Tips on Reading an Inspection Report

When interviewing a home inspector, in addition to questions about his/her experience, insurance, professional membership organizations, how long it may take to do the inspection and complete the report, etc., ask the inspector what type of report format he or she provides. (See our answers to these questions at the bottom of this page).

There are many styles of reports used by property inspectors, including the checklist, computer generated using inspection programs, and the narrative style. Most real estate professionals prefer the narrative style.

Some reports are delivered on site and some may take as long as 3 to 4 days for delivery. All reporting systems have pros and cons.

The most important issue with an inspection report is the descriptions given for each item or component. A report that indicates the condition as "Good", "Fair" or "Poor" without a detailed explanation is vague and can be easily misinterpreted. An example of a vague condition would be:

Kitchen Sink: Condition - Good, Fair, or Poor.

None of these descriptions gives the homeowner an idea about what is wrong. Does the sink have a cosmetic problem? Does the home have a plumbing problem? A good report should supply you with descriptive information on the condition of the site and home. An example of a descriptive condition is:

Kitchen sink: Condition - Minor wear, heavy wear, damaged, rust stains, or chips in enamel finish. Recommend sealing sink at counter top.

As you can see, this narrative description includes a recommendation for repair. Narrative reports without recommendations for repairing deficient items may be difficult to comprehend, should your knowledge of construction be limited.

Take the time and become familiar with your report. Should the report have a legend, key, symbols or icons, read and understand them thoroughly. The more information provided about the site and home, the easier to understand the overall condition.

At the end of the inspection your inspector may provide a summary with a question and answer period. Use this opportunity to ask questions regarding terms or conditions that you may not be familiar with. A good inspector should be able to explain the answers to your questions. If for some reason a question cannot be answered at the time of the inspection, the inspector should research the question and obtain the answer for you. For instance, if the inspector's report states that the concrete foundation has common cracks, be sure to ask, "Why are they common?" The answer you should receive will be along these lines: common cracks are usually due to normal concrete curing and or shrinkage. The inspector's knowledge and experience is how the size and characteristics of the cracking is determined.

We recommend that you accompany your inspector through the entire inspection if possible. This helps you to understand the condition of the home and the details of the report.

Read the report completely and understand the condition of the home you are about to purchase. After all, it is most likely one of the largest investments you will ever make.

To answer the initial questions we asked you to ask any home inspector when interviewing them to do the work please visit our "About Us" page to find out about our experience, schooling, professional organizations, insurance, etc.

However since we are on the reporting page, let us state here that Diligent Property Inspections Offers an award winning Narrative style report, using the software developed by "Porter Valley® Software" know as InspectRVue -Residential (or commercial as the case may be).
We will actually provide to you two separate reports, one a summary and one a full report. The summary report is a subset of the full report that draws out the items that will need servicing, further evaluation by a specialist, or items your builder should have responsibility to take care of depending on the inspection provided. This summary report will be the report most Realtors and or Builder's will need or want to use to take care of the immediate or most significant concerns noted during the inspection. In addition, both of these reports will contain full color photos. We prefer to send the reports via email (simply give us your address) as the photos are easier to view this way and it can be gotten to you in a shorter period of time. Which brings us to the final point.

Typically we ask our clients to give us 48 hours from the time of the inspection's conclusion for delivery of the reports. (Often we can provide the report sooner within 24 hours). We are currently working on offering the summary report on site, within 30 minutes of the conclusion of the inspection, should the parties of interest be present and can wait that additional time at the site. However this site generated report would not contain the photos and would be a hard copy printout only. We hope to be able to provide this service around the March 2005 time frame.

We prefer to provide both reports to you via email. Faxing it is difficult as the inspection reports generally average 20 pages and you will loose the ability to see the color details of the photos.

We can upon request deliver the report in person to your home or office, or meet you somewhere, or send it via snail mail (USPS) but cannot then be accountable for the delivery times.

THE CHOICE IS YOURS !