Six Questions You Should Ask a Home Inspector That Is More Important Than
Price
Most of us need to be budget-conscious when purchasing any goods or services. That said, when shopping around for Bucks County home inspections or Philadelphia home inspections, you don’t want to make price your top consideration. You will be relying on the report a house inspection service gives you for an accurate assessment of the structure and major systems of a home that you are thinking of buying. If they do sloppy work and miss something, that wonderful investment could end up being a headache that you’ll have a hard time unloading.
This is not to say that you shouldn’t include the price in your overall evaluation
process when looking for a Montgomery County home inspector or an inspector anywhere else in the Philadelphia area. Let’s go over a few questions that should top your list as far as what to ask any house inspection service. If they don’t have good answers to these questions, avoid them no matter what kind of a discount price they might offer.
Will You Be Walking the Roof?
This is definitely one area where all Pennsylvania home inspector services are not equal. If they won’t be walking the roof, you won’t be getting the value you desire from their house inspection service. Some may say they use a drone to inspect the roof. This sounds impressive to some people since it utilizes modern technology, but this is not the same as the inspector getting up on the roof. Only by walking on the roof will the inspector hear the creak of a failing piece of wood under the shingles. A drone can’t feel the condition of the sheathing just below the roof membrane. An inspector will need to be on the roof to identify any delamination of the roofing material, and this is also the best way to inspect the interior condition of the chimney. A quality house inspection
service will also come back for free after a snowfall to inspect the roof with snow on it.
How Many Inspections Have You Done Over How Many Years?
You’ll notice that this is different from simply asking, “how many years
have you been doing inspections?” What if they are only a part-time Pennsylvania home inspector? They may have been in the industry for
several years but might still have only completed a couple of hundred home inspections. You need to find out how old their house inspection service is and how many actual inspections they’ve completed. Also, take a look at any online reviews for their house inspection service.
How Soon After the Inspection Will I Receive My Report?
Regardless of whether you’re talking about Bucks County home inspections, Philadelphia home inspections, or inspections in any other area, a Pennsylvania home inspector will provide you with a home inspection report afterward. It is not uncommon for you to get your home inspection report within 24 to 48 hours after the Pennsylvania home inspector has completed their inspection. The best house inspection services will get the report to the client on the same day as the inspection. Next, you’ll need to ask about the quality and specificity of the report.
What Will Be Covered By the Report?
There are certain attributes of a good home inspection report. In order to be of maximum use to the client, the home inspection report:
- Needs to be concise and understood by anyone reading it.
- Should list major problems, such as design defects, separately from
minor points or educational information. - Should follow up the list of material defects with design solutions
and cost estimates to remedy the matter. - Should list any evident conclusion for the client based on anything
that’s been uncovered.
Can I Follow Along During Your Inspection?
Any confident Pennsylvania home inspector won’t have any problem with the client following them while they’re doing the inspection. In fact, they’ll point out to the client that this is an educational experience for them in their new home and encourage the client to join along. In addition to inspecting all the major systems of the house, the home inspector will identify the locations of important components such as the electrical breaker panel, water shut-off valve and how/where to change filters, etc. By following along, the prospective homeowner will learn where all of these things are located. A good inspector will also encourage you to ask questions.
Do You Have the Proper Training and Certification?
This is very important. After all, unless you have experience in home construction or inspections, you won’t know if the inspector knows what they’re doing. They can walk around your house and look like they know what they’re doing as far as you can tell, however, their training is how you know they are an expert Pennsylvania home inspector.
The first thing to find out is whether the inspectors with this house inspection service are members of ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors). They should also be a member in good standing with the National Home Inspection Association. By meeting these qualifications, you’ll know they’ve attained the minimum standards required to be a Pennsylvania home inspector. Whether it’s for Bucks County home inspections, Philadelphia home inspections or to hire a Montgomery County home inspector, you’ll have confidence that they can competently inspect the property in question.
Professional and Experienced Montgomery County Home Inspector
Our team at Inspection Professionals can provide the right answers to all of the
above questions. While our office is located in Montgomery County, we service Bucks County home inspections and Philadelphia home inspections as well. In
fact, our house inspection service is licensed and insured to do home inspections in Pennsylvania, South Jersey, and Delaware.
We have over 30 years of experience in the field of home inspections, and we’ve
performed over 10,000 inspections in that time. As members of the American
Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI), our inspectors meet or exceed the standards set for this industry. Best of all, we offer all of this expertise with competitive pricing. So, when you need a thorough, professional inspection of a property, please don’t hesitate to call our team at Inspection Professionals.
