The Short List
Do these and the inspection will be complete rather than qualified.
- Power, water and gas on, and confirmed
- Electrical panel clear and reachable
- Attic hatch accessible and openable
- Water heater and air handler reachable
- Main water shut-off accessible
- Gates, sheds and utility closets unlocked
- Pets secured or off the property
- Repair and replacement paperwork left out
- Vehicles moved off the driveway
The one that costs people a second visit: utilities. On a Cocoa Beach property that has been vacant for a season, or a rental between bookings, the power is often off at the breaker or the account is dormant. Check it physically rather than assuming, because an inspector who arrives to a dark house cannot test the electrical, plumbing or HVAC systems, and that is three of the four things an insurance carrier asks about.
Access Is the Real Work
Everything on that list is a variation of one idea: an inspector can only report on what they can reach, and anything they cannot reach goes into the report as not accessed.
The Garage Problem
In most Florida homes the electrical panel, the water heater and often the air handler are in the garage, behind whatever has accumulated in front of them. Twenty minutes moving boxes is the difference between a panel that gets opened and photographed and a line in the report saying it was obstructed. That line helps nobody, least of all a seller trying to demonstrate the house is sound.
What Nobody Thinks Of
The attic hatch painted shut during the last repaint. A crawl space or utility closet with a lock and no key on site. A gate to the rear of the property that only the landscaper opens. A dog that is friendly but will not settle with a stranger in the house. Each of those quietly removes a section from the report.
Paperwork Worth Having Out
Put it in one pile on the kitchen counter. It changes the report and it becomes the packet you hand a buyer later.
Roof replacement or re-cover invoices with dates. Re-piping work. Electrical panel upgrades. Water heater and air conditioning installation records. Any previous wind mitigation or 4-point report. Permits and close-out documents for past renovation work, if you have them, because that is where they genuinely matter: not for the inspection itself, but as evidence to a buyer that work was done properly.
An inspector reading a dated label writes a fact. An inspector estimating from corrosion writes an estimate.
Preparing a Condo Unit
The basics are the same and two things get added.
Tell the Association
Some buildings want notice before a contractor or inspector works in a common area, brings a ladder through a lobby, or opens a shared utility closet. A phone call the day before avoids a conversation with a building manager on the day.
Request the Building Documents Now
The reserve study, any recent engineering or structural reports, and recent board minutes. Our inspection covers your unit and the systems serving it; those documents cover the building around it, and on an older oceanfront structure they can matter more than anything in our report. They also take days or weeks to arrive, which is why the day your offer is accepted is the right time to ask, not the week before closing.
Preparing a Vacation Rental
A large share of Cocoa Beach property is let short-term, and the booking calendar usually decides the inspection date rather than our availability. Tell us early what the turnover looks like so we can aim at a gap rather than negotiate one.
Beyond that, the property itself needs the same treatment as any other, and the housekeeping between guests works against you here. A unit cleaned for the next booking presents beautifully while slider rollers, faucet cartridges, toilet fill valves and door hardware are all quietly at the end of their lives. Do not tidy anything away that an inspector needs to see.
What Not to Do
Do not start repairs on speculation. If you already know a faucet drips and it costs twenty dollars, fix it. Do not replace a water heater, open a wall or re-caulk an entire bathroom before anyone has told you it is a problem, because the point of the exercise is to find out where the money actually needs to go.
And nothing needs filing with the city. There is no permit, no application and no appointment required before booking a home inspection. The process page explains where that confusion comes from.
Book It
From $299 up to 1,200 sq ft with no travel fee anywhere on the island, report inside 24 hours. See the full scope on the checklist page, the schedule on the cost page, or get a number from the rates page. Back to the Cocoa Beach overview.