Overview
A lot of buyers go into a home inspection expecting something close to what a building code inspector does — a systematic review of the property against a defined list of requirements, where every finding either passes or fails. That’s not how a home inspection works, and understanding the difference changes what you should expect from the process.
Home inspectors in Florida operate under the Florida Standards of Practice, a set of rules found in Chapter 61-30 of the Florida Administrative Code. The SOP defines the minimum scope of an inspection — which systems must be evaluated and what conditions within those systems must be reported. It does not hand an inspector a checklist where every item has a pass/fail threshold the way a building code does. What it does is establish a floor, and most experienced inspectors work well above it.
Two items that don’t appear anywhere in the SOP are mold and wood-destroying organisms. The standards of practice do not require inspectors to identify or report on either. In practice, any inspector who has been doing this long enough is going to note visible signs of both — fungal growth on wood framing, termite damage in a soffit, evidence of pest activity in the attic insulation — because the experience to recognize these things doesn’t disappear just because the rulebook doesn’t require you to look for them.
The job is built on professional judgment more than on citation. An inspector isn’t pulling out a code section to explain why a finding is a problem. They’re drawing on training, pattern recognition, and time spent in properties to tell you what the condition of the home is and where your attention and your money are most likely to go. Here’s what that looks like across every system the SOP requires inspectors to evaluate.
There Is No Code Book for Home Inspectors
A code inspector walks into a property with the Florida Building Code in hand. Every finding is measured against a specific section, a specific requirement, a specific standard with a number attached to it. A home inspector does not work that way.
The framework home inspectors operate under is Florida’s Standards of Practice — a set of rules found in Florida Administrative Code Chapter 61-30 that defines the minimum scope of a home inspection. It tells inspectors which systems must be evaluated and what conditions within those systems must be reported. It does not tell inspectors what the correct answer is supposed to be in the way a building code does. That distinction matters, because it means a home inspection is built on professional judgment more than on citation.
Most inspectors exceed the minimum scope the SOP sets out, and they should. Two items notable for their absence from the SOP are mold and wood-destroying organisms — termites, wood-boring beetles, and the kind of damage that follows them. The SOP does not require inspectors to identify or report on either. Even so, a trained eye spots the signs of both routinely, and any inspector worth hiring is going to note them when they’re visible regardless of whether the standards of practice require it. Iguanas burrowing into roofing material, rat activity in attic insulation, visible fungal growth on wood framing — these are things good inspectors flag even though nothing in the SOP mandates it.
Understanding this changes what you should expect from an inspection report. The SOP sets a floor. What a particular inspector observes, documents, and communicates above that floor is a reflection of their experience and thoroughness.
What the Florida Standards of Practice Require Inspectors to Evaluate
The SOP organizes the inspection into eight categories: structural components, electrical systems, HVAC, roof, plumbing, interior, exterior, and site conditions. Within each category, it identifies what must be inspected and what conditions must be reported. Here is what that actually covers in practice.
Structural Components
The structural inspection covers the foundation and framing, walls, ceilings, floors, roof structure, stairs and steps, and any accessible attic space. Inspectors are looking for visible evidence of movement, settlement, deterioration, or damage that affects the integrity of the home. Cracks at foundation corners, bow-legged roof trusses, sagging ceiling joists, and compromised floor framing are the kinds of findings that come out of this portion of the inspection. The attic is particularly important because it’s one of the few places where roof structure, framing, insulation, and HVAC ducts can all be evaluated in the same visit.
Electrical Systems
The electrical inspection covers the service entry, the main and sub-panels, branch circuit wiring, outlets, switches, and fixtures throughout the home. It includes verifying GFCI protection in kitchens, bathrooms, garages, and exterior locations, AFCI protection where required, and the presence of working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. The SOP requires inspectors to report on the condition of these systems — not to certify them to code, but to identify visible defects, unsafe conditions, and components that need further evaluation by a licensed electrician.
