My Home Inspection Report
(Click to view a blank home inspection report (Adobe PDF file: 861kb)
Some do computer-generated reports. Some buy reporting systems from vendors to fill out by hand. Some are franchised and have their own reporting system. Me? I have refined my own proprietary checklist style handwritten inspection report over the years that is highly customized to what I have seen in this region. I believe it combines the best of all reporting styles. You don’t have
to wait for me to generate a computer report on site (but you may request a preliminary Summary of Issues on site). I then digitize the report at my office, annotate and add in the photos, include the industry Standards of Practice and my own recommendations and upload the Adobe PDF file to my website. I email you a unique link for you to retrieve your report. The speed of handwritten checklist style and the convenience of digital without the excessive disclaimers and distracting minutiae of a computer generated report that can lead to what you are really concerned about getting lost in all the extra foofoo.
All my reports include the following items:
- Inspection Agreement
- Note about CD received at Inspection (part of total inspection report)
- Web Site Articles Link (part of total inspection report)
- Ask the Owner! (A checklist of questions to ask the current owner)
- The INSPECTION REPORT: (up to 31 pages)
- Supplementary Information pertinent to your inspection (as required)
- Annotated PHOTOS of your specific inspection
- Standards of Practice—National Association of Certified Home Inspectors (NACHI)
- Minimum Standards for Conducting Certified Home Inspections—The Virginia Board for Asbestos, Lead, and Home Inspectors
- InterNACHI Typical Life Expectancies
At the inspection you will receive a CD. The CD contains over 125 sorted, annotated, educational and informative photos that I have taken over the years (all de-identified) to illustrate operational and maintenance subjects. It alone is a fabulous resource!
Later that day or night, after processing (usually within 2-5 hours of getting back to the office but always within 24 hours per our Inspection Agreement), the full report will be available for download from my website and will include all the elements above. It is an Adobe PDF file—a very common format that you most likely already have on your computer. In the unlikely event you don’t I provide a copy of the Adobe Reader on the CD or you can download it at http://get.adobe.com/reader/. See Inspection Photos for real examples of what you get.
For New Construction and Project Consultations the report format is a field report--a punch list and/or narrative as required.