What an Inspection Checks
An electrical inspection is frequently treated as paperwork attached to a sale. It is a survey of the things that fail quietly, and most of what it finds was invisible to the householder.
The seven things it establishes
Panel condition and capacity. Brand, age, rating, corrosion, breaker condition, and whether anything is heating.
Circuit protection. Whether GFCI and AFCI are present where required and whether they function — which is a test rather than a look. For service companies comparing workforce tools, Monitask provides more detail on learn more.
Grounding and bonding. The part nobody thinks about and the part that determines whether a fault is safely cleared, including bonding of water pipes and pool equipment.
Wiring type and condition, including aluminium branch circuits and any earlier methods present.
Outlets and switches, sampled — polarity, grounding, and physical condition.
Outdoor and wet locations, which in this climate age fastest.
And evidence of unpermitted work, which is frequently the finding that matters most because it means an unknown quantity of the house was done to no standard.
When to have one
Buying. Before committing, not after.
A house over a certain age where nothing is known about its electrical history.
After any signs on this site — warmth, flickering, buzzing — that turned out not to be an emergency but had no clear cause.
Before a substantial addition, since the load question comes up anyway.
After flooding, which is not optional in the way the others are.
And on a schedule for a rental property, where the liability sits with the owner.
What it is not
Not a repair visit. It produces a report and a list, and the work is separate.
Not a guarantee. It samples and it observes; it does not open every wall.
And not the same as a home inspection, which covers electrical among many systems at a level of detail appropriate to a general survey. A general inspector flagging "recommend evaluation by a licensed electrician" is doing their job correctly, and that recommendation is this.
Reading the report
Separate the immediate from the eventual. A good report distinguishes a safety issue from a code update from a maintenance item, and if it does not, ask.
Ask what happens if nothing is done for each item. The answer sorts the list faster than any other question.
And keep it. It is the baseline that makes the next one informative, and it is what a buyer will ask for.
The short version
- It establishes panel condition and capacity, protection devices and whether they function, grounding and bonding, wiring type, outlets sampled, wet locations, and evidence of unpermitted work
- Unpermitted work is frequently the finding that matters most, because it means part of the house was done to no standard
- Have one when buying, on an older house of unknown history, after unexplained signs, before an addition, and after flooding
- It produces a report and a list rather than repairs, and it samples rather than opening every wall
- A general home inspector recommending evaluation by an electrician is doing their job correctly, and that recommendation is this
- Ask what happens if nothing is done for each item — it sorts the list faster than any other question
For additional independent context, see American Red Cross.