What does a home inspection company do? Home inspectors evaluate every part of the house from the outside to the interior. The major inspections associations all have what we call standards of practice....
The major inspections associations all have what we call standards of practice. All of the inspection requirements are written out: what we're required to inspect for, what we're required to report on, and what we're not required to do. In California, the state has recognized the standards of practice of CREIA and ASHI, and they say a judge in a court of law may use these standards in determining whether an inspector is doing their job. So they will hold an inspector to these standards.
It's all in the standards and you can find these standards online at ashi.org and creia.org and other sources. I would stick to ASHI in terms of credibility if somebody in another state is looking for a qualified home inspector.
What does an inspector look for? First of all, we say hello to the people and make them sign an inspection agreement. I get my inspection agreement signed in advance so that they know what the scope of the service is that I am providing and so that they don't have unrealistic expectations. We don't do engineering. We don't do a whole lot of things. What we do is check site grading and drainage. Buyers and sellers can double check all of the criteria by going to ashi.org or creia.org. We check site grading and drainage, the hard scaping like the driveways, the patios, and the walkways. We check the exterior envelope of the home, the wall coverings, the trim of the exterior, all the exterior components, the outside of the windows, and the doors. We get on the roof and check the roof covering, unless it is like an Old Spanish tiled roof, in which case we don't. We don't walk on it because weight will break or damage the tile. We check in the chimneys. We will check the garage. We also check the foundation system, which means we oftentimes have to crawl under people's homes to check not only the foundation but the condition of the soil, ventilation, insulation and it goes on and on and on.
Then, we go into the attic and check the attic and again insulation, ventilation, and roof framing. Then we go into the house and go into all the bedrooms and we check the electrical service, which includes the lines coming in, the electric panel, and sub panels. We check all the outlets, all the switches, and then the plumbing. We check the water supply system, the waste drain and vent system. We check all the plumbing fixtures. We check all the windows, all of the doors, the floors, the ceilings, the walls, all the built-in appliances in the kitchen, the laundry hookups and that's pretty much it.
