The FAQ, including the awkward ones.

No — and be suspicious of any inspector who will. Our job is to document the condition of the home: what's wrong, what it means, and what it's likely to cost. Whether that adds up to the right house at the right price depends on your finances, your risk tolerance and your plans — things an inspector has no business weighing for you. We report; you and your agent decide.

Two to four hours depending on size and age — the table on our pricing page shows typical times per square-footage band. You're welcome the whole time, but the most useful window is the final 30–40 minutes, when we walk the major findings with you on site, in person, before the written report lands.

By 9 p.m. the same day, as a searchable web report and a PDF. Radon results follow about 48 hours later (the monitor needs its full test window), and mold lab results take 3–5 business days.

A home inspection is a visual, non-invasive examination of accessible areas — we don't open walls, move the seller's furniture, or dismantle equipment. Septic systems, wells, pools, fences and code-compliance reviews are outside the standard scope. Every report lists what was inaccessible and why, so nothing is silently skipped.

Neither. We don't repair anything we inspect — inspecting and repairing the same house is a conflict of interest, full stop. We'll hand you a list of trades other clients have rated well, but nobody on it pays us and we don't take referral fees from anyone.

About one in three homes we test in central Ohio reads at or above the EPA action level of 4.0 pCi/L — it's a regional fact, not a defect of one house. Mitigation is a fan-and-pipe system that typically costs $800–$1,500 and usually becomes a seller credit or repair. We don't sell mitigation, so our number has no thumb on the scale.

Yes. Builders are managing dozens of subcontractors on a schedule; municipal inspections are brief and code-focused. On new builds we routinely find disconnected ducts, missing insulation baffles, dead circuits and unsealed penetrations — cheap fixes now, warranty fights later. Book it before the final walkthrough so the builder fixes items on their clock.

Where the seller allows access, yes — a pre-offer walk-and-talk is a shorter verbal consultation at a reduced rate. In competitive situations it's how you make a confident offer without waiving your protection blind. Call us; timing usually decides it.

No — and the agents who refer us stay because of that, not despite it. An inspector who softens reports to protect closings is worthless to everyone, including the agent. Our reports read the same whether the buyer found us on Google or through the top-producing agent in the county. We describe; we don't dramatize — and we don't omit.

We inspect what's visible and accessible on the day, and no honest inspector claims X-ray vision. If something within the inspection's scope was visibly wrong and we missed it, call us — we come back, look again, and make it right. Our agreement spells this out in plain English before you book.

No deposit. Pay at the inspection by card, check or cash. Reschedule or cancel free up to 24 hours out; inside 24 hours a $75 fee applies because the slot rarely refills. The report is released once payment clears.

Yes — Ohio home-inspector licensed, carrying both general liability and errors-and-omissions coverage, with radon and WDI credentials for those services. Certificates are available on request before you book. (Datum is a fictional demo company — the credentials shown on this site are illustrative.)