The Scope and Purpose of a Home Inspection

Purchasing property involves risk

The purpose of a home inspection is to help reduce the risk associated with the purchase of a structure by providing a professional opinion about the overall condition of the structure. A home inspection is a limited visual inspection and it cannot eliminate this risk. Some homes present more risks than others. We cannot control this, but we try to help educate you about what we don’t know during the inspection process. This is more difficult to convey in a report and one of many reasons why we recommend that you attend the inspection.

A home inspection is not an insurance policy

This report does not substitute for or serve as a warranty or guarantee of any kind. Home warranties can be purchased separately from insuring firms that provide this service.

A home inspection is visual and not destructive

The descriptions and observations in this report are based on a visual inspection of the structure. We inspect the aspects of the structure that can be viewed without dismantling, damaging, or disfiguring the structure and without moving personal items and interior furnishings. Areas that are concealed, hidden or inaccessible to view are not covered by this inspection. Some systems cannot be tested during this inspection as testing risks damaging the building. For example, overflow drains on bathtubs are generally not tested because if they were found to be leaking they could damage the finishes below. Our procedures involve non-invasive investigation and non-destructive testing which will limit the scope of the inspection.

Responsibility of the Inspector

This inspection is governed by the Washington State Home Inspector Standards of Practice (SOPs), which dictates the minimum requirements for a real estate inspection.

The inspector IS required to:

• provide a narrative style report;
• inspect only those components and conditions that are present, visible, and accessible at the time of the inspection;
• indicate whether each item was inspected, not inspected, or not present;
• indicate an item as item of concern if a condition exists that adversely and materially affects the performance of a system or component OR constitutes a hazard to life, limb or property as specified by the SOPs; and
• explain the inspector's findings in the corresponding section in the body of the report form.
• a full list of required inspection items can be found by reviewing each section of the law

The inspector IS NOT required to:

• identify all potential hazards;
• enter unsafe spaces, or walk on unsafe roofs;
• turn on decommissioned equipment, systems, utilities, or apply an open flame or light a pilot to operate any appliance;
• climb over obstacles, remove ceiling tiles, move furnishings or stored items;
• prioritize or emphasize the importance of one deficiency over another;
• provide follow-up services to verify that proper repairs have been made; or
• a full list of optional and excluded items can be found by reviewing each section of the law

Responsibility of the Client

While items identified as Concern, Repair, Maintenance, or Due Diligence in this inspection report DO NOT obligate any party to make repairs or take other actions, in the event that any further evaluations are needed, it is the responsibility of the client to obtain further evaluations and/or cost estimates from qualified service professionals regarding any items so classified. It is recommended that any further evaluations and/or cost estimates take place prior to the expiration of any contractual time limitations, such as inspection periods.

Please Note: Evaluations performed by service professionals in response to items reported as Concern, Repair, Maintenance, or Due Diligence on the report may lead to the discovery of additional deficiencies that were not present, visible, or accessible at the time of the inspection. Any repairs made after the date of the inspection may render information contained in this report obsolete or invalid.

This is not an inspection for code compliance

This inspection and report are not intended for city / local code compliance. During the construction process structures are inspected for code compliance by municipal inspectors. Framing is open at this time and conditions can be fully viewed. Framing is not open during inspections of finished homes, and this limits the inspection. All houses fall out of code compliance shortly after they are built, as the codes continually change. National codes are augmented at least every three years for all of the varying disciplines. Municipalities can choose to adopt and phase in sections of the codes on their own timetables. There are generally no requirements to bring older homes into compliance unless substantial renovation is being done.

This is just our opinion

Construction techniques and standards vary. There is no one way to build a house or install a system in a house. The observations in this report are the opinions of the home inspector. Other inspectors and contractors are likely to have some differing opinions. You are welcome to seek opinions from other professionals.

The scope of this inspection

This inspection will include the following systems: exterior, roof, structure, drainage, foundation, attic, interior, plumbing, electrical, crawlspace, and heating. The evaluation will be based on limited observations that are primarily visual and non-invasive. This inspection and report are not intended to be technically exhaustive.

Your expectations

The overall goal of a home inspection is to help ensure that your expectations are appropriate with the house you are proposing to buy. To this end we assist with discovery by showing and documenting observations during the home inspection. This should not be mistaken for a technically exhaustive inspection designed to uncover every defect with a building. Such inspections are available but they are generally cost-prohibitive to most homebuyers.

Your participation is requested

Your presence is requested during this inspection. A written report will not substitute for all the possible information that can be conveyed verbally by a shared visual observation of the conditions of the property.

