Home Re-Inspection Services

At 45th Parallel Home Inspection, we understand that buying a home is a major investment. That’s why we offer re-inspection services as an additional layer of protection and peace of mind before buying a home. If you’ve already used our services for a home inspection, have agreed-upon repairs with the seller, and have a signed sales addendum, we can come back and verify that the work has been completed.

A re-inspection is designed to ensure that the agreed-upon repairs listed in the sales addendum have been addressed. Our home inspector will carefully review your original inspection report and the sales addendum to determine the exact scope of the re-inspection. We then create a re-inspection report based on the sales addendum and the original report to guide us in our repeat visit. We will only inspect items explicitly listed in the sales addendum and will not investigate issues that were not identified in the original inspection.

Time Frame and Cost of a Home Re-Inspection

Typically, we recommend scheduling a re-inspection two to four weeks after the initial inspection to allow ample time for repairs to be completed. Once we have reviewed your documents, we'll provide you with the time and cost required for the re-inspection. When feasible, we recommend customers obtain documentation such as contractor receipts and photos from the seller/contractors that show the work was performed by a professional and carries a warranty.

We always advocate for our customers to save the time and money involved in re-inspections when possible. There is usually a minimum fee of $250 for re-inspection services. Some re-inspections that require the inspector to be in multiple critical areas of the home–such as on the roof, in the attic, and crawlspace looking for multiple specific instances of an issue–can take as much or more time as the initial inspection and cost as much as the original inspection. We will evaluate every re-inspection needed to determine the time necessary and the cost to perform the re-inspection.

What Happens During a Home Re-Inspection?

• Examine the repaired areas: We will carefully assess the areas identified in the sales addendum to determine if the repairs appear to have been made.
• Document findings: We will provide clear and detailed documentation, including photos, to support our findings. This helps prevent misunderstandings and disputes between the buyer and seller.
• Report on repair status: We will note whether the repairs appear to have addressed the original issue. However, we do not evaluate the quality or craftsmanship of the repairs. We will make a note if there are still glaring issues after a repair.
• Important: We strongly recommend that homeowners hire licensed contractors for any significant repairs and obtain invoices, receipts, or summaries of the work completed. This documentation can be helpful during the re-inspection process.

Sometimes we are asked to inspect items that were not part of our original inspection report. We cannot inspect whether the work of a contractor appears to have been completed unless our original inspection included those items.

Benefits of a Home Re-Inspection

For the Home Buyer

A home re-inspection offers several advantages for the buyer. Knowing that the agreed-upon repairs have been completed can reduce anxiety and stress during the moving process. Verifying that the home is in good condition helps protect your investment and ensures you're moving into a safe and healthy home.

In some cases, a re-inspection report can be used as evidence if issues arise after the sale. Surprisingly, we often perform re-inspections and find that repairs have not been made, even though the seller or contractors state they have been accomplished.

For the Home Seller

While a re-inspection is primarily beneficial for the buyer, it can also be advantageous for the seller. Demonstrating that the repairs have been completed can help expedite the closing process. A re-inspection report can also provide evidence for homeowners to use if they need to take further action against a contractor for work that was not completed as agreed upon or for subpar repairs.

A home seller that paid good money for repairs by a contractor needs to be either reimbursed or made whole for any repairs not actually made. This happens more than we like to think is a normal misunderstanding between home sellers and contractors.

Licensed Contractors Recommended

We always recommend in our home inspection reports that repairs be performed by licensed contractors. That is in the best interest of the buyer and the seller because then you have paperwork in hand, along with any applicable warranty information. We like to have receipts from licensed contractors in advance so we can review them before the inspection so we know what the contractor states was performed.

New Construction

However, in the case of new construction, the builder will perform repairs and we understand there will be no receipts or sales addendum. 45th Parallel does not accept any liability for the quality or effectiveness of stated repairs.

Our Philosophy Regarding Re-inspections

While a home re-inspection is a service we provide, we do need to make some things completely clear about the function of a re-inspection.

1. Re-inspections are a courtesy service. We are not obligated to perform re-inspections.
2. We perform re-inspections on a time-permitting basis when we can feasibly work them into the existing schedule. Sometimes customers are in a mad scramble at the very end of a contingency period and expect us to work on a re-inspection the same or the next day and it is just not always possible. We will always do our best, but we suggest planning ahead and trying to have any re-inspections scheduled as far as possible from the end of your contingency period.
3. We are not licensed tradesmen in specific areas like plumbing or electrical, so we have referred customers to licensed specialists in their respective trades.. For re-inspections, we are asked to essentially evaluate the work of the licensed tradesperson and indicate whether we think the repairs are adequate. Evaluating the work of a contractor or whoever performed the inspection is beyond the scope of a home inspector, as we are not a specialist in any particular area. We will provide a yes or no answer to the question: ‘Does it appear the agreed-upon repair has been made?’

Quite often we find items that have been stated as repaired when it is clear that repairs have not been performed, or sometimes with poor quality. We view re-inspections as a valuable resource to our clients to assess whether they are getting what was agreed upon. It also protects the home seller somewhat, because sometimes, they were charged for repairs that were not performed.

Over the years, we've considered removing re-inspections from our list of services, but we think it's a valuable service for us as an inspection company to offer as added insurance to our customers in their transactions. As we review repair lists that have not been completed, we are reminded that our customers oftentimes have no way of knowing if repairs were completed or not.

How To Request A Re-inspection

Once you have a sales addendum signed by both parties (except in the case of new construction), you can schedule an appointment. We strongly suggest obtaining any receipts from licensed contractors that you or your real estate agent can send to us as well. We also strongly suggest scheduling re-inspections as far in advance of the end of the contingency period as possible because we cannot always perform re-inspections on short notice. It takes time to feasibly work them into the existing schedule.