You know how there are people online that fight with builders because things aren't done correctly? There's another way to go about it, which is making nice with a superintendent and working together. Look, the home buying process is supposed to be a memorable, exciting experience. Having a liaison between you and your builder makes the process smoother, the corrections easier, and the superintendents less likely to tell you to kick rocks. Plus, we add the ROC guideline where applicable, which is basically a work order for home builders. When all is said and done, you're less stressed, things get fixed and you can enjoy your new home.

The cost of a property inspection depends on 3 things: square footage, mileage, and additional services.

The industry average rate for property inspections is between 17¢-25¢/sqft

The industry average mileage fee is $2.00/mile

Add-ons, like pool and solar inspections, sewer scopes, age fees, and irrigation inspections all carry their own costs. A typical age fee is $1.80/year, a typical pool inspection is $50-100, plus a cost per extra pool pump, but none of these are really averaged. Some inspection companies include them, and some charge high rates to avoid doing them.

Our suggestion: don't try to find the cheapest home inspector, find one you can trust. SPI offers straightforward pricing, giving you an instant quote. You can access this tool on our services page.

Home inspections are an investment, not a cost of ownership. An inspector you can trust may not be the cheapest one you find, but it will save you money in the long run.

All payments are due after the inspection, before the report is sent. You can pay early, but it's not required. When dealing with new builds. builders require a copy of the inspection report within 24 hours. In the event a report is sent without payment, a $50/week charge will be applied to late payments. 

Simple! Go to our services page, get a quote emailed to you if you want it, then click "book now." If you don't get a quote before you book, we'll just gather that information via phone, text or email. Whichever you prefer.

You can book as early as needed, or up to 24 hours in advance. Builders require 30 days notice (give or take). Since no payment is due, just go ahead and get it booked and check it off your to-do list.

You can! Mondays and Tuesdays are slowest, so bookings in 2 parts of Phoenix work OK. We book Wednesday-Sunday over the phone to ensure we have enough time to get to each inspection. If you'd like to book another day, call (480)216-8659 or email Alec@azspi.com and we can get you booked!

A home inspection focuses on evaluating the condition of the home, while an appraisal determines the market value of the property. An appraisal is typically required by lenders for mortgage purposes, whereas a home inspection is for the buyer’s benefit to assess the property’s condition. Some lenders will require an inspection for insurance purposes, some lenders will require them because they just require them. No matter what, they're both important and each serve their own purpose.

Typically 2-4 hours. If you're Mr deeds, probably a bit longer.

Yep! Sellers can get inspections too. By fixing everything before the buyers inspector can call it out, they have more leverage to negotiate a higher price. While a standard pre-listing inspection can be had, sellers will most often get a version of a pre-listing inspection that highlights what an inspector would find, but doesn't adhere to state standards. This is more of a "fix-it checklist" that will often include things outside of the scope of a typical inspection. Since it doesn't adhere to state standards, it will come from SPI in the form of a PDF with pictures, descriptions, and anything wrong with the home, as well as a checklist for things that would need to fixed to "pass (for lack of a better term)" a buyer's inspection.

It's advisable to get your own inspection by an inspection company you trust for two reasons:

1. Inspections are done for their clients, and they are not intended to be shared with others. It is a personal service, not a community service to everyone wanting to buy the home.
2. The inspection may be out of date or things may have been repaired since the last inspection. There is also a possibility the last inspector missed something or something happened to break, possibly causing damage (water heaters, we're looking at you!).

Reports are typically emailed only to the direct customer (whoever ordered the inspection). For a final closing inspection, the builder is on of the limited times it will be sent to another party.

1. • In the case of new-construction, the builder will go over the report with you during your final walk-through, where there may still be items that need to be addressed before close.
   • For 10-month inspections, the warranty rep will address these items in an 11-month warranty walk-through.
   • For existing construction, the seller and buyer will negotiate based on the findings. This is what a good realtor is for.

Nobody, unless a superintendent is required to be present. However, the inspection walk-through after the inspection is open to anybody that the direct customer deems acceptable.

Before the inspection starts, the inspector will ask all about the house. It's important to let the inspector do what the inspector does during the inspection so nothing gets missed, but afterwards, any questions, concerns, issues or dilemmas can be addressed.

No, Arizona does not require a third party home inspection on new construction, nor for existing real estate transactions, but it is greatly advisable. Your best bet for ensuring your (possibly largest in your lifetime) investment is not going to bite you after you take possession is by hiring a qualified professional trained to look for deficiencies and evaluate the condition of every part of your home. It's a small price to pay for peace of mind!

• New construction: Easy. Show up when it's done
• 10-month inspections: Move everything you can away from walls and get anything you can off the floor so any floor coverings can be inspected. If we can't see it, we can't inspect it.
• Existing construction: If it's vacant, just show up when it's done! If it's occupied, have your realtor coordinate with the seller's agent to ensure the home is vacant at the time of inspection if possible, animals are not loose on the property if possible, and all walls and floors are as visible as possible.
  • A special note for existing construction: It's not uncommon for renters (or even some sellers that reside at the property) to be reluctant to cooperate. We will do our best to work around this, and this also makes it easy to find issues because they're often trying to hide them. No guarantees, but it's not typically a huge issue.

Home inspectors travel, typically for a fee. SPI has competitive pricing by integrating our mileage fees into our pricing structure, never aiming to profit off of mileage. If you want an inspector close to you, SPI goes wherever we are needed, so I guess you could say we are near you, if we need to be!

Yep. We are not Cyfy, and we conduct ourselves and our inspections differently. Next question.

We stand behind our inspections, and while we don’t offer warranties, we provide a thorough and detailed report. "Warranties" offered by home inspection companies are not something that we chose to take part in because it felt like... well, a scam. Some of the top complaints on Angie's list and from realtors we know are people not being able to claim their warranty that a home inspector offered... The long and short of it: if an actual home warranty costs thousands of dollars, how does a $50 inspection warranty makes sense? Well, it doesn't, because the companies don't actually cover anything. It's an add-on that puts money in an inspector's pocket. That's about it. So rather than charge you more for nothing, we charge you... nothing for... well, nothing. You're welcome!

Truth be told, mistakes happen. We will always try to make it right. If we can't afford to, we are fully insured. Bottom line, you're in really good hands with Sentinel Property Inspections.

Call us between 8am and 7pm, text or email us anytime.

Call or text: (480)216-8659

Email: Alec@AZSPI.com

Or, fill out a contact form at the bottom of our our home page.