Hire Toronto’s highly rated and trusted home inspection company. Winner of the Consumer Choice Award! HouseMaster’s certified home inspectors provide detailed home inspections at reasonable prices for Toronto and its neighbouring areas.
As the nation’s most trusted name in home inspection, providing thorough home inspections is what we do best! Don’t leave the largest investment of your life to chance. Get a reliable, professional, educational home inspection with HouseMaster to make an informed decision about your purchase or sale.
A home inspection is an objective evaluation of the readily accessible major elements of a home following recognized industry standards of practice; it is visual in nature; and it is non-destructive. A written report documenting the inspector’s findings accompanies each HouseMaster Home Inspection.
Homebuyers (and condo buyers) hire a home inspector to gain a better understanding of the condition of the property they are purchasing.
Home sellers get a pre-listing home inspection (or “pre-inspection”) to confirm the state of the home they are selling, plan for their sale, and often provide the inspection report to potential buyers as part of a real estate transaction.
Homeowners may conduct a home inspection (or “home maintenance inspection”) as part of a regular home maintenance routine to help plan and prioritize home repairs and renovations.
Buyers of new construction benefit from a home inspection by documenting deficiencies found in a newly built home or condo for reporting to the builder or a home warranty program, like Tarion in Ontario. Timely reporting of defects found in new construction is crucial to having these issues repaired or remedied. For Tarion, most defects fall out of coverage if not reported within one year of occupancy.
A typical HouseMaster Home Inspection covers nine important areas of focus, including all functioning or visible major elements and systems, plus hundreds of associated components, and is conducted following recognized home inspection industry standards. These areas of focus include: Roofing and Attic, Exterior Elements, Foundation and Substructure, Interior Elements, Heating System, Cooling System, Interior Plumbing, Interior Electrical and Built-In Kitchen Appliances. Not all home inspection companies follow the same standards of practice and do not inspect all of these areas of focus. More details about how HouseMaster inspects these areas can be found here.
HouseMaster also offers additional ancillary services that go beyond the scope of a standard home inspection. Some of these additional services include: mold testing, indoor air quality assessments, asbestos testing, radon screening, thermal imaging/infrared camera scanning, WETT (fireplace) inspections, well and septic inspections, pool and spa inspections, multiple dwelling inspections and commercial property inspections. Call our office to discuss details about the services available in your area.
It is a misnomer that a home inspection is a pass-fail test. No home is all good or all bad—all homes have defects. So no home “passes” or “fails” a home inspection. Instead, we deliver our inspection findings in an organized and easy-to-read inspection report that is divided into sections based on the major elements of a home. Each section is broken down into different components, or line items, that are then rated, based on their present condition and receive comments about any defects found and recommendations for repair or correction. Customers and real estate professionals find this format easy to understand and helpful in making an informed purchase decision.
A sample HouseMaster inspection report can be found here.
There is no one-size-fits-all price for a home inspection.
To offer customers our best available price, our estimates are made-to-order based on the specifics of the property being inspected. When booking your inspection, please provide the following information to receive an accurate quote*: the approximate age, total square footage of the finished space (including basement), number of extra apartments or kitchens, any additional services (like mold or radon testing), and any available promotions or discounts. Please contact our office at 416-MASTER1 (416-627-8371) to receive your fastest quote, or complete our Request Quote form above, and we’ll get in touch with you!
*Pricing and scheduling estimates are based on information provided by the client/customer. The inspection company may adjust the service fee or schedule, if the information provided differs from the subject property or scope of work.
A home inspection is one of the most useful tools in a buyer’s toolkit when purchasing a home. Ensuring that you’re prepared for this important step will help the inspection run smoothly and help you understand how to interpret the results. Here are some tips to keep in mind:
Mold, or mould, is a naturally occurring organism found most everywhere, but elevated levels of mold in the indoor environment can be a health and respiratory concern according to Health Canada. Some mold types are considered harmful and even toxic, like Stachybotrys, or “toxic black mold.” Mold can also be an indication of potential (often hidden) water damage. Our IAC2 certified team provides indoor air quality assessments, mold testing and mold inspections to help determine the presence of mold and moisture in your home and to help you and your family breathe easy.
Radon gas is the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers and the second leading cause overall behind tobacco. Radon is an invisible, radioactive, odorless gas that comes from the natural breakdown of uranium in the ground. An estimated 7% of buildings in Toronto have radon levels that could pose a health risk according to the City of Toronto. The only way to determine the radon levels in your home is to perform a test. In the GTA, HouseMaster provides short-term radon testing to give you a better understanding of the radon levels in your home and if a potential health safety risk exists.
Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral and known carcinogen. When asbestos is friable, or found in small particles that can be inhaled, it poses a serious health risk that can cause cancer. In Canada, widespread use of asbestos in home construction stopped in the 1990s, but prior to that it could be found in certain insulation products (including vermiculite), floor and ceilings tiles, drywall compound, popcorn ceilings, and exterior wall and roofing shingles. Often times, if asbestos containing materials (ACM) are intact and left undisturbed they are considered health safe according to Health Canada, but repairs or renovations often disturb or break-up these materials creating a potential hazard. The presence of asbestos can only be verified through laboratory analysis. Our Toronto team has been trained in Asbestos Types 1 & 2 Work Operations for safe collection of samples to screen the materials and give you the knowledge you need.
Thermal imaging, or infrared (IR) scanning, is a powerful technology that allows a trained user to identify differences in surface level temperature patterns that may be related to an underlying problem not visible to the naked eye. In home inspection, thermal imaging is often used to diagnose roof, plumbing and basement leakage issues, with the aid of other diagnostic tools, like a moisture meter. In the GTA, our trained home inspectors bring an infrared camera to every job free of charge to use as they see fit to assess certain areas of a home. We generally scan the underside of flat roofs to look for potential roof leaks, for example. But our service does not include a comprehensive thermal scan of the entire house or every plumbed area of the home. Additional infrared scans can be added to any service. Please call our Toronto area office to discuss the scope of work and packages available for your home.
There is an inherent conflict of interest when a contractor performs testing or evaluation for a potential future job from which they stand to benefit. While we like to think most people are honest, sometimes it is best to seek the services of an objective third-party before committing to a remediation or repair contract. HouseMaster does not remediate mold, radon or asbestos, and we do not perform contracting, repair or restoration services, so our GTA customers can be assured we are offering unbiased, objective advice in our inspection and testing services.
OUR PROCESS AND OUR GUARANTEE
At HouseMaster, we take an educational approach to the home inspection process. We want our customers, and the realtors that represent them, to have the best home inspection experience in Toronto. So you are invited to attend your home or condo inspection and follow your certified home inspector around the property as they perform a comprehensive visual examination of the home.
Your home inspector will take the time to explain what they are seeing as you walk through the property and show you how to operate many of the home’s systems. This is an opportunity for you to get your questions answered and learn how to care for and maintain your home. By giving you a clear picture of the condition of your new home or condo, we hope to give you the knowledge you need to make a confident purchase decision.
After your inspection is complete, you will receive a detailed inspection report documenting the findings identified on site and discussed with you and your real estate professional. If you have any questions, you can reach out to your inspector to gain further clarity. In fact, our team is available to our Toronto area clients for any future home inspection, home maintenance or mold-related questions. We want to be your go-to resource!
As an added benefit to our GTA customers, all of our standard home inspections come with HouseMaster’s Exclusive Limited Repair Reimbursement Guarantee**. The purpose of the Guarantee is to back up the quality of our service—in writing!—and deliver further peace of mind to our clients.
The Guarantee provides reimbursement to homebuyers (up to $1,500 per element) for eligible unexpected repair expenses during the Guarantee period for specified elements of the property, which were found to be in satisfactory condition at the time of inspection. Additional details about HouseMaster’s Guarantee can be found here.
**Guarantee not available in all areas. Terms and conditions apply and may vary from location to location.
Our award-winning Toronto home inspection team wants to help you make an informed decision about your home purchase or sale. That is why all of our home inspectors are certified through the National Institute of Building Inspectors (NIBI) and undergo professional communications training. Our inspector training is even tested and recertified annually. Not only do we promise a thorough home inspection from a trained professional, but we deliver a quality inspection report that accurately documents our findings in clear, easy-to-understand terms. We want to give you the confidence you deserve as a valued customer.
Our office is conveniently located in Toronto’s West End, but we inspect homes and condos in the East End, North Toronto, and everywhere in-between and beyond. Because the majority of our work takes place downtown, we regularly inspect old homes, and century homes, so we have firsthand knowledge and experience with the particular defects found in Toronto’s older housing stock, like knob-and-tube wiring. Of course, we also inspect new construction and mid-century homes as well.
But beyond our training and experience, we have a passion for helping our clients. As home and condo owners ourselves, we want to give you the unbiased knowledge you need to make the right move. It is this dedication to customer service that has earned us the Consumer Choice Award and made us one of the most trusted and best reviewed home inspection firms in the Greater Toronto Area. We look forward to serving you!
Michael Schmidt is the local franchise owner and lead inspector for HouseMaster’s Downtown Toronto office. Michael entered the business from a real estate investment and communications background. He is a NIBI Certified Inspector and a Member of the Ontario Association of Home Inspectors (OAHI). Michael is an IAC2 Certified Mold Inspector, a Level I Certified (Infrared) Thermographer, and he is trained in Asbestos Types I & II Work Operations. He enjoys meeting new people everyday, helping them learn about their homes and exploring the city with his family and friends.