HVAC Systems
The HVAC inspection covers the heating and cooling equipment, distribution systems, filters, and accessible ductwork. Inspectors operate the system using normal controls, verify that conditioned air is being delivered to the living space, and evaluate the condition of the equipment. The SOP requires reporting on systems that are not functioning properly and on visible deficiencies in the equipment and distribution network. Ductwork in the attic is part of this evaluation, as is the condition of the air handler and condenser unit.
Roof Systems
The roof inspection covers the covering material, drainage systems, flashings, roof penetrations, skylights, and visible evidence of active or prior leaks. Inspectors are required to evaluate these components from the roof surface when safe and accessible. The condition of shingles or tile, the integrity of flashing at penetrations and transitions, the function of gutters and downspouts, and any signs of water intrusion at the attic or interior ceilings all factor into this portion of the inspection.
Plumbing Systems
The plumbing inspection covers supply and distribution lines, drain, waste, and vent systems, the water heater, and the functional condition of fixtures and faucets throughout the home. Inspectors check for visible leaks, evaluate water flow and drainage at fixtures, identify the material type of supply and drain lines where visible, and assess the condition and age of the water heater. The SOP does not require inspectors to evaluate anything concealed within walls. What is accessible and visible is what gets inspected, and that includes under-cabinet plumbing, exposed supply lines, water heater connections, and the condition of accessible drain components.
Interior
The interior inspection covers walls, ceilings, floors, doors, windows, steps, stairs, and railings inside the home, as well as counters and installed cabinets. Inspectors report on visible damage, staining, deterioration, and components that are not functioning as intended. Water stains on ceilings, damaged flooring, inoperable windows, missing or loose stair railings, and cabinet damage are examples of findings in this category. The SOP requires inspectors to operate a representative sample of doors and windows and to report on their condition.
Exterior
The exterior inspection covers the wall cladding and trim, eaves, soffits and fascia, windows and doors as viewed from outside, driveways, walkways, and the grading and drainage immediately adjacent to the foundation. Inspectors evaluate the condition of exterior surfaces, look for evidence of moisture intrusion, and assess whether drainage is directing water away from the structure. In South Florida, this category also includes evaluating the condition of stucco at masonry walls, the integrity of exterior door and window installations, and visible evidence of pest or moisture damage.
Site Conditions
The site inspection covers the grading and drainage of the lot, retaining walls, visible underground drainage components, and the driveway and walkways. Inspectors report on conditions that could direct water toward the structure or create safety concerns on the property. Negative grading — where the lot slopes toward the foundation rather than away from it — is a consistent finding in South Florida’s older neighborhoods and one that directly affects long-term moisture conditions at the foundation.
What Home Inspectors are Not Required to Inspect
The Florida Standards of Practice define scope in both directions — what inspectors must evaluate and what falls outside their required scope. Knowing what’s excluded helps buyers set realistic expectations and understand when a specialist referral is the right next step. This next session is a tough pill to swallow because as a buyer you may feel as if you are missing out on crucial information. Just remember, the FL SOP is designed to protect home inspectors from physical limitations and very unique items—I’m talking about you trash compactor. Regardless an experienced inspector may be able to accommodate and comment on items outside the scope.
Structural Exclusions
Inspectors are not required to enter or traverse a crawl space or attic when unsafe or unsanitary conditions exist, when clearance is insufficient for safe entry, or when entering the space risks causing damage to insulation, ductwork, or other components. These are judgment calls the inspector makes on site, and when access is limited or declined, it is documented in the report along with the reason. Inspectors are also not required to provide engineering or architectural opinions or assess whether a structural system or component is adequate for its intended purpose. When structural concerns are visible — damaged framing, evidence of movement, compromised load-bearing components — the appropriate referral is a licensed structural engineer, not a home inspector offering a structural adequacy opinion.
