Most homebuyers understand the importance of conducting a home inspection before the sale finalizes. As an essential component of any residence, your prospective home’s electrical system warrants a detailed inspection to ensure its capacity, efficiency, and safety. However, traditional home inspectors do not provide a comprehensive inspection of the entire system. In fact, most home inspections focus more the structural rather than operational elements of a house.

With this in mind, if you’re in the market for a home in the Tallahassee area, you should consider hiring an electrician to conduct a professional electrical inspection of your prospective purchase. An electrician’s examination will go far beyond a typical home inspection to ensure the home’s electrical system is safe, operationally sound, and efficient. Read on as the technicians at Meeks Electrical Services provide further insights on the importance of conducting a professional electrical inspection before buying a home.

Understanding the Risks of Ignoring Electrical Inspections

Failing to conduct a pre-home-purchase comprehensive electrical inspection could come back to haunt you after you take possession of your home. Once the home sale finalizes, any uncovered problems that emerge become your responsibility. You might find that your new home’s electrical system can’t meet your electricity demands or that the wiring poses a significant shock and/or fire risk. Upgrading a home’s electrical capacity and rewiring represent costly fixes that you must be aware of before purchasing.

The Role of an Electrician in Pre-Purchase Home Inspections

With years of on-the-job training, electricians are intimately familiar with all elements of household electrical systems. A professional home electrical inspection usually begins with assessing the home’s main panel to determine whether it can handle current and future electricity demands. Today’s households generally need a minimum 220-volt capacity to deliver at least 200 amps through 15 to 20 circuits. Your electrician will discuss your electrical needs in relation to the existing panel and advise you whether it has enough capacity.

They will also check the breakers to ensure they are correctly labeled and sized with the proper amps for their usage and that your kitchen and other potential high-load areas of the home are provided with multiple circuits.

Other elements of the inspection will:

• Identify whether everything complies with code.
• Determine whether there are power surges or dips.
• Inspect receptacles for proper grounding.
• Test fire and carbon monoxide alarms.
• Identify any potential fire hazards.
• Check that major appliances are working properly.
• Assess the quality of any known previous repairs.
• Test light switches.
• Check for unusual electrical noises, heat, or odors.
• Ensure that aluminum wiring has been correctly connected and terminated.
• Assess the safety of outdoor wiring.

Uncovering Hidden Electrical Issues

A cursory inspection of a home’s electrical system often overlooks potential problems. For example, if there’s an overloaded circuit, a home inspector may not uncover it unless they power up the appliances and devices on the circuit that cause a circuit break. An electrician can disclose overloaded circuits without having to deliver loads manually. Likewise, an electrician is far more likely to uncover faults in the wiring that may only be evidenced otherwise by high-load testing.

Cost Savings in the Long Run

The expense of a professional electrical inspection for your prospective home is priceless if it uncovers any major electrical issues. The average cost to rewire a 1,500 square-foot home in Florida is $11,000, and can rise to over $15,000 depending on numerous variables.

A professional electrical inspection could help you avoid purchasing a house fraught with costly electrical problems or help you negotiate a favorable home price that accounts for the electrical system deficiencies. A pre-purchase electrical inspection can also spur the seller to address problematic electrical issues so that you won’t find yourself paying for them after the home purchase.

Turn to Meeks for Pre-Home-Purchase Electrical Inspection

Before you sign a final sales agreement for your new home, avoid the potential future costs of expensive electrical system upgrades and/or repairs, and ensure your peace of mind by hiring an electrician to conduct a professional electrical system inspection. Meeks Electrical Services has provided Tallahassee-area homebuyers with professional electrical inspections for over four decades. To schedule your pre-purchase home electrical inspection, contact us online or call (850) 575-3201.