What does a home inspection not include?

As a type 3 on the Enneagram, I want my home inspection company to do everything and be everything to everyone. But of course, that’s impossible. There are limits to every home inspection, and today I’ll cover what’s excluded from home inspection standards of practice. To be clear, these aren’t things home inspectors are prohibited from doing, but most home inspection contracts will exclude them.

Latent Defects

Home inspectors are not responsible for finding hidden or concealed defects. That’s not to say we can’t/won’t/don’t do this; here at Structure Tech, we do our best to identify defects, whether they’re hidden or not. But because home inspections are generally visual in nature, you shouldn’t expect your home inspector to find hidden stuff.

Also, home inspectors can’t predict future conditions. The most notorious stuff I can think of is appliances that stop working; things like furnaces, water heaters, air conditioners, kitchen appliances, and laundry appliances.

Building Code Violations

Home inspectors don’t enforce the building code, and we’re not responsible for reporting on code violations. This is a tough pill to swallow for people in the trades. I’ve heard so many home inspectors getting thrown under the bus by tradespeople for not reporting code violations… but that’s not the point of a home inspection. You get a home inspection to learn about the condition of the home, or more simply put, to learn about stuff that’s unsafe, or will cost you unwanted time or money.

That’s not to say home inspectors shouldn’t know the building codes; after all, most of our recommendations are based on them. But the purpose of a home inspection is not to cite building code violations.

To read more on this topic, check out these past blog posts I’ve written:

Insurability

No way, no how. Home inspectors can’t possibly know what’s going to be a problem for an insurance company. Of course, there are a few hot-button topics that most insurance companies don’t like, such as knob and tube wiring and old roofs, but there are no universal truths. Even when everything looks great, I’ve seen insurance companies take issue with homes that truly had no problems.

Environmental Conditions

Home inspectors are not required to report on things like asbestos, radon, lead, urea-formaldehyde, fungi, molds, mildew, feces, urine, vermin, pests, or any animal or insect. Many home inspectors test for radon for an additional fee, but it is almost never included in a standard inspection. Here at Structure Tech, we treat our clients like family. If we see this stuff, we’ll document it even though our standards don’t require us to… but this is always “bonus” reporting. It’s never required by home inspection standards of practice.

Health Conditions

There’s significant overlap between health and environmental conditions. My short version is that if there’s something in the house that might make you sick, it falls outside the scope of a home inspection. Examples include Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs).

Cosmetics

Scratches, dings, paint chips, dirt, and other such cosmetic items fall outside the scope of a home inspection. These are all easily identified with an untrained, uneducated eye. A home inspection report that documents cosmetic imperfections will significantly dilute the material covered. New construction homes are a possible exception, but even then, cosmetic defects should not be the focus of the report.

So what’s left?

Check out my post from last week, discussing everything that’s included in a home inspection.