What Is Included as Standard, and What Is an Add-On
September 24, 2026
When you look at a published price, the first fair question is what it buys. On our card the square-footage figure covers the house and the systems in it, and a handful of other things are listed separately with their own prices. Here is where that line falls.
What the Base Price Covers
The square-footage price buys a full visual inspection of the home, inside and out. We work through every visible and accessible part of it:
- Roof covering, flashing and visible drainage
- Exterior, stucco condition, grading and drainage away from the slab
- Structure, visible foundation and attic framing
- Plumbing supply, drains, fixtures and the water heater
- Electrical service, panel, wiring methods and outlets
- Heating and cooling equipment, ducting and condensate handling
- Built-in appliances, doors, windows, cabinets and interior finishes
- Attic insulation and ventilation
It also buys the report, which is the thing you are really paying for. Findings are color-coded, red for hazards, orange for repair recommendations and blue for things worth knowing, with photos of every finding. You are welcome to walk the home with us and ask questions while we work.
Where the Standard Inspection Stops
An inspection is a visual assessment of what can be reached on the day, which means it is not a warranty and it is not a code inspection. That boundary is also what puts some items on the add-on list rather than in the base price. The standard plumbing inspection, for instance, stops at the visible plumbing, and the line running from the house out to the city sewer or the septic tank is underground where nothing about a normal inspection reveals its condition.
What Is Priced Separately
A sewer scope puts a camera down that buried line and records the pass. It is 200 dollars added to a home inspection, or 300 dollars booked on its own.
A pool is a second mechanical system attached to the house, so it is not part of a standard inspection either. Adding it covers the equipment, the surfaces and decking, and the safety barriers. A pool is 50 dollars and a spa is 50 dollars, or 75 dollars for a pool and spa together.
Extra living space is its own line, because it is more building to walk. An ADU or attached casita is 75 dollars, a DADU or detached casita is 150 dollars, and detached structures such as a workshop, barn or garage start at 50 dollars. Those last ones vary by what is out there, which is why the card gives a starting figure.
Termite is the one add-on we do not perform ourselves. It is taken care of through our partner termite company, with the findings coming to you in writing, and its price is listed with the others on the pricing page. We do not sell termite treatment.
Things Outside the Inspection Entirely
A few items have no price on the card because they are not services we offer. A sewer scope covers the line running from the house to the septic tank, but a full septic evaluation of the tank and the disposal field is a separate service we do not perform. On a pool, the underground plumbing is neither visible nor accessible, so we inspect the equipment pad and the visible runs and do not pressure-test what is buried.
A standard condo inspection is another case of the same principle. The roof and the building exterior are typically association responsibilities sitting outside the unit boundary, so they are not in the scope and not in the price. The association's reserves, its coming assessments and the way the CC and Rs divide responsibility are documents to read alongside the report, and they answer questions no inspection can.
Every figure named here, base and add-on alike, is published on the pricing page. For how each one is applied to a particular property, read our guide to what moves an inspection quote, and for the whole picture start at what drives the cost of a home inspection in Arizona.