How Long is a Home Inspection?

How long a quality home inspection takes to perform is dependent on a number of different variables:

1) Is your home inspector following a required standard of practice from a regulative authority or organization? In San Antonio and the State of Texas in general, home inspectors are regulated by the Texas Real Estate Commission and are required to follow their designated Standards of Practice. In other states, a home inspector might follow a home inspector organization’s standards of practice. The difference between what each inspectors standards of practice require to be inspected and tested can be significant, which influences the amount of time an inspection takes and should influence how much an inspection costs.

2) What is the size of the home? Larger homes are obviously going to take more time, but how much time is determined by any additional air-conditioning systems that need to be inspected, as well as additional water-heaters or other appliances. Open square footage such as bedrooms don’t take much time to inspect, but when there are a lot of them, there tend to be other amenities such as additional bathrooms, which do take more time to inspect. Most home inspectors will charge extra for additional footage after a set amount.

3) How old is the home? This in my opinion is the largest contributing factor to the length (and headache) of a home inspection. While older homes tend to be smaller, the older they are, the more likely they are to be out of code, built using methods that are no longer today acceptable, and to have been remodeled, which is always a red-flag for inspectors. I can say with complete confidence that the average 2500ft² home built in 2010 will take less time to inspect than the average 1500ft² home built in 1960. Because of this, many home inspectors, including Ensure Home Inspection, may have an additional charge for very-old homes.

4) Are there any other inspection services being provided? Inspections such as Termite/WDI inspections, Sprinkler/Irrigation inspections, detached structure inspections, Thermal Imaging inspections, etc. all take additional time and are outside the scope of a standard inspection, in most cases requiring additional charge. It is not uncommon for a termite inspection to add an additional 30 minutes to an inspection, as well as a thermal imaging of the home taking an additional 45 minutes.

If we had to guess, the average home I inspect in the San Antonio area would take a minimum of 3 hours, depending on the variables above. If your home inspector is taking any less time than that, consider whether they are actually inspecting your home or just assuming that everything is as it should be.