What does a home inspection find on a Scottsdale luxury home?

What a home inspection finds on a Scottsdale luxury home depends on what the inspector is hired to look at, because a general inspection in Arizona is a visual examination of the house and its main systems, and some things, like the pool and spa, are separate inspections. The general report covers items such as the roof covering, heating and cooling, plumbing, electrical, and the grading and drainage around the house, and the add-on inspections cover the pool, termites and the sewer line.

I'm Jen Keene, a REALTOR® with eXp Luxury in Scottsdale, AZ, helping people buy and sell homes. A larger home has more to look at, so below I go through the general inspection and each add-on one, and what each covers.

This is general information, not legal or inspection advice. Your inspector can tell you what applies to the home you are buying, and a licensed Arizona attorney can tell you how your contract applies to you. I checked the sources below on November 4, 2026, and the standards and forms get revised, so the edition in front of you is the one that counts.

The Arizona Board of Technical Registration certifies home inspectors, and its rule, Arizona Administrative Code R4-30-301.01, says a certified home inspector conducts a home inspection in accordance with the Standards of Professional Practice that the Arizona chapter of the American Society of Home Inspectors adopted on October 27, 2023. So the scope of a general inspection comes from that document and not from the inspector's own list. I've covered how to check an inspector's certification, and how the inspection period and the written repair request work, in my post on the inspection period in Arizona.

The Arizona Department of Real Estate's Buyer Advisory describes an inspection as a visual physical examination, done for a fee, that is designed to identify material defects in the property. The Arizona standards use similar wording in the edition I could read, saying an inspection is not technically exhaustive and does not identify concealed conditions. That is why the report is a picture of what the inspector could see and reach on the day, and says nothing about what is behind a wall or under the ground.

In the edition of the Arizona standards I could read, which is the 2015 revision, the inspector observes the roof coverings, flashings and roof drainage, the permanently installed heating and central air conditioning, the interior plumbing and the water heater, and the exterior items that affect the house, including vegetation, grading and drainage. A home inspection company that follows the Board's standards lists the same areas on its own page and adds the electrical panel, the attic and the garage. The standards also say the inspector is not required to report how long any component will last.

On a larger home, each of those items can be bigger or can come in more than one copy. If the house has more than one heating and cooling system, ask the inspector before the inspection how many of them they will operate and how they will reach the ones on the roof or in a tight attic. If part of the house is a guest house or a detached building, ask whether it is in the scope, since the standards I could read apply to the home and its garage or carport. Those are questions for the inspector, and the answers should end up in the written report.

For a roof that is ten years old or older, the Arizona Department of Real Estate's Buyer Advisory highly recommends an inspection by a licensed roofing contractor. The general inspector reports on the roof covering, flashings and drainage, and the 2015 standards I could read say the inspector is not required to determine how much life the roof has left. One home inspection company that follows the Board's standards adds that it does not evaluate the underlayment, because the underlayment is typically not visible.

If the roof is a tile roof, or it is older than ten years, I'd ask the seller for the age and any repair records, and I would book the roofing contractor the same day I book the general inspector, since the roofer's report has to be finished before you give notice of anything you disapprove of. If the roof came up in the seller's disclosure, the roofer can look at that spot too.

The inspector operates the heating and the central air conditioning with the normal controls and reports on how they respond. The 2015 standards I could read say the inspector is not required to determine whether the cool air or the heat reaches every room evenly. The Buyer Advisory tells buyers to make sure the cooling and heating systems are adequate and says that if it matters to you, you can hire a qualified heating and cooling inspector.

On a bigger house, that second sentence is the one I would pay attention to. If a room is far from the unit, if the house has two or three systems, or if one of them is much older than the others, ask for the heating and cooling specialist and have that person tell you what they found about each system.

Not necessarily. Arizona Administrative Code R4-30-301.01 says a certified home inspector is not required to inspect a pool or spa as part of a home inspection, and that an inspector who does inspect one follows the Board's separate Arizona Home Inspector Pools and Spas Standards of Professional Practice, adopted on April 25, 2023. The Buyer Advisory says the same thing in plain words: the home inspector may exclude the pool or spa from the general inspection, so an inspection by a pool or spa company may be needed.

So the first thing to look for on your general report is whether the pool and spa are listed as inspected or excluded. If they are excluded, book a pool inspection. My post on buying a home with a pool in Scottsdale goes through the barrier law, permits and what to ask your HOA and insurer.

In Arizona, a termite inspection for a sale is written up as a wood-destroying insect inspection report. Under A.R.S. 3-3633, that report may be completed only by an applicator who is certified in wood-destroying organism management, and nobody may complete the report for a property they own or occupy. The Buyer Advisory says termites and other wood-destroying insects are commonly found in some parts of Arizona, and it points buyers to the Arizona Department of Agriculture for report information and for a search of past termite treatments on a property.

A general home inspector looks at the house and writes a general report, so the termite report is a separate order from a certified applicator. I'd ask the seller whether there is a treatment history for the address and look it up myself on the department's site, and I'd book the termite inspection when I book the others.

A sewer scope is a video inspection of the sewer line, done by running a small camera through it. That is how the inspection companies that offer it describe it, and I could not find a state or city page that defines it, so treat that description as coming from the companies. The Buyer Advisory covers a related point: even when the listing or the seller's disclosure says the house is connected to the city sewer, it says a plumber, a home inspector or another professional should verify it, and some counties and cities can perform that test.

The 2015 Arizona standards I could read exclude underground items from a general inspection, so I would not assume the line to the street was looked at unless the report says so. Whether to add a sewer scope is your call. I'd ask the inspector whether they offer it and what the report would show, and then decide with the seller's disclosure in front of you.

The 2015 Arizona standards I could read say the inspector observes vegetation, grading and drainage around the house with respect to their effect on the condition of the building. They also say the inspector is not required to observe soil conditions or geological conditions. One inspection company that follows the Board's standards says the in-ground drainage systems, like buried pipes, are not part of the Arizona standards and are not inspected.

Walk the lot with the inspector if you can, and ask where water goes when it rains and whether anything was changed near the foundation. Flood zones and insurance are a separate question that the inspector does not answer, and I cover them in do you need flood insurance in Scottsdale.

Start with the scope. The Buyer Advisory tells you to pay attention to the scope of the inspection and any parts of the property that were excluded, and to go through the report with the inspector and ask about anything that concerns you. The 2015 Arizona standards I could read also ask the report to say which systems were inspected, which were not and the reason, and to say if an inspected system needs immediate major repair along with a recommendation to correct, monitor or evaluate it. Look for those lines first, because they tell you what still needs a specialist.

Then sort what you find into three piles: items for a specialist to look at before your deadline, items you want the seller to correct, and items you will handle after you own the home. A failed water heater and a scuffed baseboard are not the same kind of item, and the written request to the seller reads better when it lists only what the reports support. The inspection report also is not the same document as the seller's disclosure. One is what the inspector saw, and the other is what the seller wrote down, and I'd read both together. I explain the seller's side in seller disclosure in Arizona.

Before you make an offer, decide which add-on inspections you want, so you can book them the day your offer is accepted. For a larger home with a pool, that usually means asking about the pool inspection, the termite inspection, a roofing contractor if the roof is ten years old or older, a heating and cooling specialist, and the sewer scope.

Here's how buying a home works in Arizona, step by step, and here's my guide to buying a home in Scottsdale. If you already have a report in hand and want a second set of eyes on what to ask the seller for, get in touch or call me at (480) 203-6605 and I'll go through it with you.