Know exactly what you're buying.
Townhouse inspections are different. Party walls, shared plumbing, rooftop decks — configure your property and get an instant scope and flat-rate price.
These numbers are not marketing. They come from 2,147 completed townhouse reports filed in the DC–Baltimore–Northern Virginia corridor since 2019.
Exclusively townhouse-form properties — no single-family houses, no generic checklists.
Across all size brackets. Pre-2000 stock averages 14.2. Most sellers disclose fewer than 3.
Documented price reductions, repair credits, or walk-aways our reports enabled at closing.
Four systems that fail in townhouses. Only in townhouses.
A generic home inspection misses these entirely. Each section below pairs our field explanation with an actual redacted report excerpt.
Party Wall Integrity
"The wall you share is the one that surprises you."
Party walls are load-bearing, fire-rated, and acoustically critical — and every penetration for pipes, wires, or HVAC ducts is a potential fire-stop failure or moisture bridge. Sellers rarely know the condition of what's inside. We probe, we test, we document.
Roof-to-Unit Water Path
"Water follows gravity. The path always leads to your living room."
Townhouse rooftop decks accumulate standing water, crack at membrane seams, and drain into parapet walls that connect directly to interior framing. A single failed drain collar costs $400 to fix — after it's failed. After it's soaked three floors of drywall, that number is $28,000.
Shared-Line Plumbing
"Your neighbor's drain is your problem."
Townhouses share drain stacks. A clogged or deteriorated main stack affects every unit tied to it. Cast-iron stacks in pre-1990 buildings show interior scale buildup that reduces flow capacity by 40–60% before any visible symptom. We run a camera where others stop at the cleanout.
HVAC Zoning & Shared Ducts
"You're conditioning air that belongs to three other units."
Multi-zone HVAC in townhouses is routinely misconfigured. We've found units paying to heat shared corridors, ductwork crossing fire-rated assemblies without proper dampers, and condensate lines draining into wall cavities. One afternoon with a balometer and a smoke pencil reveals what years of utility bills couldn't explain.
Three types of clients. One shared fear.
The six-figure surprise hiding behind the drywall. We eliminate it before it's yours.
You don't know what you don't know.
You've never owned a townhouse. The seller's disclosure says "no known issues." The listing photos were shot at f/1.8. You have no idea what's behind the drywall on the party wall side.
Our report translates every finding into plain language with a severity tier, estimated repair cost, and a recommended action. You walk into closing knowing exactly what you're buying — or exactly why you're walking away.
"We used the report to negotiate $22,000 off the asking price. Our agent said she'd never seen documentation that thorough."
Your client needs leverage in writing.
Verbal assurances don't survive escrow disputes. You need timestamped, GPS-tagged, tool-referenced findings that hold up in a demand letter — and ideally prevent you from needing one.
Every finding in our report includes tool model, serial number, reading timestamp, and exact location coordinates. The format was built with disclosure litigation in mind. It's been cited in 14 demand letters.
"I've stopped recommending generic inspectors to my buyer clients. This report format is the only one I've seen that's actually usable in a dispute."
Your offer is Thursday. You need answers by Wednesday.
You're moving from Seattle. You've seen the unit twice on FaceTime. Your offer deadline is 72 hours away and you can't afford to fly back for a second look.
We confirm availability within the hour. We can typically schedule within 48 hours of booking. The report is delivered within 24 hours of the inspection — formatted for executive summary reading in under 10 minutes.
"Booked at 9 a.m., inspection done by 2 p.m., report in my inbox by 8 a.m. next morning. That's what Thursday deadlines require."
Across 2,147 inspections, our clients have documented an average of $38,000 in negotiated savings, repair credits, or avoided purchases. The inspection costs less than one hour of the attorney's time you'll spend disputing a defect after closing.
Real buyers. Real savings. Real closings.
"The moisture readings on the party wall saved us from a $34,000 mistake. The seller's disclosure said "no known water issues." Our inspector found a 19% moisture reading at the base of the east wall within the first 20 minutes."
"I've used this report format in three demand letters. The GPS-tagged, timestamped findings with tool serial numbers are exactly what you need when a seller disputes a material defect claim. This is the only inspection service I recommend to my buyer clients."
"I was relocating from Chicago and had seen the unit twice on FaceTime. The report was in my inbox by 8 a.m. the morning after the inspection. I used the HVAC findings to get a $9,500 repair credit. Closed Thursday."
"The report cover page alone gave our attorney everything she needed to open negotiations. Fourteen pages of annotated findings with cost estimates. Seller came down $18,000 the next morning."
"We almost missed the drain stack issue entirely — our previous inspector didn't camera the cleanout. The cast-iron scale buildup would have been a $14,000 surprise within two years. Caught it, credited it, closed anyway."
See exactly what you get before you pay.
Our sample report is a redacted copy of a real 2025 inspection — 47 pages, 14 findings, full thermal imaging, moisture meter logs, and annotated photographs. Not a marketing brochure.
Your offer deadline is real.
So is the crack in the party wall.
The inspection costs $395–$565. The average finding saves $38,000. The math is not complicated.