Home inspection report template

A home inspection report is written for somebody who has to make a decision in the next few days with a contract clock running. Every section either helps them decide or gets cut.

The structure below is the one that survives an inspection with a first-time buyer, an agent asking for the summary by six, and a seller who is going to read the roof section twice.

The header settles the arguments that come later

Six lines at the top, before any finding.

The utilities line is the field new inspectors skip, and it is the one that settles arguments months later. A water heater you could not fire because the gas was shut off is not a water heater you tested. Say which it was on page one, before anyone reaches the section about it.

Weather is on the list for the same reason. "No active roof leak observed" means one thing after four dry days and something else an hour into a storm, and the person reading it in November cannot tell those apart unless you wrote it down.

Order the report the way the house is built

You walked it in whatever order the ladder, the lockbox and the dog allowed. Nobody reading wants that order. Sections run top down and outside in, the same sequence every time, so a reader looking for the panel knows where it is:

1. Roof, flashing and roof drainage
2. Exterior cladding, grading and site drainage
3. Structure, foundation and crawl space
4. Attic, insulation and ventilation
5. Plumbing supply, drainage and water heating
6. Electrical service, panel and branch circuits
7. Heating and cooling
8. Interior walls, ceilings, floors, windows, doors and stairs
9. Kitchen and built-in appliances
10. Garage
11. Driveway, walks, decks and retaining walls

The standards of practice most inspectors work to already name the systems that have to be covered. Build the section list from the one that applies where you are licensed, then keep it fixed across every report you write. A consistent skeleton is what lets you notice, on the drive home, that you never wrote anything under Attic.

One defect, one numbered entry

The implication line is the one buyers actually read. "Downspout discharges at the foundation" is a fact. "Downspout discharges at the foundation and is the likely source of the damp staining on the basement wall directly below" is a decision, and the second one takes a few more seconds to dictate.

Numbers are permanent. When the agent emails about item 23 on Tuesday, item 23 has to still be item 23, so you never renumber to close a gap.

Rate by what has to happen, not by adjectives

Three categories carry a residential report.

Safety covers anything that can hurt somebody or start a fire: a double-tapped breaker, a missing GFCI at a wet location, a gas leak, a handrail that is not there. Repair covers a defect that needs a trade before or shortly after closing. Monitor covers a condition that is not a defect yet and would be one if it moved.

Skip "major" and "minor". They read as an opinion about the buyer's budget, which is not yours to hold.

A filled section, so the pattern is visible

Item 9 is the one worth copying. It says what you did to test it, how long you ran it, and what result would change the answer. A monitor item with no test and no re-check date gives the buyer nothing to act on.

Photograph anything you are asking somebody to pay for

Two frames per defect. One tight enough that the problem is unmistakable, one wide enough that a contractor who has never been in the house can find the spot. A tape, a coin or your own glove in the tight shot gives it scale, and scale is what stops "a small crack" from becoming an argument.

Caption in measurements where you have them. "Crack at the north foundation wall, roughly 3 feet up, about 1/8 inch wide, no displacement" survives a challenge. "Foundation crack" does not.

The limitations section is not boilerplate

Say what you could not inspect and why, naming each one rather than writing a general disclaimer. Stored boxes over the crawl space hatch. Snow covering the west roof slope. Furniture against the entire east wall of the primary bedroom.

Then say what should happen about it. A limitation that names a next step ("recommend the crawl space be re-inspected once accessible, before the contingency expires") protects you and gives the buyer something to do. A limitation that just lists what you missed reads as an excuse written in advance.

The summary is one page and reprints nothing new

Safety items first, then repair items, each with its original number and a single line. No new findings, no photos, no advice that does not appear in the body. If a buyer's agent forwards only the summary, and they will, everything on it has to point back to a numbered entry somebody can look up.

On iPhone and iPad, Sitewise covers the part of this that happens on your feet. Photograph the defect, dictate the observation instead of typing it with wet gloves (the voice note transcribes on the phone), sketch an arrow onto the photo when the problem is hard to see, and every capture carries a timestamp and, when location is on, a GPS pin. On a Pro iPhone or Pro iPad with a LiDAR scanner you can measure in the camera and have the dimension drawn on the photo and printed in the report. Crawl spaces and basements have no signal, so capture works offline and syncs when the phone gets back on Wi-Fi. The finished set exports as a PDF or DOCX. It is not home inspection software: no state-specific report forms, no agreement signing, no scheduling or invoicing, and it does not run on Android or in a browser.

For a rental move-in or move-out walk, where the job is a condition record on every surface rather than a defect list, the property condition report template is the closer fit. For an inspection scored against a specification rather than a buyer's decision, use the field inspection report template.

Three days later, slightly panicked, a buyer should be able to find the four things that matter and tell them apart from the forty that do not. Length has nothing to do with it.