Cross the county line and the ground rules change. Roughly three-quarters of Suffolk County is not sewered — on the order of 360,000 homes rely on a cesspool or a septic system in the yard.
A cesspool and a septic system are not the same thing; they fail differently, and replacing one is a five-figure job rather than a repair.
Establish which one is there, roughly how old it is, where it sits, and whether anything has been built over it. A septic inspection is a separate specialist service — worth arranging alongside, not instead of, the home inspection.
On a private well you are your own water utility. No one is testing it for you, and nothing will tell you when it changes.
New York's standards do not require an inspector to evaluate wells, pumps, pressure tanks or septic systems at all. Lou will note what is visible and tell you how it presents on the day — the evaluation itself is a specialist job with its own laboratory, and the report will say so.
Lou is straight about the boundary here. He will tell you what he can see and what needs a specialist, and he does not take a fee for sending you to one — New York forbids referral fees in connection with an inspection, and that rule is worth knowing about.
Find out what the house sits on before you are the one who owns it.
Not sure yet? Read what New York requires of your inspector or see a real report.
Real photographs from Lou's own inspections, chosen because they show a building component and nothing that identifies a property or an owner.
A boiler's data plate gives its real age; the burn chamber and the piping around it give its real condition. Both go in the report so replacement budgeting is arithmetic, not argument. What an inspection costs against what it finds.
Subterranean termites travel in mud tubes they build themselves — the tubes are the visible evidence, and finding them during an inspection instead of a renovation is worth the entire fee. Termite inspection is part of the conversation when you book.
Attics record a house's history: leaks the ceilings were painted over, ventilation that was never right, alterations that ended up there. It is usually the highest-value twenty minutes of the inspection. Why being there while Lou works is worth it.
Every photograph in a report exists to make a finding checkable — the point is not the picture, it is that you and your attorney can see exactly what the inspector saw. Read a complete sample report.
Managing roof runoff is often one of the most cost-effective maintenance jobs a house gets — discharge against the foundation raises the risk of moisture problems below. Why drainage decides basements.
A boiler's data plate gives its real age; the burn chamber and the piping around it give its real condition. Both go in the report so replacement budgeting is arithmetic, not argument. What an inspection costs against what it finds.
All photographs are from Lou's own inspection reports for jobs in this area, screened so nothing identifies a property or an owner.