What you are buying when you buy an inspection
A home inspection is a limited, non-invasive, visual examination of a property's readily accessible, installed systems, performed for a fee and delivered in writing. The InterNACHI Standards of Practice describe an examination "designed to identify defects within specific systems and components defined by these Standards that are both observed and deemed material by the inspector," and "based on the observations made on the date of the inspection, and not a prediction of future conditions." It "will not reveal every issue that exists or ever could exist."
The threshold term is material defect: an issue "that may have a significant, adverse impact on the value of the property, or that poses an unreasonable risk to people." Note what that does not say. Not "anything below current code." Not "anything the buyer would prefer were different." The inspector's judgment about materiality is written into the standard, which is why two competent inspectors can produce visibly different reports on the same house without either being wrong.
ASHI 2.2 sets the bar from the other direction: the report must describe what the inspector judged "not functioning properly, significantly deficient, unsafe, or nearing the end of service life," plus recommendations to address deficiencies or items needing further evaluation, plus any system that was not inspected and why. Significantly deficient is the trigger, not imperfect.
Before the inspector arrives
Most of what goes wrong with an inspection goes wrong before it starts, and it is usually a scheduling failure. Work backwards from the hour the inspection or option period ends.
Book the specialists alongside the general inspection. A structural engineer, septic contractor, well tester or chimney professional may have no opening inside a seven-day window, and a radon test needs a monitor deployed at least forty-eight hours under closed-house conditions plus a return trip. Buyers rarely skip specialty inspections over cost; they skip them because by the time the general report lands there is no calendar left. Book what the property's age and systems already predict, and cancel what proves unnecessary.
Confirm the utilities are on. Neither standard requires the inspector to operate a system that is shut down or that does not respond to normal controls. A vacant house with the gas off means the furnace, water heater and range go untested — correctly.
Clear the access, or accept a smaller inspection. ASHI 13.2.F.3 does not require the inspector to move personal property, furniture, equipment, plants, soil, snow, ice or debris, and neither standard requires entry into areas that are unsafe or not readily accessible. A packed garage in front of the panel, boxes under the attic hatch and a padlocked crawlspace all have the same effect.
The trap: obstruction does not make the inspection longer. It makes it smaller. The inspector finishes on schedule, bills the same fee, and reports the area as not inspected. Nobody has done anything wrong, and the buyer has paid full price for partial coverage of the house.
Vet the inspector. Licensing is a state matter and is not universal, so in a substantial minority of states there is no credential to look up. Ask which Standards of Practice the inspector works to, and ask for a full sample report on a comparable house. It shows how he separates a safety hazard from a maintenance note — the distinction you will negotiate from.
Price in the season. InterNACHI does not require operating cooling equipment "if the exterior temperature is below 65° Fahrenheit," nor removing "snow, ice, debris or other conditions that prohibit the observation of the roof surfaces." A February inspection in a cold climate routinely leaves the air conditioner untested and the roof unwalked.
Whether to attend, and how to attend without wasting it
Neither standard addresses buyer attendance. It is trade best practice, not an entitlement, and some brokerages restrict who may be present. The case for attending is not sentimental: the written report is a liability-drafted document and the walkthrough is not. The inspector's confidence gradations, the things he dismissed as normal wear, and the places he could not reach come across better at a crawlspace hatch than in a paragraph written to survive a lawsuit. The failure mode is arriving at the start and asking questions for four hours. A workable protocol:
- Arrive for the last hour, not the first. The opening hours are exterior, roof and mechanical documentation, when questions slow the inspector down and cost you findings.
- Make him show you the "not inspected" items. ASHI 2.2 requires him to report what he did not inspect and why. Have him point at the hatch he could not enter.
- Ask which of these he would fix before he moved in. This elicits a materiality ranking, which is exactly what the report format flattens into uniform bullet points.
- Learn the shutoffs. Main water, main gas, main electrical disconnect, water heater gas valve, sewer cleanout. Five minutes, no substitute in any report, and the part of the day that pays off at two in the morning three winters from now.
- Do not bring the seller, and think hard about contractors. The inspector's duty runs to the client under contract; extra parties confuse who the report is for.
- Do not ask him to price repairs. ASHI 13.2.A.5 and InterNACHI 2.2.I.18 exclude "costs of corrections" and "repair cost estimates." An inspector who confidently quotes a number is working outside his own standard.
