The Cost of a Home Inspection

Home inspectors use many factors to determine what they are going to charge for a home inspection. Items such as the square footage, finished verses unfinished areas and travel time. Others considerations are: Does the home have a basement or crawlspace? The age of the property, number of rooms the list goes on. Other more important factors such as the cost of certification, insurance, continuing education and advertising fees play a huge role in determining the fee a home inspector may charge.
Some home inspectors are not licensed or certified because some states (like Virginia) do not require home inspector certification. These home inspectors will be able to charge a much lower fee due to low overhead costs. However the old saying goes “You get what you pay for”. This does not mean these home inspectors can’t provide quality, professional or knowledgeable home inspections. However, determining that a home inspector has the necessary skills and background to protect your family and financial future is difficult.
We recommend the following websites for home inspector qualification verification Department of Professional and Occupational Regulations, American Home Inspectors Society or InterNACHI. Home inspectors that are willing to put in the time, prove their knowledge of home construction and get certified are the home inspectors that going to provide the best protection for your family. Their fees are going to be much higher than non-licensed or certified home inspectors. A certified home inspector may charge $250.00-$375.00 for a 2500 SqFt home, when a non-certified home inspector may charge $150.00-$200.00 for the same home. Licensed and certified home inspectors have to answer to governing bodies, but non-licensed or certified home inspectors do not. So when you have an issue with your licensed, certified home inspector you have a course of action you can deploy without the cost of an attorney, an option not available with non-licensed or non-certified home inspectors.
The most important question here is: What is the safety and well-being of your family and your financial future worth? This is not an area where penny pitching should be considered. If the sale price of the home is $250,000.00, then the cost or home inspection is a meager one hundredth of a percent 0.001 to 0.0015%, which is a bargain when compared to a 5-6% realtor’s commission of $12,500.00 – $15,000.00.
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