Electrical Exclusions
Security alarm systems, low-voltage wiring, remote control devices, generators, solar panels, and battery storage systems are all outside the required scope of a home inspection. An inspector is also not required to measure amperage, voltage, or impedance, perform a load calculation, insert any tool or probe into an electrical component, or verify that circuit labels are accurate. What the inspection does cover is the visible condition of the service entry, the panel, the branch wiring, and the devices connected to the primary distribution system.
HVAC Exclusions
The interior of flues and chimneys that are not readily accessible are excluded, as are heat exchangers, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, electronic air filters, UV sanitizers, solar space heating systems, and removable window air conditioning units. Internally, inspectors are not required to evaluate coils or drain pans inside the air handler. The inspection also does not include determining whether heating or cooling output is adequate for a given space or whether distribution is balanced throughout the home — those assessments require equipment and analysis beyond the scope of a visual inspection.
Roof Exclusions
Antennas, installed accessories, and flue interiors that are not accessible from the roof surface are excluded. More importantly, inspectors are not required to walk on a roof surface when the slope is too steep to safely access, when there is no safe means of getting onto the roof, when weather conditions make it unsafe, when the condition of the material or decking makes it unsafe, or when walking on the surface would cause damage to the covering material. In those situations, the inspection is conducted from the ground or from accessible vantage points, and the limitations are noted in the report. Insulation in the attic is also not required to be disturbed during a roof or structural inspection.
Plumbing Exclusions
Wells, water storage equipment, water conditioning systems, solar water heating systems, fire sprinkler systems, private waste disposal systems, and irrigation systems are all outside the required scope. Inspectors are not required to test shower pans or tub surrounds for leakage, operate safety or shut-off valves, or determine whether supply and waste systems connect to public or private infrastructure. The quantity and quality of the water supply, and whether flow at the time of inspection will meet the buyer’s needs over time, are also outside scope. The inspection evaluates the visible condition of supply and drain systems, not their long-term performance or capacity.
Interior Exclusions
Paint, wallpaper, window treatments, carpeting, central vacuum systems, and recreational facilities are excluded from the interior inspection. Fireplaces and their components — screens, doors, gaskets, mantles, combustion air devices, heat distribution assists — are largely outside scope as well. Inspectors are not required to open windows or doors that are painted shut, mechanically secured, or blocked by furniture or stored items. Systems and appliances that are shut down, disconnected, or rendered inoperable at the time of inspection are not operated. Appliances that require special codes, combinations, or keys to access are not evaluated. Gas appliances that require manually lighting a pilot burner are not operated.
More broadly, inspectors are not required to confirm operation of every control or feature on any given appliance, determine calibration of thermostats, evaluate self-cleaning cycles, defrost systems, timers, or specialty features, move any appliance, or determine whether microwave ovens are leaking radiation. The interior inspection is a visual evaluation of the condition of components — it is not a functional performance test of every feature every appliance offers.
Exterior Exclusions
Window and door screening, shutters, awnings, and similar seasonal or protective accessories are outside the required scope of the exterior inspection. Fences, recreational facilities, outbuildings other than garages and carports, swimming pools, seawalls, breakwalls, boat lifts, and docks are also excluded. Inspectors are not required to move furniture, appliances, lawn and garden equipment, tools, stored items, wall decorations, floor coverings, clothing, or anything else that blocks access to exterior components or structures. The inspection evaluates what is visible and accessible at the time of the visit — items that are blocked, stored against, or covering exterior components are noted as limitations, and those areas should be reviewed during a vacant walkthrough before closing.
Site Conditions Exclusions
Geological, geotechnical, and hydrological conditions are outside the scope of a home inspection. Erosion control measures and earth stabilization systems are also excluded. When site drainage or grading raises concerns visible at the surface — standing water near the foundation, obvious erosion patterns, negative slope directing water toward the structure — inspectors note these conditions and recommend further evaluation. The underlying geology of the lot, soil composition, and subsurface water conditions require specialized assessment that falls outside what a visual home inspection can provide.
The Inspection Starts Outside, Not Inside
Roof Access Is the First Priority
We don’t start at the front door. We start at the exterior, and the first thing we figure out is how to get on the roof.