The order of the walk, and what a material finding looks like
The standards run in a fixed order — structure, exterior, roofing, plumbing, electrical, heating, cooling, interiors, ventilation, fireplaces — and most inspectors work the envelope first. For each: where the standard stops, and what a material finding looks like.
Roof and exterior
InterNACHI requires inspection of the roof coverings, gutters, downspouts, flashing, skylights and chimney, but does not require the inspector to "walk on any roof surface" or to "predict the service life expectancy"; ASHI requires the report to describe the method used. Material finding: active water entry, displaced covering over a large area, failed flashing at a valley or chimney, grade falling toward the foundation, wood-to-soil contact, unsafe deck framing. Active water entry is the archetypal deal-breaker because it compounds into sheathing, framing, insulation and drywall.
Structure, crawlspace and attic
ASHI 3.2 relieves the inspector of "engineering or architectural services or analysis," of offering "opinions about structural system adequacy," and of entering crawlspaces with less than 24 inches of clearance or access openings smaller than 16 by 24 inches. No inspector under either standard may tell you a foundation is adequate, and much older stock fails both crawl thresholds, leaving the sub-floor framing and moisture condition seen by nobody. Material finding: stair-step cracking, out-of-plumb walls, sloping floors, bowed foundation walls, prior underpinning, standing water in a crawlspace — each a referral rather than a conclusion, and the engineer's letter is what the parties negotiate over.
Plumbing and electrical
InterNACHI excludes wells, pumps, softeners, wastewater and septic systems, does not require determining "the water quality, potability or reliability of the water supply," and puts underground items outside the standard entirely — which is why the sewer lateral is not inspected at all. On the electrical side the inspector need not insert "any tool, probe or device into the main panelboard, sub-panels, distribution panelboards, or electrical fixtures." Material finding: active leaks, staining below baths, corroded galvanized supply, polybutylene piping; obsolete panel equipment, aluminum branch-circuit wiring, active knob-and-tube, double-tapped breakers, open grounds, missing GFCI protection. Slow drains on an older house are the classic sewer-scope trigger, and the wiring and panel findings carry a risk from an unexpected direction: the carrier declines to bind, and an uninsurable house cannot close with a mortgage.
Heating, cooling and fireplaces
InterNACHI's heating exclusions cover "the interior of flues or chimneys, fire chambers, heat exchangers, combustion air systems ... humidifiers, dehumidifiers, electronic air filters, geothermal systems, or solar heating systems," and ASHI 12.2 excludes "interiors of vent systems, flues, and chimneys not readily accessible" and draft characteristics. The heat exchanger and the flue liner — the two most expensive concealed failures in a house — are both outside the standards. Material finding: a unit that will not fire on the thermostat, scorching at the burner compartment, a disconnected or badly sloped flue, no permanent heat source, a data plate well past typical service life; no cooling temperature split, iced coils, a compressor that will not start.
Interiors, insulation and ventilation
Material finding: staining and elevated moisture on ceilings and walls, exhaust fans terminating in an attic, insufficient attic ventilation, missing handrails and guards, doors and windows that will not operate. And remember ASHI 13.2.E.7, which relieves the inspector of inspecting "every similar component occurrence": he need not open every window or test every receptacle. A report is a sample, not a census.
The checklist, in order
Two weeks out
- Write down the exact date and hour the inspection or option period ends, and the notice method the contract requires. Everything below is scheduled against it.
- Book the general inspection for the earliest date that returns a report with days — not hours — left in the window.
- Book the specialties you can already predict: sewer scope on an older house or one with mature trees over the lateral; well yield and potability on a private well; septic evaluation on a septic property; a wood-destroying insect report where the lender or region requires one; radon; a chimney evaluation for any solid-fuel appliance.
- Confirm gas, water and electricity will be on and every pilot lit on the day.
- Ask in writing that the attic hatch, crawlspace access, electrical panel, water heater and furnace be cleared and unlocked.
- Confirm you may attend, and who else may be present.
The day itself
- Arrive for the final hour and shadow the summary walkthrough.
- Ask to be shown, physically, every area recorded as not inspected, and why.
- Ask which findings he would repair before moving in, and which he is referring out and to what kind of specialist.
- Locate and photograph the main water shutoff, main gas shutoff, main electrical disconnect, water heater shutoff and sewer cleanout.