How to Read This Report

Getting the Information to You

This report is designed to deliver important and technical information in a way that is easy for anyone to access and understand. If you are in a hurry, you can take a quick look at our "Summary Page” and quickly get critical information for important decision making. However, we strongly recommend that you take the time to read the full Report, which includes digital photographs, diagrams, descriptions, videos, and links to additional information.

The best way to get the layers of information that are presented in this report is to read your report online, which will allow you to expand your learning about your house. You will notice some words or series of words highlighted in blue and underlined – clicking on these will provide you with a link to additional information.

This report can also be printed on paper or to a PDF document.

Chapters and Sections

This report is divided into chapters that parcel the home into logical inspection components. Each chapter is broken into sections that relate to a specific system or component of the home. You can navigate between chapters with the click of a button on the left side margin.

Most sections will contain some descriptive information done in black font. Observation narrative, done in colored boxes, will be included if a system or component is found to be significantly deficient in some way or if we wish to provide helpful additional information about the system or the scope of our inspection. If a system or component of the home was deemed to be in satisfactory or serviceable condition, there may be no narrative observation comments in that section and it may simply say “tested,” or “inspected.”

Observation Labels

All narrative observations are colored, numbered and labeled to help you find, refer to, and understand the severity of the observation. Observation colors and labels used in this report are:

• Concern:
  Urgent repair items that should be addressed now to prevent further issues or inherent safety hazards. This category includes items requiring immediate attention to prevent additional damage to the structure, or to eliminate safety hazards.
• Repair:
  Repair and urgent maintenance items noted during inspection. Please note that some repair items can be quite expensive to correct. Items identified in this category should be dealt with in a timely manner (less than 6 months) or they will likely turn into items of concern.
• Maintenance:
  These are routine items that are less urgent than repairs, and also don't pose an immediate safety risk. Maintenance items that get ignored WILL turn into items of repair or concern... Maintenance items should be addressed within the next 12-24 months.
• Due Diligence:
  Observations on items that are outside the scope of a general home inspection and require further investigation on your part to determine the severity and/or urgency of potential issues.
• Upgrade:
  Observations that are not necessarily defects (may be grandfathered), but which could be improved for safety, efficiency, or reliability reasons.
• Monitor:
  Items that do not currently appear to require action, but should be watched to see if action may be needed in the future.
• Informational:
  Detailed description of various aspects of the property noted during the inspection. Generally good stuff to know.

Summary Page

The Summary Page is designed as a bulleted overview of all the time sensitive observations noted during inspection. This helpful overview is not a substitution for reading the entire inspection report. The entire report must be read to get a complete understanding of this inspection report as the Summary Page does not include photographs, photo captions, or informational comments.

Report Limitations

This report is provided for the sole benefit of the named client and is based on observations made by the named inspector on the date the inspection was performed (indicated above).

ONLY those items specifically noted as being inspected on the report were inspected.

This inspection IS NOT:

• a technically exhaustive inspection of the structure, its systems, or its components and may not reveal all deficiencies;
• an inspection to verify compliance with any building codes;
• an inspection to verify compliance with manufacturer's installation instructions for any system or component and DOES NOT imply insurability or warrantability of the structure or its components.

NOTICE CONCERNING HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS, DEFICIENCIES, AND CONTRACTUAL AGREEMENTS

Conditions may be present in your home that did not violate building codes or common practices in effect when the home was constructed but are considered hazardous by today's standards. Such conditions that were part of the home prior to the adoption of any current codes prohibiting them may not be required to be updated to meet current code requirements. However, if it can be reasonably determined that they are present at the time of the inspection, the potential for injury or property loss from these conditions is significant enough to require inspectors to report them as items of Concern, Repairs, Maintenance, or Due Diligence. Examples of such hazardous conditions include:

• malfunctioning, improperly installed, or missing ground fault circuit protection (GFCI) devices and arc-fault (AFCI) devices;
• ordinary glass in locations where modern construction requirements call for safety glass;
• malfunctioning or lack of fire safety features such as smoke alarms, fire-rated doors in certain locations, and functional emergency escape and rescue openings in bedrooms;
• malfunctioning or missing carbon monoxide alarms;
• excessive spacing between balusters on stairways and guard rails;
• improperly installed appliances;
• improperly installed or defective safety devices;
• lack of electrical bonding and grounding; and
• lack of bonding on gas piping, including corrugated stainless steel tubing (CSST).

Please Note: items identified as Concern, Repairs, Maintenance, or Due Diligence in an inspection report DO NOT obligate any party to make repairs or take other actions. The decision to correct a hazard or any deficiency identified in an inspection report is left up to the parties to the contract for the sale or purchase of the home.

This property inspection report may include an inspection agreement (contract), addenda, and other information related to property conditions.