What a Florida home inspection covers — and what it does not

A home inspection is a visual look at the house on the day of the visit. It is not a warranty, not an appraisal, and not a promise that nothing will fail next August. In Florida it is also not a casual walk-through. People who inspect homes for a fee are licensed by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

What the visit is for

Florida’s standards of practice point the inspector at the systems that actually move money and safety: structure, roof covering, electrical, HVAC, plumbing, the interior, the exterior, and site conditions that affect the building. You should leave with a written report you can read, not a handshake and a feeling. Use it to decide whether to buy, what to ask the seller to address, and what you are willing to own on day one.

What it will not do

• It does not see through walls or guarantee what is buried.
• It does not replace a four-point or wind-mitigation form. Those are separate inspections, and we do perform them when you ask.
• It does not price repairs. We will not estimate or perform repair work for discrepancies found during an inspection we performed.
• It is not a code inspection for a permit. The building department does that.

Why the same person should not do both jobs

Aaron holds Florida home inspector license HI 16993 and is the qualifying contractor for Garner Custom Homes under CBC #1267876. Those are separate engagements. We do not inspect a house we are under contract to build or remodel. We will not perform work or provide a repair estimate for anything discovered during the inspection. Offering both would be a conflict of interest. Confirm both licenses on the DBPR lookup the same way you would for any inspector.

Book before the inspection period in your contract gets thin. A report on the last afternoon is a report you cannot use.