How Long Does a Home Inspection Take?

Whether you are selling or buying a home, you can benefit from having your home inspected by a professional home inspector. Potential sellers know what areas they may need to fix up to sell their home, while potential buyers know what they are getting into with a home simply from the home inspection. However, while it is not necessary to be present at these inspections, you are strongly encouraged to be present. As such, you might wonder how long the home inspection process will take.

You can expect a home inspection to take roughly three to four hours for most standard homes in most cases. It could be less, or it could be more. Factors that affect the home inspection length include:

• The size of the home
• The age of the home
• How many questions you field to the inspector (if you are present)
• Structural components of a home
• The number of questionable areas

The most significant factor in how long the process will take is how big a home is. However, an unexpected factor is the number of areas that merit a closer look. For example, if the roof or plumbing is particularly old, a home inspector may want to look at more problem areas than they would if those areas were newer. However, a longer inspection is never a bad thing as it just means they are particularly thorough.

While it is strongly recommended that you are present at the home inspection, your inspector will still provide you a written report of any areas that need to be addressed for your reference. This report is a very comprehensive checklist that can help you make sure the building is actually in good shape and doesn’t just look like it is.