Final Inspection Checklist
When you go to sell your rehab, it’s almost certain that your buyer is going to hire a property inspector to inspect your property for defects and safety issues. In my experience, if you’ve done a good rehab, the bulk of the issues that an inspector will find are minor things that could have — and should have — been found and fixed during the rehab.
Remember, that when a typical homeowner sells his house, he knows for a fact what is and isn’t working. If his toilet doesn’t flush easily, he knows it, since he flushes his toilet everyday. If his hot water isn’t working, he knows it, since it means he hasn’t been able to take a hot shower. And if his dishwasher leaks, he knows it, since he’s the one cleaning the floor after every load of dishes.
But, in a freshly rehabbed house, many of the basic fixtures — lights, fans, toilets, sinks, etc — as well as perhaps many of the major mechanical systems — hot water heater, HVAC system, appliances, etc — may have never been used before, so even a minor installation mistake can render them non-functional and throw up big red flags for an inspector.
For that reason, I have a checklist that my team goes through at the end of every rehab to ensure that all the basic components of the property are in good working order, and to ensure that the inspection report isn’t filled with lots of little issues that makes the buyer question our work. Surely, the inspector will still find some issues (it’s his job, and a good inspector can always find at least a few issues), but hopefully he won’t find the little things that call our integrity into question.
I highly recommend having a final inspection checklist for your rehabs, and if you want one you can start with, feel free to start with ours:
Enjoy!
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