Home Inspections, Safety Rules, And What Stops The Job

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Ever wondered what actually stops a home inspection? Not a dead furnace or a closed gas valve—but a city do-not-enter notice, active squatters, or a flooded basement inches from the electrical panel. We open the playbook on how professional inspectors balance thoroughness with safety, what we can still evaluate when utilities are off, and the conditions that require us to walk away.

We start with the practical: what gets inspected when gas or water isn’t running, why some leaks only reveal themselves after hours of use, and how a one-stop shop approach—radon, mold, WDI, sewer scopes, chimney scopes, and indoor air quality—saves buyers headaches. Then we draw the hard lines. A posted unlawful-to-enter notice carries legal risk and shuts down access. Standing water near energized equipment is a shock hazard. Discovering squatters or drug paraphernalia inside the structure ends the appointment on the spot. We explain policy, liability, and why no contract timeline is worth risking an inspector’s safety.

You’ll also hear how communication keeps deals alive: agents flagging city postings in advance, buyers planning for follow-up testing once utilities are on, and scheduling strategies that allow us to finish what couldn’t be tested the first time. Along the way, we clarify what the state does and doesn’t require—like walking roofs—and how inspectors make real-time safety calls based on conditions, not pressure. If you’re a buyer, agent, or investor, this walkthrough helps you set expectations, protect your team, and still get the information you need to make a smart decision.

If this helped you prep for an inspection or rethink your safety protocols, follow the show, share it with a colleague, and leave a quick review to help more buyers find trusted guidance.

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To learn more about Habitation Investigation, the Three-time Winner of the Best Home Inspection Company in the Midwest Plus the Winner of Consumer Choice Award for Columbus Ohio visit Home Inspection Columbus Ohio - Habitation Investigation (homeinspectionsinohio.com)

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Hello everybody.
Jim, and here's Laura, ofcourse.

SPEAKER_02 (00:04):
Hello, everyone.

SPEAKER_01 (00:05):
So, alright.
You're a home buyer.
And this isn't a pre-existinghome.
You're gonna you're gonna buy itand you're doing doing the
intelligent thing, and you'regonna have the house inspected.

SPEAKER_02 (00:19):
Right.
As you always should.

SPEAKER_01 (00:22):
Now, some people ask, well, do you have to have
all the utilities on?
No, we don't, but it definitelyis very much preferred that we
have all the utilities on.
If we get to a house and say thegas is off, that's not a
showstopper.
We can still check the uh, youknow, look at the electrical
panel, check the outlets.

(00:43):
We can't test some of theappliances, of course, if they
are gas.

SPEAKER_02 (00:47):
But other than that, we can do everything that
doesn't involve gas.

SPEAKER_01 (00:51):
Yep, and same thing if we get to get the house and
say the plumbing's off.
We can still do everything elseexcept the plumbing.
Now we prefer to have everythingon.
That way we can we're timeefficient.
We can go there, get everythingdone.
We don't want to have to makeanother trip back out to test
all these things.
And face it, some plumbingleaks, they can take like an

(01:14):
hour to finally show up or twohours.
Some of the leaks, like akitchen sink or whatever,
bathroom sink, they can takeseveral hours for them to
finally show that they're there.
They can take a long time.
Which is why, if you're buying ahouse that's vacant when you
first move in, you need to keepyour eyes out.
Keep an eye on that stuffbecause it has not been used and

(01:36):
put through the test for awhile.
But all utilities not on, not ashowstopper.
We can still do the foundation,roof, attic space, the the
wiring inside the panel.
We can look at all that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 (01:48):
Now, I will say, in all probability, though, when we
go back out to finish it, it'sgoing to be worked into our
schedule because we're finishingan inspection and we've already
had one time slot for it.
So I'm not taking a time slot,but I will work you in without
any hesitation.

SPEAKER_01 (02:07):
Correct.
Because our time slots, onaverage, I don't I don't know
what it is nationally, but onaverage, a home inspector's time
slot, say a three-hour time slotdoing inspection, it's probably
like six hundred dollars plus.
Because uh, especially for us,ours because we offer so many
services.
We're like a nice one-stop shop,we can do the inspection, we

(02:29):
just run insect, radon, moldtesting, VS testing, gas line
check, sewer scope, chimneyscope.
Well, what else do we do?

SPEAKER_02 (02:39):
Air quality testing, VOC, molding.

SPEAKER_01 (02:42):
We can check the house for levelness.
If it's on a slab, we candetermine if are for the corners
of your house, are they all youknow fairly level?
We can test all that stuff.
So ours might be a littlehigher, but that's because we
offer a lot more services.
I think our basic home inspectorfee is pretty much within range.
I kind of think it's a littlelow.

(03:03):
Yeah, I think it's a little bitlow, but but we have all the
ancillars that help us with theaverage.
But not having utilities on isnot a showstopper.
Laura?
What are some things that areshowstoppers that can make us
go, nope, we're done.
Blake, no, we are not doing thisinspection at this point in
time.
What is what is one thing thatwould happen?

