Green Home Inspections: A Basic Guide for Homeowners

Last updated on March 26, 2024

Looking to sell you an energy-efficient and sustainable home? Here are the things you need to know about your home inspections. Read on!

Home inspections are an utterly important step when buying or selling a house. So, whether you’re in the market to sell or buy a house, you’ll need to have an inspection report. It’s also needed for valuation purposes and to identify defects (mostly structural) that may have not been known to you. Such details are vital to both the seller and buyer.  

In the case of a sale, for the sake of good business practice, the seller needs to know what they need to fix to get their house into a saleable state. Also, to get an accurate valuation of your house, an inspection is required by the valuators in most cases. Therefore, you could say that the selling price has to be partly determined by the actual condition of the house.  

The buyer has to know what’s wrong with the property before they buy it. As a buyer, you’d hate to see a surprise after the sale. In that sense, a home inspection carries a lot of weight as far as transferring a house from one person to the other is concerned. Even banks sometimes require these inspections because as far as bond applications and valuations are concerned, they need to know this stuff.  

‘Green home’ is a term referring to parts of a home that are designed to be energy-efficient and use sustainable materials. The word ‘green’ itself is gaining more popularity given the trend toward building a sustainable world. You can choose to do a DIY home inspection. But, if you’re not a certified inspector, that’ll be a problem.  

That being said, here are a few things you need to consider as a homeowner looking to sell your house:  

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Who Carries Out a Home Inspection?

inspect home

As a homeowner, you need to look for a certified inspector or inspection company that’ll do a professional home inspection for you, ideally, one that has been in the industry for a while. Experienced contractors are usually the best contractors. But, if you’re still looking to find a good one in your area, make use of Google reviews to ascertain reliability based on client feedback.  

Moreover, you don’t want unreliable contractors to carry out the inspection. Check to see if they can provide certification. That’s a bonus because it adds credibility to their workmanship. Remember that banks and other parties involved will always trust a credible assessor.  

Additionally, you need professional companies to do complicated procedures, such as asbestos testing, on your house because it adds to the house’s value. Inspectors will be able to determine whether the solar system is working. If there’s a solar geyser, they’ll be able to establish if it’s working. 

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Why Are Inspections Necessary?

If your home is equipped with green features, it may be difficult to ascertain the legitimacy of those systems or equipment with the naked eye. An inspection report is a credible source of confirming the existence of your home’s green features. It’ll give peace of mind to all parties involved in the transaction, especially the buyer.  

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What’s Inspected?

home inspector

Pretty much every corner of your house is supposed to be looked at. A green inspection may not assess all corners of the house in their totality; however, it’ll ensure that the green aspects are covered. Here are some of the things that an inspector will look at when they carry out an inspection:

  • Gutters
  • Heating and cooling systems
  • Drainage
  • Grading
  • Air vents
  • Roofs
  • Garage doors

So, in a nutshell, every part of your green home is inspected to check for compliance. Houses that pass compliance will, of course, get a pass. 

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When Can It Be Done?

It can be done anytime. However, ideally, you don’t want the inspection to take place during winter. Spring and fall are usually the best time to conduct inspections. But, you shouldn’t be limited by the seasons. If you’re looking to make a quick sale, you might as well look at the options that are available at that time. But, just keep in mind that timing is everything when it comes to selling property, both in terms of the market and preparing your house for sale. The sooner you rectify the problem, the better. 

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Cost of Inspection

Costs will vary between contractors. That being said, you’d want to hire contractors that are not too expensive. However, if you have to pay an extra amount of cash to hire the best contractor available, you might as well go for it. You don’t want an improper diagnosis to show up in your report. Otherwise, you may end up fixing things that weren’t supposed to be fixed in the first place.

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The Takeaway

If you’re a homeowner, bear in mind that home inspections are quite important, especially if you’re looking to sell your house. You want to keep it in good order all the time. Some hidden defects can be quite costly to repair if ignored for too long. However, you can avoid these by having regular inspections. 

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