A home inspection report template is the report with the findings taken out: the summary page, the system sections in the standards' order, the place in each for a finding with its photo and its recommendation, the list of what was present but not inspected and why, and the closing that states what the inspection was and was not. The template on this page is the one every Intakez report is built on, and it is set out here so an inspector writing in any tool can check their own against it. Home inspection reports differ in typeface and in how many photos they carry; the good ones do not differ in what the summary states, because the standards say what that is.
The summary page states four things
Items inspected, deficiencies, safety items, and the systems present but not inspected with the reason. The ASHI Standard of Practice puts it as the systems and components that are not functioning properly, significantly deficient, unsafe or near the end of their service lives; a recommendation to correct or monitor each; the reasoning where it is not self-evident; and the components designated for inspection that were present but not inspected and why. The summary counts them and lists the safety items first. In Intakez the counts are made from the findings entered on site; in a word-processor template they are typed, which is where a summary and a body come to disagree.
Ten system sections, each with the same shape
Roof; exterior; basement, foundation, crawl space and structure; heating; cooling; plumbing; electrical; fireplace; attic, insulation and ventilation; doors, windows and interior. Each section of the home inspection report template opens with what was inspected and how (walked, from the eave, from the ground), lists the findings as deficiency, safety item or note with a photo and a recommendation, and ends with anything present but not inspected. A section with no findings still says what was inspected; silence reads as omission.
The narrative for a finding
What was observed, where, what it means for the buyer, and what to do about it: correct, monitor or have evaluated by a specialist. Four sentences, the same four for every finding, which is why inspectors keep a library of their own wording and why Intakez saves a finding's narrative as yours to reuse. A photo goes with the finding, captioned with its location; a home inspection report that puts forty photos at the end has moved the inspector's work onto the reader.
The closing, and what the template does not do
The closing states the standard the inspection was performed to, what the inspection is (a visual, non-invasive examination on the day) and is not (a code inspection, a warranty, a specialist's survey), and carries the inspector's name and licence number where the state requires one. The template does not decide what to inspect; that is the checklist's job and the standards'. It does not decide what a state requires the report to look like; Texas, for one, has its own form, covered on this site. It gives the findings a shape the client can read from the summary down.
The not-inspected section, written as its own page
Between the last system section and the closing sits the section the standards are most specific about and the template most often lacks: the components designated for inspection that were present but not inspected, with the reason. It is written as a list, one line per component, each naming the system, the component, the reason and, where the inspector could see part of it, what was seen. It is not buried in the sections it belongs to, although each section repeats its own line, because the buyer who reads only the summary and this page has been told everything the inspector did not do. A report that omits this page has not told the client what they did not buy.
Photos: one per finding, captioned, in the section
The template places each photograph beside the finding it evidences, in the finding's section, with a caption that says where it was taken: the north wall of the crawl space, the kitchen counter receptacle left of the sink, the main panel. It does not place photographs in an appendix and it does not number them for the reader to cross-reference, because a report is read by a buyer on a phone at a kitchen table and by an agent forwarding it in a hurry, and both stop at the first page that asks them to work. A finding with no photograph is written as a finding all the same; the standards require the finding, not the picture, and an inspector who could not photograph a condition safely says so.
What a state form changes, and what it does not
Where a state promulgates a report form, as Texas does with the Commission's REI 7-6, the form is the report: its section order, its four boxes beside every item and its notice pages replace the template's layout entirely. What does not change is the substance the standards require: that the report says what was inspected, what was found deficient or unsafe, what was recommended and what was not inspected. The Texas form produces the counts by construction from its boxes; the template on this page produces them from the findings; either way the numbers at the top are counts of the lines beneath them, and the inspector's narrative for each finding is the same four sentences on both.
Questions people ask about home inspection report template
Is the home inspection report template free to use?
The sections and their order are set out on this page for any inspector to use in any tool. Intakez Pro renders the report from findings entered on site with the counts made for you, brands it with your firm's name and licence number and keeps it against the property; that is the subscription.
Do home inspection reports have to follow the standards' section order?
The standards say what the report must state, not what order the sections come in. Following their order means the report and the checklist agree and a second inspector can find the furnace finding where the first one put it, which is reason enough.
How do the summary counts stay right when a finding is edited?
By being counts rather than typed figures. In Intakez a finding reclassified from note to safety item moves the summary by one; in a word-processor template someone has to remember to change the number at the top.
Should the report include a maintenance section?
It can, and many inspectors add one: the recurring items a homeowner should expect, the filter, the gutters, the anode rod, the caulk. Keep it clearly separate from the findings, because a maintenance note is not a deficiency and the summary must not count it as one. In the template it sits after the not-inspected page and before the closing.
How is the template different from the checklist?
The checklist is walked at the house and records what was inspected, operated and found; the template is the document the client receives, in which those findings are written up with a photo, a narrative and a recommendation, under a summary that counts them. One feeds the other. An inspector can use the printable checklist on this site with any report template, including this one.