5 Reasons To Hire a Home Inspector Before and After Renovating Your Home

Home renovations are hot right now, leading to a 7% increase in spending in this industry in 2021. Doing these renovations yourself can save you a lot of money and trouble: so it’s important that you go into this with the most information at your disposal.

Home inspections are for more than when you’re selling or buying a house. Taking the time to invest in your home by having a home inspector walkthrough before you start working on it allows you to avoid disaster.

These are the top five reasons to hire one to look at your home before and after.

1. Home Inspectors Can Detect Issues You May Not Notice

Most of us aren’t trained in renovation. We all have a basic understanding of what’s good in a house and what’s bad, but the symptoms of trouble can be hard to detect if you’re not educated in them.

Home inspectors can look at your home before the renovation and let you know what parts could be changed. This is especially helpful if you’re not sure where to start and have been struggling between a bathroom renovation or spending weeks removing popcorn texture from every ceiling and wall.

2. Can Save Your Home Insurance Rates

If you have to file one single insurance claim: your rates will immediately go up. It’s better to have a professional walk you through what would be safe to do rather than pay for a mistake for years to come. For example, if you’re doing a kitchen remodel and don’t ask for a home inspector, you might not realize that messing with your dishwasher can lead to a couple of inches of flooding within your cabinets and the wall of your home.  This mistake can cost you thousands or make your insurance skyrocket.

3. Can Tell You If Cheap Materials Were Used

Cheap materials often don’t last as long and quickly look tacky or out of date. A home inspector with a keen eye will be able to tell you if the basement flooring is strong enough to stand up to possible flooding or if you should put that at the top of your things to renovate and update.

This makes them even more valuable to hire before you renovate, so you can see how hazardous some cheap materials may be, before you spend the money putting them into your home.

4. Help Set a Budget For Hiring Contractors

One of the most important steps of working on any renovation is deciding on a budget.  With a budget that’s too small, you may not be able to get all of the repairs and changes accomplished that you need.  If you don’t set any budget at all, you’ll quickly find that you’re overspending, or that you run out of money to spend on this project.

Working with a good home inspector, they should be able to offer you renovation consulting which will give you a general guide for what to budget for.  This will allow you to also push back a little if contractors try to charge you far too much.  Knowing what the work is worth, and what to expect, will empower you to make better financial decisions on your renovation, and possibly realize there’s room in your budget to complete more than you expected.

5. Will Alert You of Any Unsafe Reasons To Hold Back on Renovating

There are many reasons that a home may be unsafe to work on. This could be wood rot, asbestos, scary electrical shortcuts, or poor support beams. Allowing a home inspector to walk through your home before you renovate it gives you a chance to see all of these issues early and avoid putting yourself at risk.

This action can also save you money since you’ll be able to warn any home remodeling contractors of the problems before they arrive so that they come prepared. Exposing someone to asbestos, or allowing them to work on rotting wood, could lead to serious injuries. These will, of course, lead to lawsuits that nobody wants to take on.

Save the money, the risk, and your time, and hire a home inspector to have a walkthrough before you start construction at all. Then, after you’ve finished your project, they’ll be able to continue helping you by ensuring that all of the renovations you did fixed the issues. This means no trace of the asbestos, the rotting wood was replaced, and the electrical problems were solved. If you’re trying to renovate your home, ensuring that it doesn’t cause any risk to your health should be at the top of your list!

Asking For Help Can Save You Money

Many don’t hire a home inspector until they’re selling or buying a house: but they’re more useful than only that! Contacting 3rd Degree Inspections can give you the chance to ensure that your renovations go smoothly and you increase your home’s value without increasing your insurance rates. You owe it to yourself to make your renovations go smoothly: don’t be afraid to ask for help.