A home inspection should be easy.

Buying a home is complicated. Getting a home inspection should be the easiest part. It's a buyer or seller's chance to get answers that aren't constricted to someone else's best interests or financial incentives. Ideally, a home inspection should consist of the inspector spending 2-3 hours observing the present condition of all of the home's major and minor systems. An inspector's report should be easy to read, complete, and most importantly, inform the client of any health or safety concerns.

A report is usually given the same day as the inspection, if not a day later. Some tests, such as radon will take a little longer to perform, but overall, clients should receive a concise report on the present condition of the house at the end of the inspection. Any immediate questions and a rundown of what the inspector finds should be addressed afterwards.

Home inspections should be affordable.

Part of the unfortunate side of real estate is that all of the ancillary services such as, realtors and inspectors, are dealing with a captured, and sometimes, desperate market. Home buyers are scared to lose an offer on a home for any number of reasons. What's another $400 thrown into the mix that an inspector charges for an unnecessary service?

"He's expensive, but he's good," you might hear a realtor say. Expensive doesn't always mean good. Home inspectors are highly trained and are required to pass a very difficult exam to back up their credentials. Anyone worth a grain of salt in home inspecting should know how to perform a good inspection and write a thorough report. This report should make clients feel like they have the best possible look into a home without being rushed or pressured by a lack of information.

All of our pricing at A & N Home Inspections are up-front and never up-sold for additional services unless we think your specific case needs it. If we sell it to you, our reasons will be clear and evidence-based.

Home inspections should be thorough.

Every home has a different story to tell. Because of the constant evolution of building materials and retro-fitting of older homes, it requires a keen eye to basically perform an archeology dig to find out if these systems are still adequately and safely supporting a home.

The tiniest thing can seem inconsequential in the structure of a home. These tiny details are the very things that should not be overlooked in a home. It's easy to spot a defective appliance or a creaky floorboard. What's not easy is knowing how each system of a home, from the roof to the foundation, are entwined and give clues as to the history of a house. Each part plays a role in preserving the safety and comfort of its dwellers.

A home inspector's job isn't to "guarantee" or "officially declare" a home's health and safety aspects. Our job is to find 99% of a home's defects through careful observation and expertise. Ideally, as inspectors, we'd be in and out in 1.5-2 hours. If it takes us 5 hours, it will take us 5 hours. There is no substitution for thoroughness and your confidence in our inspection is our business.