Inspection report: what is actually urgent, and what is not

A 38-page report with 31 findings has, most of the time, two that matter this week, five that belong on the repair-request list, a dozen that are your first-year chores and the rest cosmetic. The report does not say which is which; the summary page lists them all in the same bold type. Below are the four bands we grade every finding into, and the twenty findings that turn up most often, each placed in its band with the reason.

The four bands.

1. Safety now. Someone could be hurt before the first month is out: electrical, gas, carbon monoxide, a deck. These go to a licensed trade before closing, and on the list first.
2. Before closing. Not dangerous today, but a real repair with a real price that the seller is better placed to carry: roof, water heater, furnace, active leaks, known-hazard wiring or pipe. Repair or a credit.
3. After you move in. Worth doing, not worth negotiating: grading, insulation, a dryer vent, a handrail. Your first-year plan, in order of cost avoided.
4. Cosmetic. Skip or DIY. The band that fills most of the report, and the band that gets a list refused when it reaches the seller.

Twenty common findings, graded.

Safety now · 5 of the twenty

1. Double-tapped breaker or wrong-size breaker at the panel. Two wires under one screw, or a 30 A breaker on 14-gauge wire. An electrician, half a day, before anyone sleeps in the house.
2. No GFCI at the kitchen, bathroom, garage or outside outlets. Cheap to fix and the single most common shock risk in a report. Ask for it; most sellers agree.
3. Gas smell, a flex connector through a wall, or an unvented appliance. The gas company or a licensed plumber, now. Not a negotiating item; a stop item.
4. Missing or failed smoke and CO alarms. Ten dollars a room. Fix it yourself on day one if the seller does not.
5. A loose deck ledger or missing ledger flashing. Decks fall off houses at the ledger. A contractor's look before closing, and a repair or a credit.

Before closing · 7 of the twenty

1. Roof: lifted shingles, a flashing gap, a soft spot. A roofer's repair is hundreds; a leak that waits a winter is thousands. Repair, or a credit sized by a roofer's estimate.
2. Water heater past 12 years, or a corroded TPR valve. It will fail; the question is whose money. A credit toward replacement is the usual outcome.
3. Furnace with a cracked heat exchanger or flue collar. An HVAC tech confirms it; if confirmed, the seller replaces or credits, because a lender may ask too.
4. Active leak under a sink, at a supply line or at a toilet base. Small part, but the subfloor under it may not be. Repair plus a look at the floor.
5. Evidence of moisture in the basement or crawl space. Efflorescence, staining, a musty smell. Find the source before closing; grading and gutters are often the whole answer, a sump is sometimes the answer.
6. Aluminium branch wiring or a Federal Pacific or Zinsco panel. Both are known hazards with a known fix. Electrician's quote, then repair or credit.
7. Polybutylene or galvanised supply pipe. Not an emergency, but a lender or insurer may care, and repiping is a real number. Ask, and know the number before you decide.

After you move in · 6 of the twenty

1. Grading toward the house and downspouts ending at the wall. A weekend with a shovel and four downspout extensions. The cheapest fix in the report and the one that prevents the most.
2. Attic insulation below the regional target. A comfort and a utility-bill item; price it, do it the first autumn.
3. Older windows with failed seals (fogged glass). Cosmetic unless the frame has rotted. Replace a pane at a time, or never.
4. A dryer vent that is long, kinked or made of foil. Fifty dollars of rigid duct; a real fire reducer, but a Saturday job, not a seller item.
5. Missing handrail, uneven step, loose balusters. Easy fixes you will do better than a seller in a hurry.
6. Tree limbs over the roof, shrubs against the siding. Trim them in the first month.

Cosmetic · 2 of the twenty

1. A door that rubs, a cracked tile, torn screens, nail pops, a dripping hose bib. Skip, or fix with the house's own leftovers. Putting these on a repair-request list is how a list of twenty gets the two that matter refused.
2. Peeling paint on exterior trim, a loose gutter bracket, a sticking window. Paint and a ladder. Note them for the first dry weekend and keep them off the list.

How to read your own report against this.

Count the findings in each band before you read a single cost. A report with nothing in the first two bands is a good report, however long it is. A report with one item in the first band is a report with one job this week. Then price only the first two bands, from a public cost guide, and hand your agent a list of those items alone, in that order, with the words a trade would use. The third band becomes your calendar, and the fourth you forget.

Cost ranges here and in the triage come from named public cost guides, not from a contractor, and nothing on this page is a home inspection, a re-inspection or advice on whether to buy a house.

Read the sample triage   Triage my report