The Pro-Sight Property Inspection Report

It is extremely important to be able to easily read, and comprehend your inspection report. Pro-Sight Property Inspections takes great pride in its report, which is extremely detailed, and easy for everyone to understand. Inspection reports are not created equal, get the most thorough and comprehensive report, displayed in an easy to follow format. This superior proprietary report, is only available to Pro-Sight member inspectors.

The Importance of Your Home Inspection Report

Buying a home is usually the largest financial investment a person makes in their lifetime, and the home inspection which scrutinizes the condition of the home is one of the most significant parts of the home buying process. The inspection report is a valuable document because it gives the new homeowner exceptional insight into such things as the structural and mechanical systems of the home.

To get the most out of the report, however, it helps to have an understanding of how it is organized and how to read it and interpret the findings outlined by the inspector.

Each inspector chooses what particular format to use for presenting the results of the inspection, so the reports will vary depending upon the style used by the particular inspector. Yu can tell the home inspector which style you would prefer. Pro-Sight inspectors have the ability to deliver you a Standard Checklist Report or a  Narrative Report 

Majority of inspection reports are emailed

All reports should have a section where the inspector basically tells the story of their findings; a summary section is also a popular feature of many reports. Pro-Sight Property Inspections reports have a summary section which separates into two sections:

Comment: General information and marginal items. Please note, some items that are marginal can, over time, turn into major issues if not attended to, repaired or replaced.

Issues: These are items that need repair or replacement and/or additional evaluation by a licensed contractor or certified technician. Safety hazards and/or safety enhancement recommendations are also listed as issues

There should also be some accompanying photographs of parts of the home that help to illustrate the findings. Pro-Sight reports come with numerous photos.

But all of them will contain the same basic kinds of information, and the best reports will have a detailed table of contents in the beginning that helps the client locate specific items.

Looking for Potential Problems

As a homebuyer you will be particularly interested in looking for any recommendations of repairs or other remedies and sections of the report that specify Attention Required. These are the parts of the report that point out recommendations for repairs or further investigation, and problem areas will be addressed by the inspector in these sections. There will usually be a photo or good description of the area in question, and also a box where the inspector can write in notes pertaining to that section of the home.

But if you have trouble comprehending the report, do not stress-out. Just talk to your inspector and have them help answer your questions. Inspectors understand that the home buying process can be rather intimidating, and the best inspectors pride themselves on communicating clearly to assist their clients.

Understanding the Scope of the Report

Keep in mind that the home inspectors responsibilities and capabilities are specialized and that the scope of the inspection report is confined to particular areas of investigation as well as defined methods of investigation and discovery. During a typical Limited Visual Inspection, for example, the inspector is not going to do an invasive examination of the property that might involve such things as cutting holes in the walls or removing sections of the floor or ceiling to get a closer look.

Chances are you do not want them either, because you are just interested in a general critique of the home. So there may be parts of the home that cannot be thoroughly checked out by the inspector because he or she does not have X-ray vision. In that case the inspector will probably make a note in the report explaining the limitation of the inspection and recommending that to know more you should hire a specialist.

Say, for example, that if the house has a three-story chimney in it the inspector is not going to be able to study the inside of that skinny chimney, so they may recommend having that kind of unique inspection performed by a licensed chimney sweep.

Of course if you want a more exhaustive and invasive inspection you can opt for a Comprehensive Inspection. This kind of inspection may take 2-3 days and a team of inspectors, and it may cost a few thousand dollars, but it will certainly be more thorough. But normally a home buyer will not call for this kind of inspection unless the preliminary Limited Visual Inspection recommends it or there are some extraordinary reasons to justify a more invasive inspection.

To learn more about the scope of each kind of inspection, refer to the blog section on this website that explains the difference between  Limited Visual Inspections and Comprehensive Inspections.

Keep in mind that inspection report information is not just helpful at the time of purchase. A home inspection report can also be extremely useful after a sale is completed and the buyer becomes a homeowner with the responsibility of home maintenance. You can refer to it to see areas of the home that the inspector determined might need repairs or maintenance, for example, and then use those recommendations to help you prioritize your home repair and maintenance projects. You can also share the findings of the report with people such as building contractors, insurance agents, or prospective tenants to help them gain a better understanding of the home and the condition of its systems and components.