Buying a Home: What is a Home Inspection?
Buying a new home often seems confusing. If you feel confused or overwhelmed, you’re not alone! Here at Blue Summit Homes, we’re committed to helping everyone understand the process of a buying home.
What is a home inspection?
A home inspection is a visual, non-invasive examination of all the major installed systems and components of a home.
In other words, when you want to buy a house, you will hire someone to come over and inspect the house before you buy it. They will assess the structure from top to bottom and all the appliances, fixtures, and other systems (like the hot water heater or the breaker). If you don’t understand something about your home, you can generally ask this person to explain. They will take some pictures and write down some information.
Yes, you will have to pay this person, but it is the best way to protect against unforeseen problems and future expense. The home inspector can save you a lot of hassle in the long run.
After the inspector leaves, they will type up a report and provide it to you. This report outlines anything and everything the inspector finds. Sometimes the problems are big (like cracked foundations or aging septic systems), but, in general, most reports are filled with minor repairs and replacements that can be completed with relatively minimal work.
Finally, you might expect a new home to be flawless, and outwardly they may appear so, but often times, small overlooked details can become more serious and expensive problems years down the road.
In other words, every big problem that is found tomorrow started out as a small problem today.
Does a new construction need a home inspection?
Short answer: yes. Always.
This is not to say new constructions are bad, people don't care, or workmanship these days is poor. Rather, it's just an imperfect world! Toward that end, here’s a list of a few actual findings gathered from new construction inspections:
- No insulation in attic
- No duct installed for clothes dryer
- Exposed wiring connections
- Exposed nails on roof
- Sewer waste line leaks in crawl space
- Garage door improperly adjusted
- Improperly ducted gas furnace
- Bath fan ducts not vented out of attic
The list could go on, but the idea is clear. A home inspection is something you can do today to prevent problems later.
