The Checklist, System by System
This is the working order: outside, then up, then in, then the mechanical systems, then the panel. The exterior tells you the construction and the exposure before you open anything.
Exterior and Structure
- Foundation and slab edge condition
- Block or frame walls, finish, visible cracking
- Lintels and headers above openings
- Grading and drainage away from the structure
- Driveway, walkway and patio settlement
- Soffit and fascia, including fastener corrosion
- Exterior fixtures, hose bibs and receptacle covers
- Garage door panels, tracks, springs, opener reverse
- Decking, railings, and any visible seawall or dock deterioration
Roof and Attic
- Covering type, approximate age, remaining service life
- Fastener condition on the exposed elevations
- Flashing at walls, valleys, vents and penetrations
- Drip edge attachment and eave condition
- Gutters, downspouts and discharge points
- Attic framing, decking and prior repairs
- Insulation depth and coverage
- Ventilation and evidence of past or active leaking
Electrical
- Service size, drop and meter condition
- Panel make and model, including Federal Pacific and Zinsco
- Bus bar and lug terminals, checked for salt corrosion
- Breaker sizing against conductor gauge
- Branch wiring type, including aluminum
- GFCI and AFCI protection where required
- Representative sample of devices throughout
- Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
Plumbing and Water Heater
- Supply piping material and condition
- Drain, waste and vent material and age
- Functional flow and drainage at every fixture
- Water heater manufacture date and capacity
- Relief valve, discharge and drain pan
- Visible leaks, corrosion and prior repairs
- Shut-offs and hose bib backflow
- Toilets, tubs, showers and sinks
HVAC and Interior
- Condenser age, coil and cabinet corrosion
- Air handler, condensate line and secondary drain
- Temperature split across the coil
- Accessible ductwork and return sizing
- Sliders and windows, tracks, rollers and hardware
- Doors, locks and weather sealing
- Ceilings, walls and floors
- Thermal imaging, confirmed with a moisture meter
No permit is involved in any of this. A home inspection is a private assessment you hire directly. Permits attach to construction work and to the municipal inspections that follow it, which the city handles and we do not. If that is what you were looking for, this page is not it.
The Island Additions
Two categories that a checklist written for Orlando would not carry, and that account for most of the surprises here.
Corrosion, and Where It Concentrates
The condenser coil first. It is outdoors, it is aluminum and copper, and it sits in salt-laden air continuously, so a unit eight years old on an ocean-facing elevation may have considerably less life left than its age suggests. Then the service panel, where salt settles on the bus bar and lug terminals and shows as white or green powder. After that, exposed roof and soffit fasteners, drip edge, garage door springs, and slider hardware.
Height does not help. An upper-floor oceanfront unit gets more wind-driven salt, not less.
Rental Turnover
A property let by the week for years has a wear pattern of its own, concentrated in everything a guest touches. Slider rollers seize, faucet cartridges drip, toilet fill valves run, cabinet hinges sag, shower seals fail, and the AC ran flat out through every summer with the doors opening constantly. Individually these are small. Twenty of them in one unit is a real number, and none of it is visible in a listing photograph of a freshly cleaned interior.
What Changes on a Condominium
The line is ownership. You own the interior and the systems serving your unit; the association owns the shell, the roof, the corridors and usually the exterior glazing. We inspect your side of that line and say so plainly.
The building itself is covered by the association's own documents: the reserve study, any recent engineering or structural reports, and the board minutes where problems get discussed before they get funded. On an older oceanfront building those are the single most useful thing you can read, and they take longer to obtain than an inspection takes to perform. Request them the day your offer is accepted.
Preparing the Property
Utilities on, all three. Clear access to the electrical panel, the attic hatch, the water heater and the air handler. Gates, sheds and utility closets unlocked. Pets secured. Repair paperwork left out where the inspector can read a date rather than estimate one. The full list is on our how to prepare page, and the process page covers how the visit itself runs.
Get a price from the rates page or the Cocoa Beach cost page, or return to the Cocoa Beach overview.