“Why Every Home Should Have a Sewer Scope”

You've inspected thousands of homes. What still surprises you?

A quarter century on tools before inspecting full time. Jason is the inspector other inspectors call about structural questions.

What is the single most common thing buyers overlook?

Water. It is almost always water. Not a dramatic flood — a grade that slopes the wrong way, a downspout that discharges eighteen inches from the foundation, a bathroom fan venting into an attic. None of it looks like anything on a Saturday afternoon showing, and all of it compounds quietly for years.

“Why Every Home Should Have a Sewer Scope”

What should a buyer actually do during the inspection?

Come. Walk with me. The report is a record, not the product — the product is the ninety minutes where you can ask what something means and get an answer in real time. Buyers who attend make better decisions, and they negotiate better, because they understand what they are asking for.

• Book the inspection before you're emotionally committed, not after.
• Attend it. Bring questions. Ask what a repair actually costs.
• Separate the "must fix" list from the "should budget" list before you negotiate.

He offers thermal imaging on every inspection rather than as an upsell, on the grounds that a moisture problem you cannot see is the one that costs the most.