The Best Time To Arrive At A Home Inspection

Waiting until the last few minutes of a home inspection feels convenient, but it can leave you confused, rushed, and stuck with unanswered questions. We are Jim and Laura, and we share a practical rule that protects buyers: show up during the first hour. That simple timing change gives us room to introduce ourselves, hear what you are worried about, and make sure those concerns are covered while the inspection is still unfolding, not while we are packing up to hand the house back to the seller.

We also talk through the real world constraints that shape a professional home inspection timeline. Many homes are occupied, sellers need to return for family routines, and pets can complicate access to garages, basements, and yards. On top of the standard inspection, the appointment may include radon testing, termite inspection, gas leak checks, mold testing, or a final walkthrough on new construction. If the property moves quickly and you arrive late, we may already be wrapping up, and there simply is not time to retrace every finding, pull up every photo, and walk you to every location.

Finally, we get blunt about red flags in real estate. If an inspection company tells you that you cannot be there, we consider that a warning sign, and we say the same if an agent insists you skip the inspection. You are paying for this service, and you deserve clear answers and context so you do not spiral from a vague line like “moisture in the basement” into worst-case assumptions. Listen, then share this with a first-time buyer, subscribe for more home inspection advice, and leave a review. What is your biggest worry heading into an inspection?

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Transcript

When Should Buyers Arrive

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hey everybody, welcome. And this is Jim, of course, Laura's here.

SPEAKER_02 0:05

Hello, everyone.

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Alright, so should buyers. Should home buyers arrive at the first half of the home inspection time slot? And because we have some agents who tell them, hey, go at the very end, get the homework get the summary, get the wrap-up.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

It has caused more problems. Yes. Than it than it's worth. So, first of all, if we are inspecting a house, Laura, we have we have an amount of time slot to get that done. And because the houses most often they are occupied. Right. The seller wants to get back to their house for their you know their kids, you know, their family to have dinner, get ready for bed or whatever, what they got going on.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

We've had people that were driving around with pets and wanting to know when we were done because they they didn't want the pets in the house.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Yeah, well, yeah, and that to me that is makes sense. As a former paper boy, when I was a kid, I was a paper boy, I got bit a couple times from dogs, definitely threatened many times by dogs. So I appreciate having the dogs gone. If they're gonna be in a cage, that's fine, but make sure it's not a dog that knows how to get out of said cage. Yes, and make sure this is that too. Yeah, and make sure the inspector knows hey, there's there'll be a dog, he will be in the garage, he's who we'll be in a kennel. That's cool. Don't let him loose in the garage, and then I can't inspect the garage. But anyway, besides that, we think it's best for the the home buyer to get there during the first hour of the inspection.

Why The First Hour Matters

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Because too many times, let's say it is a one to four time slot. A person gets there quarter till four.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

We have fifteen minutes and that's it. And we have to we have to pack up our stuff, we have to lock up the house, we have to do our video. That's what the last 15 minutes is for.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Well, and if we're still there.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

If we're still there.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

So, but say somebody gets in 15 minutes left and they want to go through all everything we found, and they go, Hey, can you show that to me? Can you show me this? Can you go show me that now? Can I you got pictures? Can you go show me where that one's at? Like, dude, we don't know. We should have been here from the beginning. We do not have the time to show you all these things and then give the house back to the seller in the appropriate amount of time. So, what we recommend is the home buyer get there during the first hour of the inspection. We introduce ourselves, we ask them what their concerns are, and that way we can assure them, yes, we will look at that, and we will make a note, at least a mellow note as where what can concerns they really have. Sometimes they're concerned about something that we would never look at because it's it doesn't mean anything to us. I've had that before, but we can at least address those and know exactly what to focus on. And then, and here's what I like to tell them is if I come across anything larger than the normal small stuff, I will wave you over. But this is the buyer's time to look around, measure, visualize their stuff moving in. If you're an agent, you want them to be able to visualize, seeing themselves live in there if there's stuff.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

That helps everything in the long run. I mean, the that they start to see that house is theirs.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Yeah, and and I do tell the buyer, listen, you can follow me if you want. You know, you're you're gonna get bored. Pretty much everybody gets bored of what I'm doing at some point, so don't feel bad. I'll wave you over and see anything more than the usual little little things. But it's good though, if we see some issue and maybe what we feel like, all right, this person's gonna need this explained to them, we'll walk them over and show them. And it's not like we're trying to review everything in the last 15 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

No, it's it we take the time to go over things, we take the time to answer questions, and I think some of the inspectors do it differently. Like some do it at the end of a section, some do it as they see things, so it depends upon the inspector and how they do it, but they'll tell you that in the beginning. Yeah, and part of their their talk.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Yeah, and usually what I do, I just if it's just a minor normal stuff, I don't mention it to them except when I come across them because they're measuring, and I'm coming across my hey, just another electrical panel that looked good. I'm now doing the outless windows doors as I go around the interior person of the house. I'll let them know what's going on, and if I found anything unused or not, or tell them, hey, I think it looks good, or found found um a little bit of moisture, the half bathroom toilet, just needs a wax ring. That's it. I keep moving. Yep.

