The Hidden Revenue Leak Agents Tolerate (Until They Add Up the Lost Commission)
Most offices in NZ complete somewhere between 30 and 50 settled sales a year.
That's the reality. You are not pumping out 100–150 deals a year unless you're an elite metro franchise.
But here is the uncomfortable truth:
Even at 30–50 sales per year, the losses from building report panic still stack into six figures.
And most offices have no system for managing it.
See how much your office is losing each year.
Request the Deal Protection Calculator1. The Commission Reality Nobody Says Out Loud
Take the national average asking price: $864,650.
Using a common structure (3.95% of $300k + 2% of the balance), the total commission works out to about $23,143 + GST.
Agents typically take home 55% to 70%.
So per sale, an agent earns roughly $12,700 to $16,200.
Lose one deal, and you've just thrown away more than most Kiwis earn in a month.
Now look at this through a principal's lens:
- •If your office completes even just 40 sales per year, and
- •Even 3 or 4 deals fall over due to building report panic,
- •You've lost $69,000 to $92,000 in commission before GST.
That is not a "market problem".
That is a systems problem.
Want to see your fall-through cost model? We'll run it with your real numbers.
Contact us now →2. The Real Cause: Panic, Not Property
Most fall-throughs caused by building reports aren't due to catastrophic issues.
They're due to uncertainty, misunderstanding, and fear.
Typical scenarios we see weekly:
- Buyers interpreting moisture readings as structural failure.
- Minor roof corrosion mistaken for a $20k re-roof.
- "Monitor" recommendations confused with "urgent".
- Reports full of jargon with no cost context.
- Agents stuck trying to explain technical issues they're not trained for.
The result is predictable:
- Buyers hesitate.
- Vendors panic because buyers hesitate.
- Negotiation derails.
- The deal collapses unnecessarily.
It's not the defects that kill the deal.
It's the information vacuum.
3. What the Strongest Offices Are Doing Differently
The offices who keep their deals together have quietly built a process that looks like this:
- 1The moment the report arrives, they trigger cost clarity.
No agent guesswork. No hopeful improvisation. No "builder mate" calls. - 2They reset expectations within 24–72 hours with an independent cost range.
- 3They use the summary to guide negotiation, not react to emotion.
This is why their fall-through rates are measurably lower.
A real example from this month:
Office:
Medium sized, 15 agents
Property:
$940k listing
Buyer:
Second-home buyer
Report issues:
Minor drainage, moisture, outdated flashings
Buyer panic estimate:
$20,000 to $30,000
of repairs
Actual indicative cost:
$2,400 to $4,100
real cost range
Outcome:
- Buyer stayed in the deal.
- Vendor agreed to a $1,500 concession.
- Deal went unconditional in 48 hours.
- Commission protected: $20,000+
This is not luck.
It's process.
4. The Principal's Next Step
If you run an office and you're honest with yourself, you already know this stage of the transaction is where confidence evaporates.
Start with three actions:
Review the last 90 days.
Identify every deal that wobbled at the report stage.
You'll see the pattern instantly.
Calculate the real cost.
Even one unnecessary fall-through is more than the cost of a full-year partnership with Insight Estimates.
Implement a non-negotiable protocol.
When the report arrives, clarity gets triggered.
Every time.
For every agent.
If you don't control this moment,
the deal controls you.
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