My Home Inspection Report

(Click to view a blank home inspection report (Adobe PDF file: 628kb)

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 custom 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 havesketching of home inspection report 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. There, you enter the password I give 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 and categories:

  1. Home Inspection Agreement.
  2. Report Key.
  3. Summary of Issues: (This you may request at the end of the inspection, if warranted by need or urgency.)
    1. Health or safety hazards (of a more urgent nature).
    2. Items requiring further evaluation.
    3. OTHER  IMPORTANT  ISSUES (that may involve significant money, time, and/or labor to rectify)
    4. NOTEWORTHY  ITEMS  NOT  OPERATING  or  NOT  OPERATING  CORRECTLY 
    5. Deferred cost items (Items that have reached or are reaching their normal life expectancy or show indications that they may require repair or replacement anytime during the next few years).
    6. MINOR ITEMS (NOT a complete list!)
  4. Outside: Grounds & Drainage
  5. Utilities & AC/Heat Pump Units
  6. Roofing & Chimneys
  7. Exterior: Walls, Siding, Trim, Doors & Windows, Attached Structures
  8. Foundation: Slab on Grade, Wall
  9. Garage & Garage Doors
  10. Cellar/Crawlspace/Unfinished Basement
  11. Electrical: Primary Service Panel, Secondary Service Panel, Sub Panel
  12. Plumbing: Supply Lines, Waste Lines, Fuel System, Water Heaters
  13. Heating & Cooling
  14. Kitchen & Appliances, Laundry
  15. Interior Spaces (living and sleeping rooms)
  16. Bathrooms
  17. Fireplaces: Masonry, Metal, Prefab or Inserts
  18. Staircases
  19. Attics
  20. Virginia & NACHI’s Standards of Practice
  21. CD of photos

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 3 hours), the full report will be available for download from my website and will include all the elements above plus the photos (many annotated) from your own inspection. In addition I include the Standards of Practice at the end.  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 narrative as required.

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