What the inspector does
A general inspection takes two to four hours and usually costs $300 to $600, depending on the size and age of the house. The inspector is a generalist working by eye. They walk the roof or study it from a ladder, open the electrical panel, run every faucet, fire the furnace and the air conditioning, test a sample of outlets, and crawl through the attic and the crawl space. Go along, because two hours behind an inspector teaches you where the main water shutoff is and which findings made a professional frown.
What it does not catch
The inspection is visual and non-invasive. Nobody opens a wall, lifts a carpet or moves the seller's furniture. Several expensive problems sit outside the standard scope, and each has its own add-on test.
- A sewer scope sends a camera down the buried line to the street, and it costs $150 to $300 against a repair that can pass $10,000.
- A radon test takes about 48 hours and is worth ordering in most of the country.
- Mold, asbestos and lead paint are flagged as possibilities, and only a lab test confirms them.
Order the sewer scope on any house older than about forty years, or on any lot with large trees near the line.
Reading the report
The report will list dozens of defects, and most are chores: a missing downspout extension, a loose handrail, a dripping trap. Sort the findings into three piles. Safety and structure come first, which means foundation movement, active roof leaks, outdated aluminum or knob-and-tube wiring, a scorched or overloaded panel, and a cracked furnace heat exchanger. Systems near the end of their lives come second. Everything else is a weekend list. When the inspector recommends further evaluation by a structural engineer, take that literally and pay the few hundred dollars.
Using it in the deal
The inspection contingency in your contract gives you a fixed window, often seven to ten days from acceptance, to inspect, negotiate, or walk away with your earnest money. Get contractor quotes for the big items inside that window. Then ask for a price reduction or a credit at closing instead of repairs, because a seller on the way out the door hires the cheapest fix available. A request built on three serious items gets a better answer than a list of thirty.
Tip Copy the ages of the roof, furnace, air conditioner and water heater out of the report on the day it arrives. That short list is your replacement budget for the next ten years.
