Property Inspection — What Is It?

An introduction to the property inspection

Home inspections are important as they provide you with a list of problems clients want to negotiate with the landlord to fix or something that makes them back out of the deal altogether.

While it’s important to note that a general home inspection involves a range of elements, which are mainly visual and structural — this means that potential issues or defects can be easily spotted by the home inspector.

During a home inspection, the home inspectors will analyse these factors and if they happen to uncover more complicated issues which are beyond their expertise, they will report them and advise the client to contact an expert in the field.

An example would be issues like the property’s electrical system or water pressure. In this case, the inspector will note the respective problems and recommend that the client should hire a licensed electrician and plumber to investigate in depth.

Whatever the issue may be, it’s imperative that the clients get the house inspected, whether it’s a brand new property or not. Here are some things to consider before the big day.

What is a property inspection?

A thorough inspection should examine certain components of the property and then produce a report covering the specific findings.

When the big day comes, you know that you will be able to negotiate repairs with your home inspection app in hand. Start by logging in a list of needed improvements. After coming up with the report, you can request the owner to make these repairs.

A typical inspection lasts a couple of hours, depending on the type of property (perhaps 2–3 hours if the property is a landed house or a bungalow for instance) and the tenant should be present for the inspection to get a firsthand explanation of the inspector’s findings and, if necessary, ask questions that can later help in the negotiation.

If you’re a tenant or planning to buy a property, any issues or problems the inspector discovers will make more sense if you see them in person instead of relying only on the snapshot photos in the report.

The inspector should take note of safety issue, major defects, minor defects such as items that need replacement or should be repaired.

The inspector

The inspector’s job is to advise and clarify what the client has to fix or improve or take note of the property’s issues. The final objective is to inspect the property, its systems and its overall state.

Although an inspection will perhaps uncover certain issues the property may have, it is best to remain objective and simply point out and report the concerns that need to be addressed.

During the inspection, the inspector should look around, take notes, write comments, snap photos and provide a detailed report on the state of the property as well as some feedback on future maintenance.

The thorough home inspection can even tell you about routine maintenance that should be performed, which can be a great tip should you consider buying a property.

A home inspection will require some of your time, but in the long run, it’ll be worth it. The inspection can reveal problems that you may be able to observe before moving in a new property so in the end, this will save you time and money.

Inspection checklist

Typically a home inspection is all about checking the safety and proper condition of the property.

Although inspection may vary depending on the type of property, an inspection can include the following.

Property’s interior key elements:

• Walls, floors, ceiling
• Countertops and cabinets
• Doors and windows
• Kitchen appliances

Plumbing

• Fixtures and faucets
• Water heater
• Drain, waste and vent systems

Electrical

• Service entrance conductors, cables and raceways
• Service equipment and main disconnects
• Service grounding
• Service panels and subpanels
• Conductors
• Light fixtures, switches and receptacles
• Circuit interrupters

Heating and cooling systems

• Access panels
• Thermostats
• Installed heating and cooling equipment
• Stoves

Conclusion

After the inspection, the next step as a potential tenant or buyer is to discuss and analyse the report with your agent who can advise you on what are the next steps. If the inspection was straightforward and there were no issues, then you can easily proceed with the next steps.

If the inspection uncovered some issues, you may need to further negotiate after the inspection.

Originally published at Singapore Property — Greyloft’s perspectives.