Your Complete Guide to Home Inspection
Want to know more about home inspection, right? We can assure you that after you read this, you’ll have a better understanding of home inspection as well as the other important things that are related to it.
Let’s get started!
What Is A Home Inspection?
A home inspection refers to the visual assessment of the mechanical systems and physical structure of a home. Conducting an inspection is a good idea. As a matter of fact, it’ll provide you an idea about the problems of a home before you acquire or sell it. What’s more, home inspections will let you negotiate with the seller in order to cover the payment of some repairs.
Basically, a home inspection will give you an idea of whether you are equipped or not to handle the problem or if it’s best that you look for another property.
Usually, the inspection is performed by home inspectors who have the certifications and training to conduct such an inspection. The inspector, on the other hand, will describe the home’s condition at the time of inspection.
How Much Does an Inspection Cost?
On average, a home inspection will cost between $300 and $600. However, keep in mind that every property is unique, thus the cost for home inspections may vary.
Nevertheless, here are some of the factors that affect cost.
- Size of the property
Usually, the first question that most home inspectors are, is the size as well as the covered area of the home. This will help the inspectors in calculating an estimation of the needed time, along with the accountabilities that need to be checked.
It’s worth mentioning that the covered area and the size will include the living space, but also includes the garage, backyard, and other structures a well. The bigger the house, the more expensive is the cost of home inspection.
- Inspector’s experience
Some people prefer to hire experienced inspectors. But keep in mind that such inspectors tend to collect higher fees compared to regular ones. It’s because, they have the needed expertise in inspection and most importantly, experienced inspectors know the areas that need to be inspected deeply.
- Foundation of the property
Another factor that affects the cost of the inspection is the type of your home’s foundation. While there are some parts of concrete foundation that are visible because of the floor coverings, homes with a crawl space will be accessible through holes in the flooring. This will give the inspector the chance to observe the foundation’s condition directly as well as other systems, for instance, a plumbing drain. This will raise the cost of the inspection.
- Local Competition
No inspector will want to rate themselves out of the market. That’s why they will take the time to check how much their competitors usually charge.
While you shouldn’t hire a home inspector based on the highest or lowest bid, the usual costs among inspectors affect how much you’re going to pay. In addition to that, the more home inspector business’s working in your area, the higher the chance at a competitive price.
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Who is Responsible for Paying the Home Inspection?
Most of the time, the buyers will pay for the inspection. But sometimes the home sellers insist that they will pay for the cost. Meaning to say, it’s a negotiable item.
From time to time, a home seller commissions an inspection before he/she offers the home. It’s usually done to guarantee potential buyers. What’s more, it will offer the owner the possibility to fix problems before advertising the property.
But not all homebuyers want to accept home inspection reports provided by the sellers. As a matter of fact, professionals advise buyers to pick their own home inspector.
What Does A Home Inspection Cover?
Home inspectors will examine the visible parts of the property carefully. During an inspection, the home inspector is not allowed to examples, like digging to rotten pieces of wood, destructive testing, and cutting walls.
According to the American Society of Home Inspectors, they will inspect the following:
- Basement
- Foundation
- Conditions of doors
- Attics
- Visible insulation
- Windows
- Cooling and heating systems
- Chimneys
- Vent systems
- Plumbing systems
- Roof
- Electrical systems
- Floors
- Ceilings
- Walls/Drywall
- Fireplaces
- Surface drainage
- Walkways
- Driveways
- Vegetation close to your property
What Does Home Inspection Not Cover?
- Roof Accessories
While a home inspector can inform you about the condition of the roof, he will not check the accessories attached to it like the antennas and solar panels.
- Septic System or Sewer
Often, a home inspector will examine the pipes, but it’s worth noting that inspecting the condition of the septic tank is not part of their job. Before you buy a property, have the septic system evaluated by a pro. Keep in mind that problems related to plumbing can’t be detected visually.
- Swimming Pool
A home inspector can check whether the heater or the pump of the pool is working or not. But it’s not their job to check the entire swimming pool for leakages, cracks, and other problems. It means you will need to hire another worker to do the job.
- Details of Electrical Systems
Though a standard inspection will address a lot of problems with the electrical system, mostly, it only covers shallow problems like fuses, service panels, and breakers. So, in order to prevent emergencies in the future, you’ll need to hire an electrician.
- Geological Problems
Even though inspectors will inspect the foundation of your home for problems like cracks, they won’t check the ground under it. However, it’s not a considerable problem unless the property is in the hillside.
Toxic mold, lead paint, radon gas, pest control, and asbestos are not generally covered by home inspections.
What Will Happen During an Inspection?
A home inspection usually takes several hours. During this time, the home inspector will complete a comprehensive walk-through of the property you are planning to acquire. The inspector takes pictures and takes down notes if you are seeing what he sees. More importantly, the home inspector will give you objective opinions regarding the condition of the home.
Once the home inspection is done, the inspector will give you a written report showing all their finding during the inspection. The report, however, should make it clearer if the things listed are standard maintenance. Or they are major problems that need to address immediately. Pictures of the damaged areas must be also included in the written report.
As soon as you receive the report, we highly recommend that you go over with the inspection with the realtor. This person will tell you what things are negotiable as well as what things are considered standard for homes.
How to Pick the Right Home Inspector
Hiring an experienced and reliable home inspector is very important to make sure that everything is alright. But choosing such an inspector can be very confusing as there are lots of options to choose from. To help you, here are some of the most important things that you need to consider when choosing.
- Experience
Experience is very important when hiring a home inspector because you can be sure that his inspection will be done in a methodical and detailed way. If possible, look for one who has been working in this field for a couple of years.
- Certification
Aside from the experience, you should also look for an inspector that has all the necessary certifications to carry out the job. Two of the most important certificates that an inspector must-have are ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors) and NACHI or National Association of Certified Home Inspectors.
- Education
Education will offer the needed tools to aid an individual to do the best in their line of job. That being said, it’s important that an inspector is well-educated to do the job efficiently. In addition to the education, it’s crucial the inspector you are considering receives continuous training that will keep him updated in his field.
Aside from the above-mentioned, there are other factors that you need to consider the cost, list of references, license, insurance, and recommendations.
Why You Should Hire A Home Inspector at Local Services Helpline?
If you don’t have enough time to compare all the home inspectors you see, then Local Services Helpline can help you.
This website will connect you to a home inspector that can offer you a no-bias and fair assessment of the condition of a certain home. In fact, this will not only help in assessing the value of the property but also identify its present condition for safety purposes.
In addition to that, the inspectors have enough experienced in this field and the needed certifications and skills needed to carry out the job. One more thing, they are licensed and insured.
So, if you are planning to do a home inspection in Canada or the USA, you can visit LocalServicesHelpline.com and work with recommended home inspectors.