Interview Questions to Help You Choose an Ulster County Home Inspector
When you are buying an Ulster County house, a home inspector can help you spot potential problems. In some instances, they are able to find major problems an Ulster County house has that will allow you to back out of the deal before getting stuck with the house and the issue yourself. In other cases, they will point out minor issues the house has that will allow you to renegotiate the deal with the seller.
When you are paying a home inspector to look at your house, you want to make sure that you are choosing an experienced inspector that will do good work for you. Here are 7 questions to help you as you interview inspectors:
-
What is included in your inspection?
What the inspector looks at is going to depend on the inspector. This is not an industry that is regulated nationwide, so you want to find out what the inspector is going to look at. Most inspectors will look at everything from the roof to the foundation and all of the systems that are within the house. This includes HVAC, electrical, and plumbing.
-
What don’t you look at during the inspection?
There are some things that an inspector will not look at or do during the inspection. They have to be able to see something to inspect it. That means they cannot open a wall to look inside of it. If the access to the attic is nailed or screwed shut, they may not look inside the attic.
They also cannot predict the future. They are able to inspect what they see, but they cannot predict anything that might or might not happen in the future.
-
How much do you charge?
Inspections can range in price from $300 to $600. The inspector will most likely want payment the day that they come to do the inspection. While you may not want to hire the most expensive inspector, you also don’t want to hire one that has a much lower price than others. This is an area where you tend to get what you pay for.
-
How many years have you been an inspector?
You want to hire an experienced inspector with many good reviews. The longer an inspector has been in business, the more things they have seen over the years.
-
Can I walk through the house with you?
A good inspector is going to want you to be at the Ulster County house while they are inspecting it. This will be a valuable time for you to become more knowledgeable about the house. You will learn far more by walking through the house with your inspector than just reading the report that they provide you with.
-
How long does your inspection take?
The seller generally vacates the Ulster County property for a showing. You want your inspector to be very thorough, but you also need to know how much time to budget for the length of the inspection so you can be prepared with your schedule. You want to make sure that it seems like a reasonable amount of time for a house of that size.
-
What will the report look like?
An experienced inspector will be able to show you what a report will look like. It will also help you to see that the perfect house does not exist. Almost every single inspection will turn up one thing or another. It is the inspector’s job to find problems, but it is your job to determine what issues you can handle and which ones you can’t.
It sounds easy enough to hire an Ulster County home inspector, but you want to make sure you are hiring the right home inspector. Use these seven questions to help you find an inspector that you will trust to check the house.