Inspection punch list: do you swing the hammer or hire it out every time?

Question

First inspection on my duplex came back with six items. Missing GFCI in the kitchen, a loose handrail, a torn window screen, a cracked outlet cover, a bathroom exhaust fan that ran but barely moved air, and peeling paint on an exterior sill. Total materials if I do it myself, maybe 90 dollars and a Saturday. Total if I call my handyman, probably 450 plus whatever he charges to make two trips because he never has the right screen frame in the truck.

So far I've done these myself and passed. But I'm three units in and the pattern I'm hearing from people with more doors is that they stopped touching punch lists entirely, because the real cost is the reinspection window. If my Saturday slips a week, the calendar slips with it, and a slipped calendar on a vacant unit costs more than the contractor ever would.

The counter is that doing it myself means I actually see the unit and I learn what the inspector cares about. My second inspection had two items instead of six, and I think that's because I fixed the first six with my own hands.

Curious where the room lands, especially people past five doors. Anything electrical I hand off regardless, that's not up for debate for me.

kevin_lombard · Accepted Answer

I'm reading this before I own anything, so mostly I'm writing down what a punch list even looks like. Six items and 90 dollars of materials is much smaller than I had in my head. I assumed inspection failures were things like roofs.

tashaford30 · Answer

juniper, that's the part that surprised me too. Most of what I've seen on lists is small and cheap, and the expensive part is the time between fail and pass. Which is exactly thicket's point, and it makes me lean contractor even though I'd rather save the money.

aliyah_b · Answer

A reinspection week costs real money, so I'd price that out before picking. If your rent is 1,100 a month, a week of extra vacancy is around 250 dollars. That's most of the difference between doing it yourself and hiring it out, so the answer flips depending on how likely your Saturday is to slip.

chriswalton8 · Answer

tally's framing is the right one and it's also how I'd look at it from the capital side. You're pricing your own labor against a delay. If your day job means the Saturday is genuinely reliable, DIY wins on paper. If it isn't reliable, you're paying 250 to save 350 and pretending you saved it.

tylerbrooks9 · Answer

Mixed, and the split isn't by cost. Anything where a failed retry means a second reinspection I hand off. Screens and outlet covers I do myself because there's no way to get those wrong.

priya_n21 · Answer

I'd rather this stay hands-off, so I'd hire all of it out and accept the smaller number. thicket, does your handyman ever go walk the unit before the inspector does, or is he purely reactive to the list?

nicole_adeyemi · Answer

The learning argument thicket makes is real and it has an expiration date. You do your own lists for the first three units, you learn what gets flagged, and then you write that knowledge into a standing checklist your contractor works from. After that there's no reason to keep your own Saturdays in the loop.

paulgrant17 · Answer

First rental hasn't closed yet and this thread already changed my budget. I had nothing in there for reinspection vacancy, only for repairs. Adding a line.

Inspection punch list: do you swing the hammer or hire it out every time?

8 replies