Do you inspect duplexes and fourplexes, or only single-family homes?
Yes — duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes are inspected as residential properties. The InterNACHI and ASHI residential standards of practice both apply to buildings with four or fewer dwelling units, so a two- to four-unit building is squarely inside a normal home inspection scope. It is simply a larger job, because each unit carries its own heating, hot water, electrical and plumbing to evaluate on top of the shared structure and envelope.
Can you inspect a building with more than four units?
Yes, but as a commercial inspection rather than a residential one. The residential standards stop at four dwelling units; at five and up the applicable standard is the commercial one, which is a different scope and a different report format. We handle those under our light commercial service. If you are not sure which side of the line your building falls on, count the legal dwelling units — not the bedrooms and not the mailboxes.
How much does a duplex inspection cost, and is it quoted per unit or per building?
Scope is what drives it, not square footage, and in most cases the unit count is the main driver. A duplex has two of nearly everything a house has one of — two furnaces, two water heaters, two panels, two sets of fixtures — plus the shared roof, foundation and sewer lateral inspected once. A fourplex multiplies that again. Occupancy and add-ons such as radon, which scales by unit under the multifamily standard, matter too. Use the free instant quote request on this page with your unit count and we will send you a number.
Do you inspect every unit, or just one as a sample?
Every unit we are given access to. Sampling one unit and extrapolating is not a defensible way to inspect a building where each dwelling has its own furnace, water heater, panel and plumbing of different ages and repair histories. Units are commonly in very different condition — one owner-occupied and maintained, the other tenanted and deferred. Any unit we could not enter is listed by unit number in the report as not inspected.
What happens if a tenant will not let the inspector in?
That unit does not get inspected, and the report says so by unit number. This is the single biggest cause of an incomplete multifamily report. The inspection is only as complete as the access provided, so make access to every unit a written condition of your inspection contingency before the clock starts. Notice requirements are set by state landlord-tenant law and by each individual lease, and they differ between Iowa and Minnesota — your agent or attorney should confirm what applies.
Can you inspect an occupied rental property?
Yes, and most 2-4 unit buildings are at least partly occupied. Be aware of what occupancy conceals: stored belongings block electrical panels, water heaters, furnaces, attic hatches and crawlspace entries, and anything blocked is simply not inspected. Furniture, rugs, wall hangings and full closets cover the floors, wall bases and ceilings where water damage and pest activity show first. We document what was obstructed so you know exactly what the report does and does not cover.
What is checked between units in a duplex for fire safety?
The rated separation between the dwelling units. The IRC requires units in a two-family dwelling to be separated by wall and floor-ceiling assemblies with at least a one-hour fire-resistance rating (IRC R302.3), and the wall to run from the foundation to the underside of the roof sheathing unless an attic draftstop is provided above it. The defect we find most often in converted duplexes is exactly that: one continuous open attic over both units, so a fire in one enters the other unimpeded. We also look for unsealed penetrations, recessed lights and pull-down stairs cut through the assembly.
Is a townhouse held to the same fire separation as a duplex?
No — townhouse separation is a higher requirement. Buyers use the words interchangeably, but under the IRC a two-family dwelling (a duplex) is separated by a one-hour assembly under R302.3, while townhouse separation under R302.2 is commonly a two-hour assembly. Which one applies depends on how the building is actually legally configured and platted, not on what the listing calls it. We report what we observe and note where the construction does not match the description.
Does each unit need its own furnace, water heater and electrical panel?
Not necessarily — configurations vary, and that variation is part of what we document. Each piece of equipment gets its own evaluation: combustion venting, clearances, TPR discharge, expansion tank, age and remaining service life. In older Iowa and Minnesota buildings the recurring finding is piecemeal replacement — several appliances sharing one masonry chimney flue, or a water heater left orphaned on an oversized chimney after the furnace was swapped for a high-efficiency direct-vent unit. That is a backdrafting and carbon monoxide concern worth knowing about before closing.
Who pays the utilities if there is only one meter for the building?
Whoever the meter is wired to, which is why we trace it. In a single-family home there is one gas meter, one water shutoff and one main disconnect; in a 2-4 unit the question is which meter and which shutoff serves which unit. Recurring findings: unlabeled meter banks, one water shutoff controlling the whole building so no unit's fixture can be repaired without shutting everyone off, and common-area loads such as hallway lighting, shared laundry or the sump pump wired to one tenant's meter. That last one changes your rent-roll math.
Should I test for radon in a duplex or apartment building?
Yes, and one test does not characterize the building. Radon measurement in a multi-unit building follows a different standard than a single-family test: ANSI/AARST MA-MFLB-2023, effective December 1, 2023, calls for initial testing in 100 percent of ground-contact dwelling units plus 10 percent of upper-floor dwellings. A side-by-side duplex has two ground-contact units, so both are tested. Iowa HHS states the Iowa Radon Survey found Iowa has the nation's largest percentage of homes above EPA's 4 pCi/L action level, 71.6 percent; the Iowa Department of Natural Resources reports more than two in five Iowa homes have radon levels that pose a significant health risk.
Do I need a separate sewer scope on a multifamily property?
In most cases it is the single highest-value add-on for these buildings, because one lateral commonly serves the whole structure. A blockage or a collapsed section then takes every unit out at once and puts sewage in the shared basement where all of the mechanical equipment sits. Older buildings in established neighborhoods, clay laterals and mature trees are the classic combination. A standard inspection cannot see a buried line — only a camera can.
What should an investor be watching for in a 2-4 unit building?
Capital-expense timing and unpermitted work. Four furnaces installed the same year will fail the same winter, so the report should tell you the age and remaining life of every major component, not just whether it runs today. The second concern is a single-family house split into units without permits, where the fire separation was never built — that can affect financing, insurability and legal occupancy. We also flag shared-system exposure: one sump serving the whole basement with no backup, exterior egress stairs on shallow or heaved footings, and downspouts concentrating a large roof onto few discharge points.
What do Fairfield home inspectors look for that a generic checklist misses?
The age of this stock, which is unusually well documented. As of the 2000 census roughly a third of Fairfield's housing units predated 1939 and another fifth went up between 1940 and 1959 — a genuinely pre-war town, not a town with a few old houses. So the emphasis falls on knob-and-tube remnants and undersized services, cast-iron stacks, galvanized supply, plaster over lath that hides what has been cut into, chimneys built for solid fuel and never relined, and clay laterals under mature street trees, which is why we recommend a sewer scope on the older blocks. Architect-documented houses here, including Victorians by George Franklin Barber, get written up with an eye to repair versus replacement.
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