Tampa Home Inspection

 Put our experience and knowledge to work on your next home purchase. Hiring another inspector is a RED FLAG you cannot afford to miss!

Careful buyers — or ones alerted to potential problems by the inspector — may want to commission further home inspection reports from specialists concerning the possible presence of: Speaking of safety issues, lead and asbestos were commonly used in the construction of older homes but are banned from recently built homes. Potential buyers may also require an inspection of the plumbing system, including sewer lines, using a camera service. Some certified home inspectors offer additional services such as radon testing and will recommend asbestos testing for homes that are suspected to be at risk. An average home inspection generally takes between two and four hours, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

It is important to note that no house is perfect. Every home inspection will identify issues with the property and the inspector will communicate the severity of the issues found. The home inspector's goal is to leave their clients with a deeper understanding of their prospective home, so the client can make a sound decision as they continue their home buying process. The client should be fully aware of any issues, risks, or health concerns that may impact the client's decision. The inspector's role is not to tell the clients if they should buy the house or not, but to help the clients understand the full cost of ownership. If major problems are found, homebuyers may wish to negotiate with the seller to make repairs or cover their costs. What if an issue arises with the home inspection or report?

Selling your home doesn’t need to be stressful. Sell your home as-is and skip the repairs, prep work and open houses, while maximizing your home sale with a competitive offer from HomeLight’s Simple Sale platform. A typical home inspection takes a few hours for an average-sized house. Then the report takes about three to four days to complete. The home inspector will go through the interior and exterior of the house to record any broken, defected, or hazardous issues. Typically, the buyer and buyer’s agent are present during the home inspection, and often the seller’s agent. The home seller is allowed to stick around, but most industry experts advise against it. Sellers are emotionally involved in the home and it can be difficult to listen to the inspector tell the potential buyer and their agent about defects or problems.

Home Inspection

Furthermore, most home inspectors are generalists—that is, they can tell you that the plumbing might have a problem, but then they will recommend that you hire an expert to verify the issue and give you an estimate of the cost to fix it. Of course, hiring additional inspectors will cost extra money. Home inspectors also do not specifically check for termite damage, site contamination, mold, asbestos, engineering problems, and other specialized problems. If they have reason to suspect, though, they'll likely give you a heads up. Some inspectors offer radon testing as an add-on; some will recommend asbestos testing services if your home appears to be at risk. If the problems are too significant or too expensive to fix, you can choose to walk away from the purchase as long as the purchase contract has an inspection contingency.1 For problems large or small, you can ask the seller to fix them, reduce the purchase price, or give you a cash credit at closing to fix the problems yourself. This is where a home inspection can pay for itself several times over.1 If these options aren't viable in your situation (for example, if the property is bank-owned or being sold as-is), you can get estimates to fix the problems yourself and come up with a plan for repairs in order of their importance and affordability once you own the property.

An excellent inspector will even tell you about routine maintenance that should be performed, which can be a great help if you are a first-time homebuyer. While it is impossible to list everything an inspector could check for, the following home inspection checklist for buyers should give you a general idea of what to expect. The inspector will complete a full inspection of the outside of the structure. This will include climbing into any crawlspaces under the home and using a ladder to reach and inspect the roof and other items.