- Photograph every data plate: furnace, air conditioner, water heater, panel.
- Do not ask for repair prices, and do not rely on them if offered.
The day the report lands
- Read the "not inspected" list before you read the defect list.
- Order every referred evaluation the same day, and ask each specialist for a written report you can attach to an addendum.
- Get contractor estimates for anything you intend to negotiate over. Both standards exclude cost estimating, so the report is not evidence of price.
- Send your insurance carrier the relevant findings early if the report mentions panel equipment, branch wiring, supply piping or roof age. Insurability problems surface late and stop closings.
- Deliver the repair request or termination notice in the contract's required form, by its required method, ahead of the deadline — not on it.
How to read the report's language
Neither ASHI nor InterNACHI standardizes the labels on a report. The standards define what must be reported, not what the software must call it, so "monitor," "marginal" and "major concern" mean whatever that inspector's template makes them mean. What is standardized is the obligation in ASHI 2.2. Map the labels back onto it and the report becomes readable.
| What the report says | What it means | What it obliges you to do |
|---|---|---|
| "Monitor" / "maintenance item" | No defined standing in either standard. The inspector saw a condition he did not judge significantly deficient today. | Usually nothing inside the window. But a monitored condition that worsens becomes your problem after closing, not the seller's. |
| "Recommend evaluation by a licensed specialist" | The referral hook written into ASHI 2.2 — "items needing further evaluation." The inspector is performing the standard, not dodging it, and the report is now incomplete on that item. | Order the specialist immediately — the most deadline-sensitive line in any report. He has his own calendar and yours is already running. |
| "Safety hazard" / "unsafe" | Maps to "unsafe" in ASHI 2.2 and to the second half of InterNACHI's material-defect definition — "an unreasonable risk to people." | Treat as non-negotiable. These also resurface later as lender or insurer conditions. |
| "Nearing the end of service life" | A reporting trigger, not a forecast. Both standards exclude determining remaining life expectancy (ASHI 13.2.A.2; InterNACHI 2.2.I.3). | Budget it as a capital item you will fund, not as a defect the seller caused. |
| "Not inspected" / "not accessible" | A required disclosure, and the most consequential sentence in most reports. | Decide whether to buy the unknown or to buy access. There is no third option. |
The line almost nobody reads: "Attic not entered — insufficient headroom at access hatch" fully discharges the inspector's duty and simultaneously tells you the roof structure, attic wiring, insulation and ventilation are entirely unexamined. "Crawlspace not entered" does the same for the sub-floor framing and plumbing. That list is not boilerplate. It is the map of what you are buying blind.
What to do with the report before the clock runs out
Start from the uncomfortable fact: a home inspection report obligates nobody to do anything. Not the seller to repair, not the buyer to proceed, not the lender to lend. There is no pass and no fail. Its only legal force is what the purchase contract gives it through the inspection contingency. That contingency grants a defined window, defines what the buyer may do inside it, sets a default, and ties the earnest money to the outcome. The default is the trap: in most forms, silence equals waiver. A buyer who does nothing by the deadline has satisfied the contingency and is bound.
The instrument for acting is a repair request addendum — an amendment, a request for repairs, or a notice of objections, depending on the form. The mechanics do not vary:
- It must be in writing, by the notice method the contract specifies, before the deadline. A verbal ask, a text, or an email where the contract requires delivery to the listing broker preserves nothing.
- It usually opens a short seller response window, often three to five days. In many forms silence counts as rejection, which re-arms the buyer's termination right briefly.
- Anything you do not ask for is, practically, waived. There is no second bite.
- Requests should be specific and defect-based, citing the report page. "Fix everything on the report" is the fastest route to a flat rejection.
- Do not send the seller the entire report. It hands him a disclosure document he must give every future buyer, and turns your negotiation into a defense of the inspector's word choices.
Then choose the currency, because the three are not interchangeable. A completed repair is the only one that satisfies a lender's or appraiser's repair condition, and the one where the seller picks the contractor for a house he is leaving. A closing cost credit puts the work under your control but is capped by the loan investor's interested-party-contribution limits. A price reduction escapes those caps but delivers no cash at the table — exactly wrong for a buyer who needs money to fix the thing.
