Hire a Specialist for Special Home Inspection
If you are buying a new regular single-family home or a regular existing home, most licensed inspectors can satisfactorily accomplish the quality of home inspection you need. You can even do the home inspection yourself using a home inspection checklist and applying home building inspection tips you have read on the Internet.
But if you are buying a home built before the Great Depression, a home with a swimming pool, a home with large trees, or a home possibly finished with lead-based paint or with nearly full septic tank, you need to hire a home inspection specialist experienced in the type of home construction problem you might possibly face.
For older homes built before the 1930s, hire an inspector specializing in older homes. This type of home inspection professional knows how to check coal packs under the concrete, gas leaks from abandoned pipes and drain problems due to older drainage designs.
Septic system problems may also arise from homes built before 1980. A complete septic tank replacement will cost you up to $40,000 if your home inspection professional missed the septic problem. Michael Kuhn of home inspection franchise HouseMaster recommends spending about $400 for digging up, examining and pumping out the system to ensure your septic system is functional.
To evaluate swimming pools, Frank Goldstein of Chesapeake Aquatic Consultants recommends the hiring of a swimming pool inspector. This specialist will check key parts of the swimming pool such as expansion joints, ladders, pump, vacuum, filter, heater and diving equipment. Goldstein said pool inspection increases home inspection cost by about $100, a small sum compared to about $8,000 spent on pool refurbishment.
The case of Joanne Sammer of New Jersey illustrates the need for an arborist to inspect trees on a property. Just two months after Sammer bought a home in Brielle, a maple tree fell onto her roof, costing her $2,100 and putting her life into danger.
According to Indianapolis arborist Richard Glover, trees such as pines, evergreens, junipers and spruces add value to a property, but they need to be checked for borers, bag worms, scale bugs and other tree killers and then treated. Tree inspection fees by arborists cost between $150 and $350.
There are other potential problems that you must consider before actual home inspection. Check if you need to hire home inspection services that specialize in pests, molds, lead-based paint or radon. Each of these home inspection services will cost you between $100 to $200, but they will save you from stress and costly repairs in the future.