SPEAKER_02 (03:23):
One big thing that would happen is a notice on the
door saying, Do not enter.
This property is unsafe.
And that's a notification fromthat's a notification from the
city typically.
If we have not had anything fromthe agent, either listing agent
or buyer's agent, saying, Hey,the um landlord, the owner just

(03:45):
never took this off.
Here's proof that it is, youknow, not active anymore.
That's cool.
If, however, we do not and we goout to that property and there
is a notice, our instruct ourour instructions per our
employee policy is that they areto not enter that building.

SPEAKER_01 (04:05):
Yeah.
Well, also, this notice thisnotice that we had the other day
even had a warning on it sayingit's safety hazard.
Well, was it some from the cityof Columbus saying it's illegal
to enter?

SPEAKER_02 (04:15):
Yeah.
If they have that posted, youcannot go into that house.
It's it's it's a no-go.
So all right, so that so thatthat's one thing that's a deal
stopper.

SPEAKER_01 (04:28):
Because legally, by the state, well, the city, if we
go in there and they go, hey,somebody's in that house, we're
gonna be in trouble.
We're gonna be in trouble.
And if you are a buyer and youyou have that on your house,
your agent on you, but youragent really should be able to
send us, hey, this this is alltaken care of.

SPEAKER_02 (04:50):
You let us know ahead of time.

SPEAKER_01 (04:59):
It had a condemned sign on it.

SPEAKER_02 (05:02):
Is it the one that you had to unscrew the the the
screws and the wood and thedoor?
Oh, the pocket and then therewas there was a a thing in
between the tube where he had toscooch in with a hole in the
wall.
No, that was.

SPEAKER_01 (05:14):
That's a different place.
That place was not condemned.
Oh my gosh, that wasn't?
No.
The place I'm thinking about, Ipulled up and there's that
orange sticker saying, hey, thisplace is condemned, do not
enter.
And I'm like, does this buyer hewas out of state?
I'm like, do you even know thisis there?
So I gave him a call, and he'slike, Yeah, they said they got
all it's all it's all fixed orwhatever.

(05:37):
But I I go in there and nothere, it was so eaten out by
termites, it was a mess.
So whether they bought it on, Ido not know.

SPEAKER_02 (05:46):
So that's one thing.
That's one thing.
And any any city notices,anything saying do not enter,
we're not going in.
It is company policy.
If you know that sign is there,you best be sending me something
prior to our doing theinspection, or as soon as we see
that, we're leaving.

SPEAKER_00 (06:02):
Not habitation investigation is the way to go
for a home inspection in Ohio.
Trusted licensed home inspectorsfor your needs.
From radon to mold to warranty.
For a great home inspection, youreally can't go.

(06:24):
Visit home inspections inOhio.com.

SPEAKER_01 (06:29):
Houses are owned by like HUD.
HUD owned houses, something likethat.
They all have a sticker saying,hey, this house contains mold.
They put that on every singlehouse.
So that has no that meansnothing.

SPEAKER_02 (06:44):
But that's not a do-not-enter sign from the city
saying it is unlawful to enterthis property.

SPEAKER_01 (06:50):
Correct.
But no home inspector isrequired, even though they say
they'll inspect your house,there's no requirement for them
to go in and do something ifit's not safe.
If they deem it not safe.

SPEAKER_02 (06:59):
Well, if you've got someone that's got a severe mold
allergy for the HUD stuff, theymay choose to not go in.

SPEAKER_01 (07:05):
That's the that's the the buyers or the
inspectors, it's theirresponsibility to determine if
they're gonna go in or not.
But it's not I mean, it's it'sthe inspector's determination to
if it's gonna be safe for them.
Just like uh the state does notrequire home inspectors to climb
on any roof, you can have asingle-story, low slope roof,

(07:26):
and the inspector does not haveto walk on that, even though I
would consider that really safeto do.
Ladders, there are a lot ofladder injuries, just regular
people climbing ladder that gethurt all the time.
That is probably one of the mostdangerous home tools you have is
a ladder, because people justthey they slide, they slip out,

(07:48):
trip on them going up, all kindsof different things.
So, anyway, so a sign like thatsaying do not enter, unlawful to
do so.
That's a show stopper.
Laura, what's another show whatis another show stopper for the
inspection that we came across?

SPEAKER_02 (08:05):
We've come across a couple of these actually.

SPEAKER_01 (08:07):
Well, the sign is next thing, we're all in the
same house.

SPEAKER_02 (08:12):
So what's the next thing that's like finding
squatters hanging out either ina garage or somewhere in the
house and their sleeping bagsall curled up next to their drug
paraphernalia?
Nope, we're done.

SPEAKER_01 (08:25):
Oh, did they have drug paraphernalia with with
them?
It wouldn't die.

SPEAKER_02 (08:28):
I I know the one house did.
I don't know about this one.

