How to know you’ve found a good home inspector sometimes isn’t revealed until you receive the report. Here’s what you should expect from your inspector report.
How the reports are written:
Inspectors use software specially designed for this line of work. Here at Kulshan Inspection, we use Homegauge for our report writing, but they mostly all follow a similar protocol: place a photo, add some arrows drawing attention to the defect, and select a pre-written description from a huge list of included and customizable most-common defect statements. These pre-written statements save inspectors time from rewriting out the same statement hundreds of times across all their reports. We see a lot of common defects: Missing seismic straps on the water heater, granular deterioration on the roof shingles, efflorescence on the crawlspace foundation, etc. so it makes sense to work efficiently. Watch a promotional video of Homegauge for an overview. or check out an example report.
Checklist or narrative report? A checklist report sounds just like what it is, each component has a pass/fail for the inspection, and little to no further explanation is given. A narrative report has statements crafted for each defect, with a summary at the end. Kulshan Home inspection uses a narrative report style.
Compare: Checklist report example vs. Narrative report example. Which would you rather have?
Comment Key of Definitions
Each inspection item in our reports will be marked with one of the following acronyms: IN, NI, MM, RR, S, or NP.
Inspected (IN) = I visually observed the item, component or unit and if no other comments were made then it appeared to be functioning as intended allowing for normal wear and tear.
Not Inspected (NI) = I did not inspect this item, component or unit and made no representations of whether or not it was functioning as intended and will state a reason for not inspecting.
Minor Maintenance (MM) = This item requires minor maintenance, cleaning, and/or preventive care to remain functioning properly and prevent premature failure.
Not Present (NP) = This item, component or unit is not in this home or building.
Repair or Replace (RR) = The item, component or unit is not functioning as intended, or needs further inspection by a qualified contractor. Items, components or units that can be repaired to satisfactory condition may not need replacement.
Safety (S) = This item poses a health and safety risk or hazard and should be addressed prior to occupying the dwelling to prevent possible injury or death.
The statements:
A good statement should include the details about the location of the defect, what the defect is, why it is a defect, what could happen if the defect is not repaired, and recommendations for repair. Our statements adhere to the I.D.E.A.L. statement model.
Identify: The location of the defect.
Describe: Define what is wrong.
Explain: Why the defect is a problem and what could happen if ignored.
Advise: Give a recommendation on how to address the defect.
Look: [Review and evaluate the statement.]
Let’s take a look at an example:
Inspection Item 1.1
“The roof ridge cap at the rear of the home is missing shingles. This could allow for water entry and create conducive conditions for excessive moisture, leading to mold growth or deterioration of the roof structure. I recommend a licensed and qualified roofer replace the shingles to prevent water intrusion”
Identify: The roof ridge cap at the rear of the home…
Describe: …is missing shingles.
Explain: This could allow for water entry and create conducive conditions for excessive moisture, leading to mold growth or deterioration of the roof structure.
Advise: I recommend a licensed and qualified roofer replace the shingles to prevent water intrusion.
Look: [Review and evaluate the statement.]
This seems like a small fix, so why is a licensed and qualified roofer recommended? Safety, workmanship, and legal protection. An inspector should not recommend a homeowner get up on the roof themselves with a risk to their safety of falling off the roof or ladder, or coming in contact with electrical wires, etc. The inspector may also be found liable for the injuries.
With regards to workmanship, we recommend qualified professionals to perform work that requires knowledge and experience. For example, we would recommend a plumber perform work to fix a leaking pipe, because if the homeowner fixes it themselves and the repair fails and floods the house, homeowner’s insurance will likely deny a water damage claim.
All that being said, these are the recommendations of the inspector, and they can be followed or ignored (at the homeowners own risk and expense, of course!).
Expect lots of photos, illustrations, video, and links:
Every inspection report should contain photos. A good report has lots. We take hundreds of photos at each inspection and try to include a photo for each defect. Often the photo will have arrows or boxes drawing attention to the details or precise location of the defect. Professional illustrations are commonly used (always with copyright permission) to show an example of how the defect area should look or define house terminology. We use illustrations from Tom Feiza (Mr. Fix-it), and Paddy Morrissey from the Code Check book series. Videos are used to show the defect if it involves movement. If a wall outlet is loose or faucet is dripping or the deck is swaying, a video best demonstrates that movement. Almost every report contains some links to resource documents outside of the report to further provide education for the homebuyer on how a component should function or be properly installed.
As a bonus, Kulshan Home Inspection uses a Ricoh Theta camera to provide a 360 degree spherical camera tour of each room in the home with your report.
Don’t expect it to have everything:
Inspections in Washington state are regulated and therefore a set of requirements for WA licensed inspectors exists to follow, commonly referred to as the Standards of Practice (SOP). The SOP describe what a licensed home inspector is required to inspect and what they are not required to inspect or perform. Much of what is not required has been established out of a safety or liability concern, or is a component that requires specialized expertise.
For example, the inspector is not required to ignite pilot lights, operate any plumbing shutoff valves, or operate heating devices which have been shut down. These may be easy tasks for an inspector to perform to check if the gas fireplace works, but often times that gas is off for a reason. Is there a gas leak somewhere that will ignite and explode when the pilot light is lit?
Inspections are not technically exhaustive. This means that inspectors cannot test or diagnose every aspect of each component. For example, we will check the burners on the stove, and make sure the heating elements in the oven work, but we cannot perform an exhaustive inspection on the range, including the self-cleaning function, timed-bake feature, or calibrate the oven to ensure 350 degrees is really 350 degrees. We only have about 3 hours to try and inspect each component of the house, and we value your time. Inspectors also can not diagnose a complex system. Furnace not working? We can tell you it’s not working, but are not about to start dismantling it to figure out why it’s not working, that’s up to a HVAC technician who has specialized tools and training.
Expect it to be a little bit boring:
You’ve found the house, hired the inspector, and you’re waiting on your report. You get the email: the report has been uploaded to the cloud! You open it to find photos, words, and you are a bit disappointed it isn’t more…exciting?
Look, we get it, inspection reports are not generally a pleasure read. They more likely resemble a technical writing document which has repeated phrases and recommendations. BORING! And while that is not the intention of the report to be an unexciting read, that is the nature of any report. We don’t fill our reports with fluff, it’s a “just the facts, ma’am” style of writing.
What you can do with the report:
Read it! There is a wealth of information about the home in that report. If you don’t read it, it won’t do you any good! Now that you have negotiation leverage (because information=power), you have some options:
Hire any other specialists recommended by the inspector to further evaluate a component.
Request the current homeowner (the seller, usually) to repair or replace the item(s).
Request a lower price for the house to offset the expected cost of repairs, and have it repaired yourself in the future.
Use it as a (non-exhaustive) guide for future home maintenance.
Do nothing, and enjoy the house as-is.
It is out of scope for an inspector to make negotiation recommendations or estimate costs of repairs. This is where the inspection recommendations end and your agent steps in to guide you through the rest of the home buying process. As always, if you have any questions regarding items on your report for further explanation, please don’t hesitate to contact us, we are always happy to talk house!
