Start with the licence
Alberta requires home inspection businesses to be licensed under provincial consumer protection legislation — one of the few provinces that does. Verify the licence before you book. Beyond that, ask about a professional designation and how many inspections they complete in a year, because volume in this city is what teaches an inspector what Calgary houses actually do.
Ask specifically about the housing stock you are buying: a 1960s bungalow, a 1980s home with poly-B, a new build, and a high-rise condo unit are four genuinely different inspections.
What to ask before you book
- What is included, and what is excluded? Get it in writing. Radon, sewer scopes, thermal imaging and asbestos sampling are usually separate.
- Will you go on the roof and into the attic and crawlspace? Some will, some will not, some cannot in winter. It matters here.
- Can I attend? The answer should be yes. Ninety minutes walking a home with an inspector is worth more than the report.
- When do I get the report? It has to land inside your condition period with time to act on it.
- What is your liability limit? Read that clause. It is usually narrower than buyers assume.
Ask your REALTOR® for names — but ask for more than one, and never take a name from the seller's side. An inspector who wants repeat referrals from the wrong party is the one problem no licence prevents.
What an inspection is not
It is a visual, non-invasive examination of what is accessible on the day. No walls are opened, nothing behind finished surfaces is seen, and it is not a code compliance review, a warranty, or a valuation. It tells you condition and likely remaining life — which is exactly what you need in order to decide what to do with it. What the inspection condition lets you do →
On inspection day: what to ask
- “Show me.” When something is flagged, have the inspector point to it. A hairline crack seen in person is information; the same line in a report is a worry.
- “How much life is left?” For the roof, furnace, water heater, windows and electrical panel. Age and remaining life drive your first few years of costs more than any single defect.
- “Is this safety, or maintenance?” A double-tapped breaker and a worn weatherstrip are both on the list; only one belongs in a negotiation.
- “If this were your house, what would you fix first?” It moves the answer past report language to a professional opinion.
Then keep perspective. Every home, especially an older one, shows maintenance items. Save your negotiating for what genuinely matters. Reading your inspection report.
Do you need an inspection on a newer home?
Yes — and the reason changes with the age.
Brand new. Municipal inspection confirms code compliance, not finish quality or whether things function. Warranty covers defects, but only the ones you identify and report inside deadlines you are responsible for tracking. A pre-possession inspection produces a documented list at the one moment the builder still has your final payment outstanding. What Alberta new home warranty covers.
Three to ten years old. The most-skipped inspection and often the most useful one. This is where first-owner decisions show up: grading that has settled back toward the house, a deck or a basement finished after possession without a permit, and envelope details that were signed off but not well executed.
Ten to twenty years old. Nothing is old, but the warranty is gone and the first replacement cycle is starting — usually several items at once. How old is too old for a furnace or roof.
The one real case for not having an inspection condition is not about age at all. It is a home you have already inspected before offering: a pre-offer inspection in a competitive situation is the same work done at a different time, not less of it. What the inspection condition lets you do.