Inspections FAQs

Buying or Selling a Home

Foundation inspections are common in real estate transactions.

A general home inspector might recommend a foundation inspection, or you or your real estate agent might decide a crack warrants further investigation.

Not all cracks pose a structural concern. A foundation inspection will help you determine whether a particular crack is a structural concern, and if so, what remedial measures are necessary.

On the other hand, not every foundation problem is obvious. A foundation inspection may uncover a problem that would otherwise go unnoticed.

Whatever the case, a foundation inspection can help you make an informed decision on what is likely to be your biggest investment.

Foundation Movement or Cracking

If you notice a crack in your foundation, drywall, brick façade, or other area of your home, or if you see other signs of movement in your foundation, you might consider engaging a professional engineer for a foundation inspection.

Water Intrusion

Although a wet basement is not inherently a structural problem, poor drainage around your home’s foundation can cause structural damage. Our foundation inspections include water management recommendations. We also offer detailed water mitigation plans as a separate service.

Before undertaking costly foundation repairs, you want to confirm whether you have a problem that requires repairs, at all. And if you do need repairs, you want to ensure you make the right foundation repairs for your particular problem.

An independent engineer can provide peace of mind on both fronts.

An independent engineer gains no benefit from recommending costly repairs—the inspection fee is the same, regardless of whether the recommended repairs cost $0 or $30,000. Thus, you can feel more confident that repairs recommended by an independent engineer are necessary and tailored to your particular foundation problems.

No. We believe independence is critical in this context. You can trust that we are providing an independent, unbiased assessment, because we gain no benefit from recommending costly repairs (you can read more about the importance of an independent assessment here). You can provide our report to the repair company of your choice, and that company can make the repairs.

Unless otherwise specified, our structural inspection consists of a visual review of the foundation of the main building on the property.

Yes, we review other structural elements.

An additional fee may apply.

Please describe your specific concerns on our booking page, and we will let you know if we are able to assist.

Foundation inspections are performed by one of our professional engineers. The inspection will include a visual review of the interior and exterior of the foundation, as well as time for you to ask questions. The appointment usually lasts about 30-45 minutes. After the appointment, you will receive a report setting forth our observations and recommended repairs, if any.

You do not need to be present during the foundation inspection, although we will need access to the interior of the home. If you can provide access to the interior of the home via a lockbox or something similar, we can perform our review and touch base with you afterwards to share our findings.

Yes, we can inspect finished basements.

However, finished building materials do limit our review to some extent, because we cannot see the full interior walls (the same is true of excessive clutter or other items obstructing our view).

Nonetheless, we can typically piece together clues from the remainder of the home to provide a reasonably informed assessment of the foundation.

Usually, nothing!

However, we do like to let our customers know that if there is excessive clutter or storage (e.g., shelves of totes against the basement wall), our review will be limited, because we will not be able to see the full interior walls (the same is true of finished building materials or other items obstructing our view).

In short, the more we can see, the better.

Nonetheless, even if our view of the interior is limited, we can typically piece together clues from the remainder of the home to provide a reasonably informed assessment of the foundation.