On a single-story home, that’s straightforward. We get up there. On a two-story, we look for a balcony or another safe access point. If that’s not available, we use equipment that lets us photograph and evaluate the roof from the ground level. On a condo, we go straight to building security or the front desk to arrange access — because if the roof is locked, we’d rather find that out while an agent can still call maintenance, not at the end of the inspection when we’re wrapping up.
What we find up there shapes what we’re paying attention to for the rest of the inspection. If we notice soft areas or signs of water intrusion on the roof, we know where to look when we get into the attic and the rooms below. We had an inspection in Plantation where the roof felt soft underfoot and showed visible warping on the surface. When we got into the attic, we found bow-legged trusses and plywood that had been re-nailed so many times it was losing its ability to hold a fastener. The exterior told us something was wrong. The attic confirmed it.
South Florida Weather Makes Roof-First the Only Logical Approach
There’s another reason we prioritize the roof in South Florida specifically: the weather. Afternoon storms roll in fast here, and getting the roof evaluated while conditions are still safe is the responsible call. If it starts raining halfway through an inspection, we can work around most things with a raincoat. We can’t safely re-access a wet roof.
Once we’re done outside, we move inside and immediately turn on three things: the washing machine, the dishwasher, and the HVAC system. All three need time to run the way a homeowner would use them. A quick cycle tells us very little. Letting them run through the inspection gives us a much more accurate picture of how they perform.
What Home Inspectors Look for in the Electrical System
Dangerous Panel Brands Every South Florida Buyer Should Know
The first thing we check at any electrical panel is the brand. Federal Pacific, Stab-Lok, Zinsco, Sylvania, Challenger — these are brands we have committed to memory because they carry documented safety risks. If we’re looking at one of these panels, we note it immediately as a hazard.
What most people don’t realize is that we can identify these panels even when the label has been painted over, torn off, or worn down by years of heat and humidity. The panel design and the breaker style are recognizable on their own. We also don’t remove the cover on these panels during the inspection. The breakers themselves are part of what makes them dangerous, and disturbing them creates more risk than it resolves.
What We're Looking for Inside the Panel
When the panel brand is safe, we take the dead front cover off and inspect the interior wiring. This is not a code inspection — we’re not citing violations by code section — but we are trained to spot specific conditions that matter.
Double taps, where two wires are connected under a single breaker lug, are a common finding. Aluminum branch circuit wiring shows up regularly in certain neighborhoods — Tamarac‘s Mainlands communities in particular have a high concentration of it. We look at wire gauges, grounding, and in sub-panels specifically, we verify that grounds and neutrals are kept separate.
That last point is worth explaining. Grounds and neutrals are bonded together at the main panel. At a sub-panel, they must be separated. This is a wiring requirement, not just a labeling convention — and which panel is the main versus the sub is determined by how the wiring is configured, not by which one has more breakers. We’ve had homeowners push back on this on site. Having more breakers does not make a panel the main. The wiring does.
What Home Inspectors Look for in Plumbing
What's in Scope and What Isn't
This is one of the most important things to understand going into an inspection: home inspections are non-invasive. We are not opening walls, and we are not inspecting plumbing that runs behind finished surfaces. Plumbing inside walls is excluded from scope unless there’s already an opening present.
What we do evaluate is what’s visible and accessible — and there’s more to find there than most people expect.
Evaluating the plumbing
Brass-coated P-traps are one of the things that gets overlooked most often. They corrode and pit over time, and the degradation isn’t always obvious without knowing what to look for. We also pay attention to how different materials interact with each other. Copper and steel, for example, create a galvanic reaction when they’re in direct contact, which causes corrosion at the contact point over time. Copper supply lines need to be secured with copper straps or have a barrier between the pipe and any metal hardware — otherwise you’re looking at a corrosion problem developing slowly out of sight.
This isn’t theoretical. We’ve seen it in the field, and we’ve caught it in situations where even the person doing the plumbing work didn’t think twice about it.
