Consider the cost/benefit of a home inspection. A home inspection is supposed to prepare you for taking on a home as a safe and livable environment for you and your family.

A home inspection is a great tool for discovering hidden and potentially expensive problems before you buy. But what a lot of people do not realize is how limited a home inspection actually is!

Here is a list of things your Home Inspector is NOT Required to do for you:

• Provide cost estimates for work that would need to be performed
• Be invasive to identify potential hidden concerns
• Diagnose problems specific to a specialized trade, like Mold or Asbestos
• Perform further testing and analysis of specific trades
• Report on the condition of environmental hygiene standards
• Inspect specialized installations of equipment, fixtures
• Inspect your attic or your crawl space. They are not required to enter these spaces
• Provide estimates of the lifespan of components or systems critical to the health of the home
• Give you a real answer as to whether you should proceed with purchase or walk based on their findings

Sometimes a home inspection isn’t enough information, especially concerning historical homes. If a home is built prior to 1978, your home inspector will not be able to provide you with all the information you need concerning health hazards associated with old construction.

Most home inspectors won’t understand the following critical things:

• Landscaping, grading, and weatherproofing
• Foundation condition and susceptibility to water intrusion
• The existence of hazardous materials and their true risk for impacting occupants
• The ability to test for and know the presence of toxic materials like overseas drywall, asbestos containing insulation, and dusty / moldy environments
• The ability to provide you with accurate cost ranges for handling these advanced concerns

We are called daily by homeowners that have purchased historical homes in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia who have not been well educated on these critical and costly concerns by their home inspection.

This is why we offer Onsite Visual Historical Home Inspections catered to understanding The Indoor Environment and its Health.

Our inspections provide you with a clear picture of what concerns are present, what it will cost to handle them, and how much time it will take to do so.

This information has saved many homeowners that contact us first thousands of dollars and much stress!

If you are purchasing a historical home built before 1978 in the DC Metropolitan region, do consider using our inspection services.

Most inspections range in cost from $300-500 depending on testing and size of the property.

This is a fraction of the cost of potential problems you may encounter in the acquisition and habitation of a historical home!