All of it runs on a clock that does not stop for a specialist's backlog, a holiday, or an inspector who takes three days to write. Remedies expire at a fixed hour on a fixed day, and a buyer who is right but late is where a buyer who is wrong is.
The mistakes that cost buyers the most
- Treating the appraisal as a condition check. HUD's consumer form carries the heading "Appraisals are NOT Home Inspections!" and states that an appraisal "is required to estimate the home's value for your lender and does not replace a home inspection."
- Assuming underground means inspected. Sewer laterals, irrigation, wells and buried tanks are excluded from both standards. Nobody scoped the sewer unless you paid somebody to scope the sewer.
- Confusing waiving the contingency with skipping the inspection. Waiving surrenders the right to act on findings and the exit with earnest money intact. You can still inspect for information only, and on a house you cannot walk away from, knowing is worth more rather than less.
- Asking for cosmetics, and negotiating from the report rather than from estimates. Both standards exclude aesthetic matters and cost estimating. Paint and caulk listed next to a failed furnace tells the seller the whole list is padding.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a home inspection take?
Trade practice puts a typical single-family inspection at roughly two to four hours, with the written report following in about one to three days. Neither standards body prescribes a duration, so treat those figures as customary rather than as a rule. Size dominates: a small single-story house finishes quickly, while a large two-story with a finished basement, two furnaces and two water heaters runs considerably longer.
Access changes the arithmetic in a way buyers rarely expect. Because neither standard requires the inspector to move stored belongings or enter areas that are not readily accessible, an obstructed house does not take longer to inspect. It simply gets inspected less.
Should I attend my home inspection?
Attending is widely treated as best practice, but neither standard addresses it and some brokerages restrict who may be present, so confirm rather than assume. The value sits in the final walkthrough, where the inspector explains findings in language not constrained by the liability drafting of the report.
What happens if the inspector cannot get into the attic or crawlspace?
He reports the area as not inspected, states the reason, and moves on — which fully discharges his obligation. ASHI expressly relieves the inspector of entering crawlspaces with less than 24 inches of clearance or access openings smaller than 16 by 24 inches, and of entering any area deemed dangerous.
The consequence is larger than it looks. An unentered attic leaves the roof structure, attic wiring, insulation and ventilation unexamined; an unentered crawlspace leaves the sub-floor framing, sub-floor plumbing and moisture condition unexamined. Inside the window your realistic choices are to buy the unknown or to arrange access and pay for a return visit.
Does a home inspector check whether the house is up to code?
No. ASHI 13.2.F.8 excludes assessing code compliance and InterNACHI excludes determining "compliance with codes or regulations." A home inspection is not a code inspection and a home inspector is not a code official, so the most common complaint about inspections rests on a duty that never existed.
Unpermitted work is adjacent and excluded from a different direction: neither standard requires researching property history or determining construction age, so a report will typically say only that a room "appears to have been added." The consequences come from the appraiser, the municipality and the insurer.
Does the inspector test every outlet, window and faucet?
No, and he is not required to. ASHI 13.2.E.7 relieves the inspector of inspecting "every similar component occurrence" — the representative-number rule. He samples enough to form a judgment about the system as a whole.
So a report showing three receptacles in good order is not a warranty that the other forty are. If you have a specific concern about a specific component — an egress window, an outlet you intend to run a major appliance from — point at it during the walkthrough and ask for it individually.
I waived the inspection contingency. Is there any point in still inspecting?
Waiving the contingency and waiving the inspection are different acts, and buyers routinely conflate them. A waiver surrenders the right to act on findings inside the window: the exit with earnest money intact and any right to demand repairs or credits. It does not stop you from having the house inspected for information only.
On a house you are already committed to, that information is arguably worth more, because you are budgeting rather than negotiating. Knowing the furnace is at end of life, the panel will be an insurance problem, or the lateral needs replacing changes your first year of ownership even when it cannot change the contract.
The report says "recommend evaluation by a licensed structural engineer." Is the inspector passing the buck?
No. That phrasing comes from the standard: ASHI 2.2 requires recommendations to address deficiencies or items needing further evaluation, and neither standard permits a home inspector to offer engineering services or opine on structural adequacy. The referral is the job being done correctly.
Read it as a deadline instruction rather than a footnote. It means the general report is incomplete on that item, and that what the parties will actually negotiate over — the engineer's letter — does not exist yet. Order it the day the report lands.