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SPEAKER_00 4:55

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Late Arrivals Create Real Problems

SPEAKER_01 5:21

But another issue with people waiting until the last you know half hour, 15 minutes to get to the house inspection is the spectrum might be gone.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

That is a very valid concern.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

We give ourselves typically three-hour time slot because we do other things as well. We might be doing termite check, uh, termite inspection, radon, radon, which takes a good amount of time to set that up. We could be doing gas leak, mold testing. Who knows what we're all added was added on to that inspection. And I had a house the other day, actually yesterday, it was it was a final walkthrough inspection.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

So a new house just finished up. There were not that many things going on. There were some things that needed that really needed to be addressed, certainly. But I was alone the whole time, and there are fewer issues, which really helped speed up the the inspection. If that buyer, who apparently net wasn't showing up anyway, if they had what am I gonna do? I'm am I gonna wait around an hour waiting for a person to show up to explain something to them? And then and there's a good they may not even show up. Yeah, there's a there's a lot of percentage where they yeah, they there's a lot of percentage of the people who say, Yeah, well, I'm gonna show up, and then they end up never showing up.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Or or life happens and they just forget about it and they don't show up.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Which always kind of confuse me. You're buying a house. How you just how do you not want to show up? How do you just forget that you're buying a house and then prices

Red Flags If You Cannot Attend

SPEAKER_01 6:50

going on?

SPEAKER_02 6:50

And that's another thing, too. If you have an inspection company that says you cannot be there during the inspection, get a new inspection company. That's a big red flag. Buying this house, it is going to be the largest purchase of your life, and you want to be able to be there. You want to ask questions, you want an inspection company that is going to support you and help you and answer your questions, not one who's trying to hide stuff and not letting you be there.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

And I would consider that a red flag also if your agent tells you as a home buyer do not go to the home inspection. Yes, I would too.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

We've had that before, and then we and those are the ones that we've gone in and we've done second inspections for the client because they didn't trust the first one because the agent picked out the inspector and they weren't allowed to go to it.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Yeah, you you are if you're the home buyer, you are buying this house. You have every right to be there during that inspection.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

And you're paying for the inspection.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Yeah, so don't let anybody tell you you cannot go to that go to the home inspection. That is that is not right. I don't know why some agents will do that. I there's stick up for yourself. Yeah, yeah, there's all kinds of different theories as to why some people would tell you not to go to the inspection.

How To Ask Questions Without Disrupting

SPEAKER_01 8:03

I mean, maybe I if maybe some people would be very uh I got I don't want to say annoying, but they would be uh constantly asking the inspector questions, getting them distracted. That that can be a legit problem because we only have a certain amount of time to get everything done. And I've had some buyers under I did the outside, I'm in the basement of the electric part. They go, hey, did you see this over here? It's like I haven't gotten there. I have not done that. That's not part of the sequence yet. But they they constantly are asking you a question about something else. Hey, did you see did you look underneath the attic yet? No, it's not part of the sequence yet. So you you gotta, as a home inspector, you gotta keep control of the sequence of what you're doing because you have a limited amount of time.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

And you have the liability, so you need to to control the situation and control when you're doing things.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Yes. So you you need to now if you're a home buyer or are you an agent, have your home buyer go there, go tell them go, hey, stay out of the inspector's way, let them know what you're concerned about, spend your time there measuring things. You buyer doesn't have to be there the whole time, they don't have to show up at all. We prefer them to be there a little bit because at least I can show them you know what's going on. Like say it's a finished basement, I I find moisture. If they just read in the in the report that's hey, I found moisture in the basement, they may think it's the entire basement has flooded and may do it again. I'd rather have them there and go, hey, I found moisture in this corner right here in the basement. It also has to be on the outside, there's a downspout that's not connected. That yes, it's a concern, but really minimize and and show how practically um insignificant a fix for that would would be. You don't want them, you don't want the buyer imagining, oh, the whole thing is flooding and there's moisture all over the walls. You don't want them to think that. So it's that's why you want them there so we can at least put the and there and they visually can put it in a proper perspective as to how much moisture or how much the wall is cracked, things like that. But the buyers should leave the inspector alone for the most part, let them do their sequence, and every inspector should have a sequence. If not, they need to create one for themselves. So Laura, any other thoughts about this one?

Final Advice And Wrap Up

SPEAKER_02 10:32

No.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

This is not this is not a real big episode, but it's real important that you, if you're the buyer, if you can show up, please do so. Don't show up at the end, show up in the beginning. I don't care what your agent tells you.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

They're not doing the inspection.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

We are you can be there in the very beginning if you want. I'm fine. Just realize that the inspector has a sequence, and that sequence is to your benefit to allow them to do their sequence and do the proper inspection for you so they can do a thorough job. Do not distract them. Ask them when's a good time to ask them questions. That's cool. I have no problem with that.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

Set that up in the beginning. Like, when when do you want me to ask questions?

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Yeah, yeah, that's perfect. So, other than that, I think that's it for this one, but always get the home inspector. That's you do that. All right, thank you, everybody. Bye, bye bye.