What Are Home Inspectors Not Allowed to Do in Texas?

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3. What Are Home Inspectors Not Allowed to Do in Texas?

What home inspectors are not allowed to do: the conflict-of-interest rules

The Texas Real Estate Commission licenses home inspectors and sets rules of conduct for them. Some of the most important rules exist to keep the inspector’s interests separate from yours. An inspector who could profit from finding problems, or from not finding them, is not someone you can trust to describe the home honestly.

Two rules matter most. First, an inspector may not perform repairs on a home they inspected for a client within the period TREC defines. If an inspector points out a bad roof and then offers to fix it, the inspection has become a sales pitch, and TREC prohibits that arrangement. Second, an inspector may not pay for referrals. The agent who recommends an inspector cannot be paid for the recommendation, which keeps the referral about quality rather than kickbacks.

No code certification, no appraisal, no guarantees

A Texas home inspection is not a code-compliance inspection. Inspectors report on the condition and function of the systems they can see, and they may note items that are commonly recognized as safety concerns, but they do not certify that a home meets any building code. Codes change over time, they are enforced by city building departments, and a home built decades ago was never expected to meet today’s version. We explain this further in is a home inspection a code inspection.

An inspection is also not an appraisal. The inspector does not tell you what the home is worth or whether the price is fair; that is a separate profession with its own license. Our page on home inspection vs appraisal covers the difference.

Finally, an inspection is not a warranty or a guarantee. The report describes what was observed on the day of the inspection. An inspector cannot promise that the water heater will last another five years or that the foundation will never move. Anyone who offers that kind of assurance is offering something the inspection cannot support.

Why inspectors do not move furniture, open walls or dismantle equipment

TREC defines a home inspection as visual and non-invasive, limited to systems and components that are readily accessible. That phrase carries several practical limits. Inspectors do not move stored belongings, heavy furniture or vehicles to reach what is behind them. They do not cut into drywall, pull up flooring, or drill into siding. They do not disassemble equipment beyond removing standard access covers, so a furnace’s heat exchanger or the inside of a sealed appliance is outside the scope.

They also do not perform destructive or laboratory testing. Mold sampling, asbestos testing, lead paint analysis and similar work require a separate specialist and a lab, and are not part of a standard inspection unless separately arranged. Our page on whether home inspectors check for mold explains what an inspector can and cannot say about it.

This part of what home inspectors are not allowed to do is not laziness. An inspector who moved a seller’s furniture or opened a wall would be liable for the damage and would be working outside the standard the state set. What a good inspector does instead is document what was inaccessible, so you know where the blind spots are and can ask the seller to clear them for a re-visit if needed.

Will an inspector tell me whether to buy the house?

No, and you should be cautious of one who does. The inspector’s role is to describe the condition of the home in enough detail that you can make your own decision, with your agent’s advice on negotiation and your own judgment about risk and budget. Whether a home with an aging roof and a shifted foundation is a good purchase depends on the price, your plans and your tolerance for projects, none of which the inspector is in a position to weigh for you.

What a good inspector will do is give you context. Our inspectors walk you through the report in person at the property, explaining which findings are routine maintenance, which are defects worth negotiating, and which deserve a specialist’s evaluation before your option period ends. That is different from telling you what to do, and it is far more useful.

What inspectors physically cannot see

Beyond what home inspectors are not allowed to do by rule, there are physical limits that no license can overcome. An inspector cannot see inside finished walls, under a slab foundation, inside a sealed ductwork run, or under carpet and pad. They cannot see the interior of an underground sewer line or a water supply line. They cannot see the roof deck under the shingles, or the condition of a chimney flue beyond what a flashlight reaches.

In North Texas these blind spots matter more than in some regions. The expansive clay soil across much of the Metroplex swells when wet and shrinks when dry, stressing both foundations and the pipes buried in that soil. Older Dallas and Fort Worth homes may have cast-iron or clay sewer lines with joints that tree roots find easily. A slab crack that shows on the surface may hint at what is happening below, but the pipe itself is invisible to a standard inspection.

A good report is honest about these limits. It tells you what was inspected, what was not inspected and why, and what was not present, using the TREC Property Inspection Report form’s own categories. Our guide to what a home inspection covers in Texas lays out the full scope.

Tools that extend a visual inspection

Two tools push the edge of what an inspector can see without breaking the non-invasive rule.

The first is thermal imaging. An infrared camera reads surface temperature, and patterns in that temperature point to what is behind the surface: a cold band where insulation is missing, a dark stain where moisture is evaporating, a hot spot on a breaker that is working too hard. The camera does not see through walls, but it sees the effects of what is inside them. The Smart Inspector includes complimentary thermal imaging on every inspection at no extra charge.

The second is a sewer scope. A camera on a flexible cable travels through the sewer line from a cleanout, recording the pipe’s interior all the way to the city connection. It reveals root intrusion, offsets, bellies where water pools, and cracked or collapsed sections. It is the only way to inspect the line without digging, and it is an add-on at +$300. Our sewer scope page explains when it is worth ordering.

Limits and how to cover them

What this means for your option period

Knowing what home inspectors are not allowed to do helps you plan. Book the base inspection early in your option period so there is time to add a sewer scope, a foundation measurement or a specialist evaluation if the report points that way. Read the Not Inspected items as carefully as the Deficient ones, because they tell you where the blind spots are.

The Smart Inspector’s inspectors are TREC-licensed Professional Inspectors who follow the TREC Standards of Practice on every job, deliver the report the same day, and walk you through it in person. If you want the sewer scope or foundation measurement on the same visit, you can add it when you book online or call (817) 842-0330.

Frequently asked questions