FAQ

The Most Common Questions

Home inspections are customarily performed once you have made an offer to buy a home, and that offer has been accepted, and during your specified 7-10 day inspection period. While it’s not legally required to have a home inspection done, one could be required by your lender.

 

We also recommend a pre-market inspection for homeowners selling their home. We suggest this because it can help to sell your home more quickly, and for more money, by addressing issues that can add to the value and appeal. With a pre-market inspection, I will find issues that need to be addressed before the buyer’s inspector does.

It depends on a few factors. The inspection fee is calculated by considering the size, age and any additional buildings on the outside. If the home has been vacant for a while, it is especially important to have it inspected because an empty home can often be a neglected home. Every inspection company charges different rates. 

You should make sure that your inspector is experienced, licensed, knows the area, and adheres to state standards and licensed. 

 

And your friend the plumber or the roofer? He may know a thing or two when it comes to fixing things around the house, but it’s possible he could miss something when inspecting your entire home. He likely will not be knowledgeable about all the systems of the home as a competent home inspector must be.

On average 2 hours… But the length of the inspection appointment depends on the size, age, and condition of the home. We estimate a minimum of an hour for a condo and several hours for a much larger property. The inspector will inspect until he feels satisfied that he has seen everything he needs to. We always try to be efficient while also being thorough.

A: It’s always best you are present for the inspection. At Top Inspections, we want home buyers to be well-informed about their new property. We’ll walk them through the house, explain how the different systems work, and point out what we’re putting in our report. If it’s not possible for you to be there we can always email you the report and have a phone conversation  or zoom meeting to discuss.

A home inspection is a thorough visual check of your home. While we won’t be opening up your walls or picking up floor boards, we will, at minimum, look at your house’s foundation, floors, walls, ceilings, siding, exterior trim, doors, porches, surface drainage, walkways, driveways, patios, steps, skylights, fireplaces and chimneys, roof coverings and drainage, water and waste pipes, water heaters, sump pumps, electrical systems and panels, heating and cooling systems, vents, cabinets, counters, attics and crawl spaces, basements, laundry rooms, and windows, among other areas.

Your home is a series of systems (much like your body) that all work together. We’re looking to see if the home has been constructed to “live” properly. Every house has issues, even brand new ones. We’ll let you know what systems look good and what needs maintenance or repair. Our goal isn’t to alarm, but rather inform the buyer so you can make good, sound decisions.

We’ll take a picture, explain what’s wrong and what the repair might be to fix it (all of this will be included in the detailed report we provide post-inspection). The inspector may recommend bringing in a specialist for some issues to investigate further.

We never pass or fail a home we inspect. We will always be looking for safety issues, things that are not functioning, as they should, and systems that are nearing the end of their service life. We will always recommend bringing in a specialist for further investigation or to give cost estimates for work needing to be done.

Building codes are different in every city and town and often change from year to year. Our inspections are for safety and structure, and mechanicals, not code compliance.

If you have any other questions give us a call / text at 518-307-6497 

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COVID POLICY

Top Inspections is always committed to the health and well-being of our clients and homeowners, as anyone else involved with the inspection. This is especially true during this time of Covid-19. We remain highly focused on providing the highest quality home inspection while adhering to the strict safety and cleanliness guidelines provided by the CDC and local governments. While our processes may have changed, our commitment to Ensuring Confident Homeownership has not. Our job is not complete until you no longer have questions concerning the home you have asked Top Inspection to inspect.