SPEAKER_01 (08:31):
Okay.
So if we get to our house andthere's squatters there, we're
done.
We're we're out.
We're out.
Because this is first of all,it's illegal stuff already.
And who knows what else they'redoing.
Often there's drug usage goingon there.
And we're and who knows thatthese people are not uh
obviously they have some goingthrough hard times, but often

(08:54):
people who are homeless, there'salso mental illness as well.
True.
And so they nope, we we can'ttrust that, we're out.
So those are two showstoppers onthe inspection.
And if you are a real estateagent, you need to let us know
what's going on.
We had an agent the other daywent to the house, it had that

(09:14):
sign about you can't enter thishouse, it's it's illegal to find
out.

SPEAKER_02 (09:18):
It's illegal to enter this house.

SPEAKER_01 (09:20):
Go and give the agent a call, go, hey, we got
the sign.
Can you tell us if it's fixed ornot?
So we can do the inspection.
And before I give her a call,the inspector found uh squatters
in the house.
So I'm like, it doesn't matterthat thing's fixed or not.

SPEAKER_02 (09:35):
We're done.

SPEAKER_01 (09:35):
We're done.
We don't go in with a squatter.
So that's the same thing.
And then first thing on Monday.

SPEAKER_02 (09:40):
Yeah.
First thing on Monday, we calledand we talked to the client,
told the client what all wasgoing on.
He's like, Yeah, I'd read thereport.
I totally agree.
We need to get all this stufffixed.
Um, CC'd him in on the emailthread with the agent who was
not happy that we didn't riskour inspector's life.

SPEAKER_01 (09:59):
Yeah, she wants us to r risk just just just go
around the homeless.

SPEAKER_02 (10:04):
Just go around them.

SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
We are not doing that.
So anyway, if you're buying ahouse, we can inspect a house
under all sorts of conditions.
Now, if it's flooded in thebasement, we can't go in the
basement.
That's that's another condition.
That's another safety for thatfor that area.

SPEAKER_02 (10:20):
Right.
Well, that's a safety issue.
You don't know if there's anywires down there that are
floating in the water.
Or remember when we were livingin our old house, our neighbor's
basement flooded like inchesaway from the electric panel.
Do you remember that?

SPEAKER_01 (10:35):
I do remember hearing that.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (10:38):
The fire department came and had to pump it out for
her.
So you have no clue like wherewires are going to be, or you
know, if they're live or what,you know, it's just not worth
it.

SPEAKER_01 (10:50):
Nope, nope.
So inspector safety is veryimportant.
So if you, yeah, you can nosquatters, gonna have to have a
safe building to go into uh ifyou want an inspector.
Other than that, let us knowbefore we show up because that
that one that agent wants to goahead and continue the inspector
like, dude, we're we're gone.
We can't do it when they're whenthere's squatters there.

SPEAKER_02 (11:10):
No, and that is that I don't know about other
companies, but that is a companypolicy with us.
We do not go in on um withsquatters in the property, and
that's anywhere on the property,and we also do not go in if
there are notices up that sayyou cannot go in, it's illegal
to enter.

SPEAKER_01 (11:28):
Yeah, and inspector kind of has to determine they're
comfortable they're not.
Now, I did I did a commercialbuilding, it was uh it was a
fast food restaurant.
I won't say what it was, but itwas closed down, and there were
homeless sleeping behind thedumpster in the trees.
I'm like and they waved, theysaid hi, and but they they were
no issue, they were not comingclose to the buildings.

(11:50):
I'm like, they're not justthey're not a problem to me.
So I continued.
I kept an eye on them.

SPEAKER_02 (11:55):
I think I was there with you when you did that one.
But uh that's different thanactually being right on the
property, right in one of thebuildings.
They were trespassing within thestructure, and that's where I
draw the line because youalready have somebody committing
an illegal act, they know it'san illegal act, and what else

(12:17):
are they willing to do toprotect that space or you know,
whatever?
And I I'm not willing to chancemy inspectors' lives.

SPEAKER_01 (12:24):
No, no, it and percent chance wise, if
somebody's uh squatting in thehouse, they got some other
issues going on on, maybe doingsome other illegal stuff.
Who knows?
You gotta play it safe.

SPEAKER_02 (12:35):
It's better safe than sorry.

SPEAKER_01 (12:37):
Yep.
So all right, I think that's iton this one.
So yeah, make sure there's nosquatters and the house is
actually safe to go into.

SPEAKER_02 (12:43):
So make sure if you are a client or an agent that
you send verifying information,if you know there are some
issues going on at the house,just communicate.
Give us the heads up so that wecan talk.
I mean, there are even timesthat we've scheduled more than
one inspector to go out just forsafety.
That that's even an option, too,with some of this stuff.

(13:05):
But you need to communicate withus because if we go out and we
find it, we're done.

SPEAKER_01 (13:09):
Well, this house that has the squatters, this is
almost a week and a half ago.
Yep.
Because I think they just nowgot the squatters out.

SPEAKER_02 (13:16):
Well, they couldn't have done it through the court
because that would have taken alot longer.

SPEAKER_01 (13:20):
So well, yeah, and and we don't we don't do
anything law enforcement.
So anyway, so when the inspectorgoes back out, I'm going out
there with them just in casesomebody is still there.
Because if somebody's there,we're we're gone.
We're gone.
We're we're not we're not gonnafinish this up.
So, all right, thank youeverybody.
Bye.
Bye bye.