If you are about to have a home inspection carried out by Coastal Property Inspection Inc. on your property, there are several things you should be aware of, and prepared for as the owner of the house.

A typical inspection takes about three to four hours. During this time, all the major accessible components and systems are visually examined. We normally start by reviewing the exterior of the house, lot and roof. The basement and/or crawlspace are next, where the heating systems, electrical service, plumbing, foundation, and so on are checked. After completing our work in the basement, we go through the rest of the house. We test all plumbing fixtures, operate windows and doors, look under sinks, in closets, and go up into the attic. No destructive or invasive testing is done. Of course, alarms and security systems, computer and phone lines are private, and therefore are not examined.

The purchaser will often attend the home inspection, in order to become more familiar with the house. Sometimes, they will meet near the end of the inspection for a review of the home with the inspector.

Our goal is to report the condition of the house as fairly and accurately as possible. We do not benefit in any way from the outcome of the real estate transaction. At Coastal Property Inspection Inc., we strive to keep our findings in perspective for our clients. Recommendations that are typical for houses of a particular age, or common to homes in a particular region will be presented as such in our reporting. Please understand that we cannot discuss our findings or release the report to anyone but our client.

There are some things you can do to help prepare for the inspection, in order to make things run as smoothly as possible:

• Make sure the attic and basement hatches are accessible. If they are in closets, kindly remove stored articles to allow the inspector to enter. He will have a compact ladder to climb into any ceiling hatches.
• Unlock interior doors, or make arrangements for access to locked rooms.
• If you have tenants living in the building, please give them plenty of warning that the inspection will be taking place.
• If you need to be home during the inspection, please notify your real estate agent ahead of time so they can make any necessary arrangements, if any, with the prospective buyers.
• Plan on the inspection process not being rushed. Sometimes things take longer than expected, or the purchaser may want to spend time discussing a particular area of interest. To be on the safe side, assume the inspection of a typical house will take five hours to complete. This allows time for the inspector to meet the client after the inspection onsite if necessary. If you have time constraints, please discuss with the inspector prior to the inspection. He will try to accommodate if possible. You may want to make arrangements to have him call you when he is finished.

During the inspection we try very hard to leave the home exactly as we found it. Just to be sure, it is a good idea to walk through the home later in the day in order to check thermostats, lights, and digital clocks etc. to ensure everything is just as it should be.

Please feel free to contact Coastal Property Inspection Inc. if you have any further questions about the home inspection process.