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How to Read Your Inspection Report

Your inspector just sent you 60 pages...

The single most important thing to understand

Your inspector inspects to today's safety standards — not the standards in place when your home was built.

Three types of findings — and how to understand each

🔴 Safety hazards/major repairs — Address soon

These are present-tense risks. Active or imminent. Things like:

  • Reverse-polarity outlets near water sources

  • Missing GFCI protection in a current wet location

  • Gas leak at a connection

  • Active electrical arcing

  • Exposed live wiring

  • Disconnected smoke detectors

  • Significant structural movement with active cracking

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What to do: Negotiate these as repair requests with the seller, or budget to fix them immediately after closing. Don't ignore. 

🟡 Aged or end-of-life systems — Budget for replacement

These are functional today but past their expected lifespan. Things like:

  • A 25-year-old HVAC condenser

  • Original galvanized steel supply pipes in a 1960s home

  • Cast iron drain lines in a 1950s slab

  • A water heater older than 12 years

  • An original electrical panel from the 1970s

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What to do: These aren't emergencies — they're known future costs. Build them into your post-closing budget the same way you'd budget for a new roof on a 15-year-old house. 

🟢 Maintenance items — Add to your homeowner to-do list

These are normal wear-and-tear. Every house has them. Things like:

  • Cracked grout in showers

  • Failed caulking at backsplashes or windows

  • Worn weatherstripping

  • Tree branches contacting the roof

  • Slow drains

  • Dirty HVAC filters

  • Paint touch-up around exterior trim

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What to do: These belong on your homeowner's punch list, not in your negotiation. Most are weekend tasks. Tackling them in the first six months keeps your house in good shape and prevents small issues from becoming big ones.

What "advise to budget" actually means

When your inspector says "I'd advise the buyer to budget for replacement of the water heater in the next 1-3 years," they are not telling you the house has a problem. They're giving you a planning data point.

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Think of it like a pre-purchase inspection on a used car: knowing the timing belt is due at 100k miles isn't a reason not to buy the car — it's a reason to plan for the service expense. Same logic applies to a 12-year-old AC unit.

 

A house with five "budget for replacement" items isn't a worse house than one with two. It's a more informed purchase.

Why your report might look longer than a friend's

Three reasons inspection reports vary in length:​

  1. Inspector thoroughness. Some inspectors check the minimum SOP items in 90 minutes and produce a 12-page report. Others spend 3-4 hours and produce 50-60 pages with photos of every finding. The longer report is doing more work for you.

  2. Photo density. Modern photo-rich reports document each finding visually. A single GFCI deficiency might use 2-3 photos. This adds pages, not problems.

  3. Home age and complexity. A 1992 4-bedroom home with a pool, attached garage, and detached workshop generates more findings than a 2023 2-bedroom with no extras. More house = more report. Older house = more report.

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If you're comparing your report to a friend's, compare houses of similar age, size, and complexity — and compare the inspectors' approaches. The number of pages is a poor proxy for quality.

The questions you should ask your inspector

After you've read the report, here are the questions that actually move you forward:

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  • "Which findings should I prioritize in the next 30 days?" (forces a triage)

  • "Which items should I watch but not fix immediately?" (separates urgent from eventual)

  • "Are any of these findings unusual for a home of this age, or all expected?" (gives you context)

 

A good inspector welcomes these questions. At Property Pulse, on-site review and post-report consultation are included with every inspection — not because they're hard, but because they're the difference between a stack of paper and a confident decision.

What the report does NOT do

Worth knowing what's outside the scope:

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  • It's not a code compliance certification. Inspectors flag safety deficiencies but don't certify code compliance — that's an inspector for the city/county.

  • It's not an appraisal. No opinion on value.

  • It's not a warranty. It documents conditions visible on inspection day. Components can fail next week.

  • It's not exhaustive. Inspectors examine visible and readily accessible systems. Behind walls, under concrete, and inside sealed components are out of scope unless something visible suggests further investigation.

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These limits exist for a reason. A home inspection is a visual examination by one person in 3-4 hours. It's an excellent risk-reduction tool — not omniscient.

So… should you still buy the house?

That decision is yours, not the inspector's. But here's the framing that helps most buyers:

Knowing what I now know about this house — its real condition, what it will need, what it will cost — am I still willing to buy it at this price?

If yes: proceed, with eyes open and a maintenance plan.

 

If no: negotiate, or walk.

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The report's job is to give you the information to answer that question honestly. Everything else is your call.

Want a real human to walk you through your report?

If you've had a Property Pulse inspection, post-inspection consultation is always included. Call or text (830) 800-0440. We'll walk through your report findings together — what they mean, what's typical for a home of this age, and what questions to take to a qualified trades professional.​

Ready to schedule?

Schedule online

Call or text: (830) 800-0440

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Same-day scheduling when available. Same-day report on every inspection. Serving the I-35 corridor from San Antonio to South Austin.

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⭐ 5.0 on Google — read reviews

 

​Mike McCown · TREC #26408 · InterNACHI CPI · CCPIA Certified

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