How long does a building inspection take?
January 19th, 2021
The team at Qualitam have been helping home and business owners make informed decisions about their properties for over 20 years. Building inspections are an essential tool for buyers and investors when it comes to being able to identify potential problems in a building and to understand the costs associated with the necessary repairs.
We’re often asked about what to expect from a building inspection and how long it will take. In this article, the building inspectors here at Qualitam will walk you through what’s involved in both residential and commercial building inspections and answer the question: how long does a building inspection take?
Residential Building Inspections
Whether you are buying, selling or renovating your home, a residential building inspection (also known as a home inspection) provides immense value. Building inspections help home sellers decide which projects will give them the biggest ROI before selling. Home buyers can avoid surprise expenses by knowing what problems need to be addressed. Contractors can identify potential problems which will affect their building plans.
In all cases, it’s always best to uncover potential issues before buying, selling or renovating a home so that your dream home doesn’t turn into a nightmare when undetected problems start to arise.
Residential building inspections (or home inspections) take between 2-3 hours to conduct on average. There are a number of factors which can affect the amount of time that an inspection can take including:
Size
Add 30 minutes for every 500 square feet over a typical 1500-2000 square foot house. Basements and crawl spaces can add more than 30 minutes if they present unique issues.
Age
Add 1 hour to your estimate for houses over 75 years old due to the unique conditions that are often discovered.
Condition
Subtract 30 minutes for homes that are in perfect condition. Homes in poorer condition can take longer to inspect to the tune of 30 minutes or more. The condition of the home also affects the number of items and questions to address in the conversation at the end of the inspection.
Systems
Add more time for homes with systems that are above average in complexity and number including HVAC, heating and cooling, geothermal, water heaters, solar, etc.
Weather
Add time for the home inspection if the building inspector needs to work in unfavourable conditions in order to inspect any outside elements such as foundations. Extremely bad weather can result in the need to reschedule, especially in harsh Canadian winters.
Experience
More experienced home inspectors can do their thorough inspection, write a full report and walk you through the required vs. recommended repairs more efficiently than a less experienced inspector.
The Certified Master Inspectors (CMI) at Qualitam all have over 1000 fee-paid inspections under their belts and/or hours of training and education combined. Our building inspectors use state-of-the-art equipment to home buyers and sellers make the best possible decision. Serving the greater Montreal area, we inspect all types of residential buildings including duplexes, triplexes and 4-plexes.
Commercial Building Studies
Commercial building inspections are also commonly referred to as Property Condition Assessments (PCA). Inspecting a commercial building is different every time so it is impossible to give a general time frame for these inspections.
Major items that a PCA focuses on which can dramatically affect the length of time it takes to conduct the on-site inspection include:
- Structure
- Exterior and interior finish
- Site components
- Roof
- Electrical
- Heating and cooling systems
- Plumbing
Commercial building studies performed by the Qualitam team also include interviews and discussions with key personnel associated with the building and the review ofrelevant documents such as building repairs, upgrades, maintenance history, etc.
Additional needs of the client such as Environmental Property Inspections, Building Code compliance, Life/Fire Safety System Certification Inspections and Elevator/Escalator Certification Inspections are not included in our PCA and would add additional time to the building inspection process.
Thorough inspections take time
Whether you are in need of a residential or commercial building inspection, it’s important to keep in mind that having a more thorough inspection report brings more value than a quick one. The Certified Master Inspectors at Qualitam have completed at least 1,000 fee-paid inspections and/or hours of training and education combined and have been in the inspection business for at least three years prior to becoming CMIs® board certified. Rest assured that when you’re working with Qualitam, you’re working with the best.
