forget, what [inspectors] are picking on is non-compliant items which means what we’re picking on the minimum Australian standards – so the bare minimum.”

A handover sheet is critical in outlining the property’s condition before the buyer takes possession, and by carefully recording any defects or problems, potential disputes regarding responsibility for repairs can be prevented.

In his videos, Mr Khalil repeats one question: Where is the VBA (the Victorian Building Authority)?

He has called for them to “step up” and do thorough inspections on homes.

But, he added, Victoria is not the only state where these poor builds are being done unnoticed; Site Inspections also works in NSW and Queensland and “NSW is probably the worst”.

Got a building story of your own? Continue the conversation – georgina.noack@news.com.au