For buyers under contract
Twenty pages of findings. Five days to decide.
Your inspector's job is to list everything. Your job is to figure out which items are real money and which are noise — usually with a deadline and without a contractor's number in front of you.
What an inspection report doesn't tell you
A good inspector documents condition. They are professionally required not to give you repair pricing, and most will say so on the first page. So you are handed a list of forty findings, ranked by their severity scale rather than by cost, and asked to decide what to negotiate.
That is where buyers overreact and underreact in roughly equal measure — walking away from a cosmetic list, or accepting a small credit on a finding that turns out to be a five-figure repair.
What I do with it
Send me the report. I read it as a general contractor and come back with:
- Which findings are genuinely expensive and roughly what they take to correct properly, not cosmetically.
- Which findings are normal for the age and construction type — a 1962 Spring Branch ranch and a 1925 Heights bungalow produce completely different "normal."
- Which findings are symptoms of something bigger. Doors that will not latch and a hairline brick crack are two findings and one problem.
- Which findings will resurface in your own resale inspection if you leave them.
- What a credible repair credit looks like — and where a seller is likely to actually move.
The findings that matter most in Houston
Foundation movement on expansive clay. Roof age and prior repair quality. HVAC age and sizing. Drainage and grading — usually the cause rather than the symptom. Electrical panel brand. Evidence of prior flood remediation and whether it was done correctly. Any square footage that does not appear in the permit history.
Prior flood remediation is the one people miss
Houston has an enormous stock of homes that took water, were remediated correctly, and have performed fine since. It also has homes that were remediated badly — and after new paint and new flooring they look identical.
What I look for: where the drywall was cut and re-hung, whether insulation behind it was replaced, whether bottom plates and framing were dried and treated or simply covered, ductwork in slab or crawlspace that took water, outlets and panels below the water line, and — most importantly — whether the underlying drainage problem was ever addressed. More on flood diligence →
Send it over
PDF is fine. Tell me the address and your option deadline. I will get back to you well before it — usually the same day.
Frequently asked questions
Can a realtor tell me what inspection repairs will cost?
Most cannot, because pricing repairs requires construction expertise. Mike works in construction alongside his real estate practice, so he reads inspection reports as a builder and identifies which findings are genuinely expensive and which are normal for the age and construction type.
What are the most expensive home inspection findings in Houston?
Foundation movement on expansive clay soil, roof age and prior repair quality, HVAC age and sizing, drainage and grading problems, certain electrical panel brands, poorly executed prior flood remediation, and any square footage missing from the permit history.
How do I know if a Houston home's flood damage was repaired properly?
Look at where drywall was cut and re-hung and whether insulation behind it was replaced, whether framing and bottom plates were dried and treated rather than covered, ductwork that sat in water, outlets and panels below the water line, and whether the underlying drainage cause was corrected. After new paint and flooring, good and bad remediation look identical.
How much repair credit should I ask for?
Enough to cover a proper correction of the genuinely expensive items, framed in a way the seller can actually accept. Asking for a line-by-line credit on all forty findings usually produces less than a focused request on the three that matter.