What Home Inspectors Look for in the HVAC System
Delta T, Coil Condition, and Duct Performance
Checking whether the air conditioner turns on is the bare minimum. The evaluation goes considerably further than that.
Delta T is the temperature difference between the air returning to the unit and the air being delivered into the living space. A properly functioning system should produce a meaningful drop across that cycle. We measure it, and when the numbers are off, it points us toward the next thing to investigate.
We also evaluate the condition of the evaporator coils inside the air handler and the condenser fins on the exterior unit. Damaged coils and bent fins reduce efficiency — and this shows up in new construction more often than buyers expect. Units come off delivery trucks compressed and jostled, and coils that arrive damaged are not always caught before installation. A system that’s only a few months old can already be operating below its rated efficiency because of damage that happened before it was ever turned on.
Beyond the equipment itself, we check the ductwork in the attic. If the attic feels cold during the inspection, conditioned air is leaking out of the duct system before it reaches the living space. This is one of the most consistent findings in South Florida homes and one of the most straightforward to confirm when you know to look for it.
Why We Ask Sellers Not to Touch the Thermostat
We ask sellers to leave the thermostat alone during an inspection, and there’s a specific reason for it. The attic evaluation happens toward the end, after the system has had time to run. If someone adjusts the temperature mid-inspection, we lose the ability to accurately read what the duct system is doing when we get up there. It’s a small request that makes a meaningful difference in what we can tell the buyer.
What Home Inspectors Look for in South Florida Specifically
Hurricane Straps and Masonry Construction
South Florida construction has its own set of priorities that inspectors from other parts of the country simply wouldn’t think to check. Hurricane straps — the metal connectors that tie the roof structure to the wall framing — are one of them. Post-Andrew construction in Florida requires them. Older homes frequently don’t have them, or have them inadequately installed. We verify their presence and condition on every applicable property.
Why Window and Door Installation Is Different Here
The other South Florida-specific issue that surprises a lot of buyers involves how windows and doors are installed. In wood-frame construction — which is standard throughout most of the country — windows and doors sit flush with the exterior wall surface. In South Florida’s masonry construction, they’re recessed into the opening to allow storm water to drain away rather than collect against the frame.
We recently inspected a home in the City of Miami with brand new impact windows and doors throughout. They were installed flush with the exterior wall, exactly the way they would be in a wood-frame home. They looked perfect. But flush installation in masonry construction means there’s no drainage path for storm water, and these openings were going to leak. A buyer who didn’t know the difference between how windows are installed here versus everywhere else would have walked away thinking the window situation was handled. It wasn’t.
The Difference Between a Home Inspector and a Home Insurance Inspector
What a General Home Inspection Covers
A general home inspection evaluates the full scope of the property — structure, roof, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, interior, and exterior — to identify defects, safety concerns, and maintenance items that a buyer needs to know about before closing. The goal is a complete picture.
What a 4-Point and Wind Mitigation Inspector Is Actually Looking For
A home insurance inspection is a different scope entirely. The 4-point inspection collects specific information about four systems — roof, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC — in the format that insurance underwriters need to assess risk. The wind mitigation inspection evaluates specific structural features: roof deck attachment, roof-to-wall connection, roof shape, and opening protection.
Neither of these inspections notes a loose stair handrail. Neither of them evaluates attic insulation levels. Those findings aren’t on the forms because they’re not what the carrier is assessing. A buyer who gets only a 4-point inspection on a property has a fraction of the information they need. Understanding the difference between the two before you book anything saves confusion during what is already a compressed closing timeline.
What Home Inspectors Look for When You're Selling
When we’re hired for a pre-listing inspection, our inspectors are told to be stricter than usual. The logic is simple. Every inspector has areas they emphasize more than others, and an overzealous buyer’s inspector can present minor conditions in ways that feel alarming to a buyer who doesn’t have context. We’d rather a seller know about the paint scuff on the baseboard and the caulking line that’s almost acceptable before listing, so they can address it on their own terms, than have a buyer’s inspector flag it and make it a negotiating point. Pre-listing inspections are about removing surprises, and that means looking at the small things too.
