Home Inspection questions

There are a lot of questions surrounding home inspections, such as, Should everyone get a home inspection? How long do the inspections usually take? Should we as the potential home buyers attend the inspection? How much do inspections typically cost?

Here are some answers to those questions,

Should everyone get a home inspection?

A: The short answer is yes. If you do have a home inspection and find out after it is over that there are no major problems does that mean that you wasted your money? No, it means that you can now have the peace of mind to move forward with the purchase of the house, if you so choose to, knowing that you will be getting what you are expecting to. No house is perfect and at the same time not every house is going to have major problems with it, only having a quality home inspection done  will let you know for sure what shape your prospective new house is in.

How long do home inspections take?

On average your home inspection should take around three hours to complete. Depending on the layout, age and size of the home, your inspection might take a little longer or a little less time. Usually house that have basements/crawl spaces will take longer than house that are on slabs. Houses with two floors will take a little longer than single floor houses. Older houses tend to take longer than newer ones. If your inspection only took one or one and a half hours you may not have had every thing  examined.

Should we as the potential home buyers attend the home inspection?

A: It is not mandatory that you attend the inspection but it would be beneficial for you if you could at least make it for the last half of an hour of the inspection, this way we can go over your report and you could ask any questions that you might have. Of course if it was not possible for you to make it to the inspection at all you could always call me with any questions that you had.

How much do inspections typically cost?

A: Generally, an inspection from a reputable company will cost anywhere from $350.00 up to $2000.00 depending on the size and age of the house, if there are any ancillary inspections taking place along with the regular home inspection, such as radon testing, mold testing, termite testing, lead testing etc.. You may be able to find someone willing to do a $200.00 inspection for you and if so don't expect them to bring out a lot of equipment or to stay much longer than an hour.