What a Home Inspector Actually Looks At in Two Hours

The standard residential inspection takes about two and a half hours on most homes. Larger homes run longer, smaller condos run shorter, but two-and-a-half is the median. Below is the order we run them in, what gets looked at in each segment, and the kind of finding that lands in the report.

Roof, exterior, drainage (30 minutes)

We start outside while the light is still good. The roof inspection runs whether by ladder or drone depending on access, slope, and material. We log the slope direction, the material, the approximate age, the condition of the flashing around penetrations (vents, chimneys, skylights), the gutter system, and the drainage path off the roof to the ground.

The findings here that matter most are usually invisible to the homeowner: a cracked boot on a vent stack, a worn step-flashing detail at the chimney sidewall, gutter sections that have separated at the seams, or a downspout dumping water against the foundation rather than carrying it away.

Exterior cladding, foundation, lot grading (20 minutes)

Walk the perimeter. We photograph the cladding by elevation, look for cracks in stucco or brick veneer, examine the soil-to-cladding clearance (a common code-enforcement target), and check the lot grading immediately around the house. Lots that slope toward the foundation cause more interior moisture damage than any other single defect we encounter.

Interior baseline (30 minutes)

Inside, we work room by room. Each room gets photographed, the windows operated, the outlets tested with a circuit-fault tester, the doors checked for plumb, the floors walked for soft spots, and the ceiling examined for staining (a tell for past or current roof or plumbing leaks). The walls get a moisture-meter check on any spot where staining suggests a leak, even an old one.

A note on outlets: roughly one in eight homes we inspect has at least one outlet wired with reversed polarity. It is a five-minute fix and a real safety issue, but it almost never appears without an inspector flagging it.

Plumbing, electrical, HVAC (30 minutes)

The mechanical systems get a structured pass. The water heater is checked for age (visible on the data plate), capacity, the status of the temperature-pressure relief valve, and any signs of corrosion or past leaks at the base. The electrical panel is opened (with a permit-and-confirm step on the homeowner's end), the breakers are inventoried against a panel schedule, the bonding and grounding are confirmed, and any double-tapped breakers, aluminum-branch wiring, or obsolete brands (Federal Pacific, Zinsco) are flagged.

The HVAC inspection is the rougher pass. We can confirm the system runs, measure the temperature differential at the supply and return, check the filter, and visually inspect the heat exchanger when accessible. We cannot guarantee the heat exchanger is sound across all furnaces, and we tell every buyer the same thing: a home-inspector pass is not an HVAC technician's pass, and a separate HVAC inspection is worth the few hundred dollars on systems over fifteen years old.

Appliances, attic, crawl (30 minutes)

The kitchen appliances get a functional check (does it run, does the cycle complete, does the door seal). The laundry hookups get a visual confirmation. Then the attic, which is where the inspection starts to feel like real archaeology: we look at the insulation depth, the ventilation balance (intake vs. exhaust), the framing condition, any signs of past roof leaks, and the bath-fan and dryer-vent terminations (which are supposed to terminate outside the building envelope, and surprisingly often do not).

The crawl, when present, is the same exercise underneath. Foundation movement, plumbing leaks under the slab, vapor barriers in poor condition, and rodent or pest evidence all get logged.

Writing the report (afterward)

The on-site inspection takes two-and-a-half hours; the report takes another two on average. We sort the photos by location, write up each finding with a recommendation (monitor, repair, replace, consult a specialist), and order the report from most-significant to least. Buyers get the report within twenty-four hours of the inspection, and the report is structured so the buyer's agent can use it directly during negotiation.

What we do not do

We do not pull permits to test things behind walls. We do not test for radon, mold, asbestos, lead paint, or methamphetamine residue without a specific add-on. We do not climb roofs that are unsafe to climb (very steep, very wet, or in active storm conditions); a drone goes up instead, and the report notes that.

If you have a specific concern about a home you are about to buy, the inspection covers the standard scope plus whatever you flag for us in advance. The conversation we have on the phone before the inspection is what makes the report most useful.

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