What Can Change the Outcome of a Transaction
Not every inspection changes what happens next. Most buyers proceed with the transaction after negotiating a few repairs. But some inspections uncover conditions that fundamentally change the picture.
We inspected a 1971 attached townhouse in the Keystone communities in North Miami where the roof had been replaced earlier that year. For a buyer, a new roof is one of the most encouraging things you can see in a listing. One less major expense, and years of useful life ahead.
When we got on the roof, the surface was holding water across its entire area. Not a section — all of it. The roofers hadn’t established any slope, and on a flat modified bitumen roof, standing water accelerates material degradation significantly. A roof that should have lasted another twenty years might last five. The only real correction is starting over with a full reroof. The buyer had to weigh that reality against a property where the listing said “new roof” — because without the inspection, they would have had no reason to look any closer.
What Buyers Should Know About Attending an Inspection
Let the Inspection Breathe Before Asking Questions
We encourage buyers to attend their inspections. It’s one of the best things you can do to understand what you’re buying. What doesn’t help is walking room to room with the inspector and asking for immediate answers on every item you’ve noticed yourself.
A home inspection has a sequence to it, and that sequence exists because findings build on each other. A water stain on a bedroom ceiling can’t be fully explained until we’ve looked at the bathroom above it and checked the HVAC line set in the attic. Pulling the inspector away every few minutes interrupts that process and can genuinely affect the quality of what gets found and documented.
The better approach is to walk the property on your own, write down your questions, and bring them to the inspector at the end. By that point, they’ve seen the whole house, and they can give you answers that reflect the full picture rather than a piece of it.
What a Home Inspection Is — and What It Isn't
A home inspector evaluates the major systems and components of a home for function and safety. They work within the scope of what is visible, accessible, and safe to evaluate. They are not code enforcement. They are not contractors. They are not there to tell you whether to buy the property.
Home inspections have real limitations, and getting comfortable with those limitations is part of approaching a real estate purchase clearly. Inspectors are not required to evaluate anything concealed behind finished surfaces. They are not required to operate systems that appear unsafe. They are not required to do anything that could damage the property or create a hazard for themselves.
What they bring to those boundaries is experience — the ability to recognize what a soft roof feels like underfoot before the attic confirms it, to read a panel brand from across the room before the cover comes off, to know that flush window installation in a masonry wall is a problem that hasn’t shown itself yet. That’s what you’re hiring when you book a home inspection.
Final Thoughts on What Home Inspectors Look For
A home inspection is not a guarantee and it is not a verdict. It is a professional evaluation of what is visible, accessible, and safe to assess on a given day. The inspector who walks through a property is working from their training, their experience, and a set of professional standards — not from a code book, and not from a script.
What that means for you as a buyer is that the quality of what you get depends heavily on who is doing the inspection. Two inspectors can walk the same house and produce very different reports — not because one is wrong, but because experience determines what gets noticed, what gets flagged, and how findings are communicated in a way you can actually use at the negotiating table and beyond closing.
In South Florida specifically, that experience carries extra weight. The construction methods here are different, the climate conditions are different, the insurance requirements are different, and the consequences of missing something — a flat roof with no slope, a panel brand that carriers won’t insure, windows installed the wrong way in a masonry wall — play out faster and cost more than in most other markets in the country.
The inspection is one of the few points in a real estate transaction where you have the opportunity to understand exactly what you are buying before it becomes yours. Use it well.
Schedule Your Home Inspection with Kore Home Inspections
Kore Home Inspections serves Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, and St. Lucie counties with licensed, insured home inspections, wind mitigation reports, 4-point inspections, sewer scope inspections, mold testing, and more. Every inspection includes a same-day Spectora report delivered before we leave the property.
Call us at (305) 924-2364 or schedule online to book your inspection.
