WHAT DOES AN AVERAGE CONNECTICUT HOME INSPECTION COST?
Spoiler alert: there is no real answer here as inspection fees vary. Pricing depends on the size of the house, complexity (crawl space? multiple attics? multiple HVAC units?), age of the home, experience and reputation of the inspector, and many other factors. There are inspectors who may charge as little as $500, no matter the size of the house or how complicated it is to inspect. A seasoned home inspector might charge twice that. As we are normally talking a difference of hundreds rather than thousands of dollars in inspection fees here the best advice I can offer is to just get recommendations from friends and family before hiring an inspector. Check Google or other on-line reviews. Pricing is probably not your main concern when it comes to making this large of a purchase and having to live in it for an extended period of your life. Hiring an experienced firm or inspector (as with all contractors) is always a good idea. Another way to put pricing in perspective: real estate agencies charge 3.0% to 6.0% to sell a house, that’s $18,000 to $36,000 for a $600,000 house. If the owner of a house is willing to pay a real estate agent $18,000 to $36,000 to sell a house, is less than $1000 too much to find out the property’s true condition? What have you saved when you get a cheap inspection that may fail to uncover a major (expensive) issue or fails to properly convey important findings?
Also, lower cost inspections usually indicate less time spent evaluating your house. Have you viewed a sample report from the “competitively priced” inspection company? Does it include photo documentation? Is it a handwritten checklist report? View 3 pages of a “competitively priced” inspection report. If a thorough inspection, full narrative report and photo editing of an average size home takes 5 to 7 hours, (not counting travel time) how “thorough” is the lower-cost inspector who does two to three inspections and reports in a day?
Here’s a few pages from a really cheap inspection (it doesn’t meet the home inspection standards of practice for Connecticut): $250 worthless inspection report sample.
What’s the alternative to a cheap and practically useless handwritten checklist report? The real value of an inspection and report is measured by its usefulness.
Bottom line: not all home inspections are the same. As in most things you get what you pay for. Make an informed decision when hiring your home inspector.
Looking for a Connecticut Home Inspector? Contact Allied Home Inspections LLC - "Inspected Once, Inspected Right!"
Also, lower cost inspections usually indicate less time spent evaluating your house. Have you viewed a sample report from the “competitively priced” inspection company? Does it include photo documentation? Is it a handwritten checklist report? View 3 pages of a “competitively priced” inspection report. If a thorough inspection, full narrative report and photo editing of an average size home takes 5 to 7 hours, (not counting travel time) how “thorough” is the lower-cost inspector who does two to three inspections and reports in a day?
Here’s a few pages from a really cheap inspection (it doesn’t meet the home inspection standards of practice for Connecticut): $250 worthless inspection report sample.
What’s the alternative to a cheap and practically useless handwritten checklist report? The real value of an inspection and report is measured by its usefulness.
Bottom line: not all home inspections are the same. As in most things you get what you pay for. Make an informed decision when hiring your home inspector.
Looking for a Connecticut Home Inspector? Contact Allied Home Inspections LLC - "Inspected Once, Inspected Right!"
