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At the conclusion of a home inspection you will receive a written report from a licensed Phoenix home inspector. Since the findings within a home inspection report are technical in nature, they are often misunderstood. In order to eliminate confusion, you will need to do a careful review and ask your inspector questions about areas that are unclear. Grab a highlighter and dive in.

Many different forms of home inspection reports exist, however, computer generated type reports far outnumber the hand written checklist styles of reports. Additionally, most home inspection reports contain photographs of problem areas. The report should be divided into major systems and may have sub-sections for components within each system. For instance, a major system like Plumbing may have sub-sections for Piping, Fixtures & Faucets, Toilets, etc. Within each area, you should find the condition description for each system or component. The condition descriptions are where you need to focus your efforts during a report review. They should tell you whether systems and components are satisfactory, need to be corrected, need to be monitored or if further review is needed. Let’s look further into some common condition descriptions.

On a Phoenix home inspection the Standards of Professional Practice for Arizona Home Inspectors define what is expected. Common methods of reporting home inspection findings are as follows:

Satisfactory – Various terms may be used to describe a system or components as operational or serving its intended function. You may see the word Serviceable, Acceptable or even Good as a condition description.

Further Review – If the home inspector determines that a system or component needs further evaluation by a specialist, you will likely see this comment. Of course, the recommendation is to complete any additional evaluations prior to the end of your contract contingency period and in all cases before closing escrow. A home inspection is similar to getting a check-up with your family doctor; if a concern is detected, you will be directed to a specialist for further review.

Monitor – When the home inspection report calls for monitoring it means that the condition does not appear to need immediate action but it also should not be ignored. Remain vigilant and conduct regular assessments of the subject condition.

Attention Required – OK, this one is easy. The component or system, in the inspectors opinion, currently needs to be repaired by a qualified expert. It is also important to have the expert repair person conduct a complete evaluation of their own to determine if any additional repair needs exist.

Safety Issue – Another easy one. Safety concerns may be easy or difficult to repair but they are always important to correct as soon as practical.

A good home inspection report will outline all of the findings in a concise manner with easy to understand methods of description. Before you hire an Arizona home inspector, take a look at a sample report to make sure you will be able to interpret the findings.

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