1. Why an Orca Inspection?
2. What is a home inspection?
3. What is Included in an Orca Home Inspection?
4. Systems inspected during an Orca Home Inspection
5. Does Orca Inspection Services have special tools to look at a home?
6. What are the Orca Referral Page and Web Links For?
7. Should I be there for the inspection?
8. How long will the inspection take?
9. What will the written report look like?
10. When do I receive the Report?
11. What if I have questions after the inspection?
12. How do I schedule an inspection?
13. What does an Orca Home Inspection cost?
14. Is there a cancellation policy if I need to cancel my inspection?
15. What is a carbon neutral business?
16. What should I do to prepare for my home inspection?

Orca Inspection Services is a full-service home inspection company serving King and Kitsap counties.
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What is a home inspection?
A professional home inspection is an impartial, third-party, visual evaluation of a property. A home inspector performs a visual inspection by looking for and identifying signs of problems, defects or deferred maintenance in a home. Home inspectors are generalists, similar to family practice doctors. They see lots of homes and are able to make experienced observations based on other homes of similar age and condition. When problems are discovered, specialists are recommended to further evaluate the problem in question.
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What is Included in an Orca Home Inspection?
Orca Inspection Services performs visual home inspections to meet or exceed the ASHI (American Society of Home Inspector's) national Standards of Practice. Visit www.ashi.org to see the Standards of Practice. For a list of inspected systems, please see the box below. Every Orca home inspection comes with a custom, digital report. In addition, all Orca home inspections include a Washington State-compliant pest inspection embedded into the report. A unique feature of the Orca Inspection report is an Efficiency observation. This allows us to report on typical inefficiencies found during a home inspection and gives you a list of improvements you can do to make your home more efficient.
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Systems inspected during an Orca Home Inspection

Does Orca Inspection Services have special tools to look at a home?
Yes. Even though we are doing a visual home inspection, there is no substitute for having good tools. We invest regularly in some of the finest inspection tools available. We use moisture meters, carbon monoxide and combustible gas detectors, circuit testers, voltage sensors, laser thermometers and other tools to help us evaluate the home.
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What are the Orca Referral Page and Web Links For?
These resources are provided to help you find contractors and products and services that relate to your home. The Contractor Referral Page is a list of contractors that we have collected and edited over the years. We are not a general contracting service and we do not recommend or profit in any way from this list or these referrals. We make an effort to keep this up to date and provide the list simply as a courtesy to our clients. If you wish to have a good contractor added to our list, or wish to complain about sub-par performance of a contractor on this list, please contact us and we will make all efforts to edit and revise as needed. From the Web Links area, you can access web sites and important information regarding common recalled home products like Cadet Heaters and Insta-hot water heaters as well as links to green building products and other important contact information like information on buried oil tanks.
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Should I be there for the inspection?
If at all possible, yes! Attending the inspection is your best opportunity to learn about your home. While we strive to create thorough reports, there is no substitute for being at the inspection, asking questions, making personal notes, and watching how thoroughly we evaluate the property. If you cannot be there, we understand your busy schedule and can make arrangements to consult with you over the phone after the inspection.
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How long will the inspection take?
This depends greatly on the size, configuration, condition and age of the property being inspected. Interior-only condo inspections can take as little as 1 hour, while full home inspections tend to last between 2 to 4 hours. The average home inspection is usually between 2 and 3 hours.
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What will the written report look like?
To view a sample report, click here Sample Report. This Ace Reporting System was written and developed by home inspector and Orca Inspection Service's owner Dylan Chalk to be thorough, clear, and easy to read. The Ace system divides the home into logical inspection components or chapters and uses numbered observations to help you locate and refer back to observations in question. The report also color-codes observations to help you distinguish between Major Concerns, Repairs, Improvement Items, Monitoring Items, Future Projects, Wood Destroying Organism problems, Due Diligence Items and Energy Efficiency Issues. A full report can sometimes exceed 30 pages and comes with a quick-viewing, bulleted Summary Page. Photos of complicated or difficult to see areas are attached in the photo addendum in the back of the report.
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When do I receive the Report?
The report is typically ready the evening after the inspection and can be downloaded from this web site or emailed to you that evening. If there is an urgent need for an on-site delivery of the report, please inform our office scheduler and she will make arrangements in our schedule so that we can print a copy on-site.
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What if I have questions after the inspection?
Call or email us anytime. We are happy to help.
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How do I schedule an inspection?
Call our office at (206) 842-3739 any time to schedule your inspection or ask a question. Orca Inspection Services has a scheduler in the office 7 days a week and schedules inspection appointments 7 days a week. We understand your busy schedule and try to offer as many convenient hours as possible so you can book and attend your inspection.
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What does an Orca Home Inspection cost?
Our prices are based largely on square footage and home type and configuration. Our prices are competitive with other quality inspection companies. Please call our office at (206) 842-3739 to inquire further about inspection fees. Payment is expected on site after the inspection and we do not take credit cards. Home inspectors do not bill through Escrow.
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Is there a cancellation policy if I need to cancel my inspection?
Yes. We ask that you give us 24 hours of notice prior to canceling an inspection. Last minute cancellations are subject to a fee up to the cost of the inspection.
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What is a carbon neutral business?
Orca inspection Services believes that businesses exist to provide a service to the community, not just to take from the community. As such, we have made significant investments to give our business a light footprint by creating and implementing a carbon neutral business plan. This has included: trading our full-size V-8 truck for a small diesel sedan that gets excellent fuel mileage and runs on biodiesel (www.biodiesel.org), putting our office on Seattle City Light's Green Up wind power program and buying back remaining carbon emissions at achievenetgreen.com. We have also eliminated over 95% of our paper use by upgrading to an all-digital reporting system. As an Orca client, you will also find many helpful web links in the Orca Customer Center that can connect you to a wealth of local environmentally conscious products and services. When you hire Orca Inspection Services, you are hiring a company that has committed to eliminating its contribution to global warming greenhouse gasses as well as helping you identify inefficient systems in your home.
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What should I do to prepare for my home inspection?

1. Be sure the property is ready to be inspected. Are all the utilities on? Are all the systems installed? Is there oil in the oil tank to test the furnace?
2. Be sure there is access to all critical areas: the crawl space, the attic, the electrical panel, furnace, water heater.
3. Ask for and read the seller's disclosure form and evaluate the property for your self. Are there any plans or permits that were obtained for recent work? Come with a list of questions and be prepared to take notes if you wish. If possible, it is best that the owner is away during the inspection if you are a buyer. This tends to make the inspection go more smoothly.

See you at the next inspection!