A Guide to the inspection process

Before anything is inspected, I think it is a good idea to have the process explained. Most clients don't really know what the house inspection consists of, and most home inspectors don't know what the potential new owners have in mind with respect to the house to be inspected. This guide is particularly useful if you are a first time buyer or haven't bought/sold a house for some time. 

Having asked me to inspect a home or property, you will have received a confirmation email with a link to a contract. Assuming that you have agreed to the contracted inspection and signed the form, it will have been returned it to me, automatically via the software. This contract email, and a series of forms, are sent as part of the confirmation package. So, we are well under way along the process already. What follows in an explanation of the remainder of the process. I should highlight at this point that once your payment is received, you will receive your receipt as part of the final report package.

As a client, I would usually suggest you accompany me around the property whilst I undertake the inspection. Due to the guidelines issued by Health Canada and the WHO, I have had to modify the process for this part of the home buying experience, for the foreseeable future. I encourage you to read the COVD-19 information page if you have not already done so, on the home page. I will still continue to accommodate agent and client visits during the inspection as long as the safety protocols are followed (explained in the COVDI-19 page). If you are not attending the inspection, I will now inform you of details of the external in internal inspections by phone, or preferably by a Zoom or Facetime virtual meetings. This process allows for a full digital process where you do not have to be in contact with anything that has been touched by others. You will receive an email once I have completed the inspection, with a password and instructions on how to join me for the meeting. Joining Zoom is free and if you have an iphone, Facetime is free and already downloaded on your phone. I will take more pictures and hopefully video to explain to you where things are, and how to operate certain equipment within the property. It is much better for me to show you something, rather than trying to explain it a day or two later, in a written report. I will normally take from 2 to 3 hours to complete the inspection, depending on what I find or don’t find. It also depends upon what you have asked me to do, and the size and layout of the property being inspected. Please let me know if you want me to look at something specific, especially if you are planning renovations in certain areas of the house. 

Once the inspection is complete, I will have a good idea to the general quality of the property, and any issues with equipment within it, and I will share all of this information with you via a summary sheet, and the subsequent meeting. I try to stay impartial and report what I see only, as if the house was reporting the information for itself – what it sees. I set out to provide a fair and honest assessment, such that buyers and sellers may use the information to be better informed. 

I intend to operate 7 (seven) days a week and the report will be delivered to you in a digital format, with any identified issues; suggested ways forward to deal with these issues, and approximate timescales for the suggestions to be carried out. If there are human safety or fire safety concerns, you will have these highlighted as such - these concerns will normally be identified as requiring immediate resolution. The final written report will be produced and delivered to you as soon as I can possibly do so – normally within 24 hours via email. This will also depend upon payment for the inspection as being complete. You will receive the report as an electronic report that you can print out yourself, to save time. The report belongs to you, the client, and it will not be shown to anyone else.