A home inspection in New Hampshire often covers more than the house. In Nashua, Concord or Rochester, a buyer may be on city water and sewer, and the inspector's report is the main thing to read. Move a few miles out, to Hopkinton, Bow, Farmington or Peterborough, and the house has a private well, a septic system and maybe a buried oil tank, none of which a general inspection fully covers. Knowing which tests to add is most of what makes an inspection here worth the money.
The state license and how to check it
New Hampshire licenses home inspectors. Since January 1, 2010, RSA 310-A:189 has barred anyone from conducting home inspections in the state without a license from the Board of Home Inspectors. Look up the inspector's name or number on the OPLC verification page and confirm the license is active.
A license sets a minimum. Beyond it, ask:
- Is an 1850s farmhouse in Hopkinton, a 1970s raised ranch in Merrimack or a lake camp in Belmont the kind of building you inspect every week?
- What does your report include? Ask for a sample, with photos.
- Which add-on tests do you do yourself, and which do you refer out?
- Do you carry errors and omissions insurance?
Real estate agents often suggest inspectors. That is fine, but the inspector works for you, and you should feel free to choose your own.
Testing the well before you buy
A large share of New Hampshire homes outside the cities draw water from a private well, and no law requires a well to be tested at sale. State environmental officials put the share of private wells with too much arsenic at roughly twenty percent, and say radon in well water tops their guideline more often than not. The agency's private wells page advises buyers to have the water tested before purchase.
Ask the inspector whether they collect water samples and which lab they use, or arrange it yourself through an accredited lab. A standard analysis plus radon and arsenic is the usual starting point. Ask the seller for any past test results and for records of a treatment system, and test the water coming out of the tap, after any treatment, as well as raw water if a system is installed.
Results take days to come back, and inspection deadlines in purchase agreements are short. Order the water test at the same time as the inspection.
Radon in the air: test everywhere here
Radon is a gas that seeps out of granite, and New Hampshire is a granite state; the federal radon zone map rates large parts of it in the highest-potential category. A radon test in the air is advised for any house here, not only in certain towns.
Inspectors usually place a continuous monitor or test canisters in the lowest livable level for at least 48 hours. Ask how they keep the test honest: closed-house conditions, a tamper check, a record of the monitor's readings over time. If the result is high, a mitigation system is a well-understood fix, and its cost is a reasonable thing to negotiate with the seller.
The septic system is a separate inspection
A general home inspector looks at plumbing inside the house but usually does not evaluate the septic system. That takes a septic inspection: pumping the tank, checking the baffles, and looking at the leach field for signs of failure. Ask the inspector whether they do it or whom they recommend.
NHDES regulates septic systems: new and replacement systems need state approval, and designs and installations must be done by people the state permits (NHDES septic designers and installers). Ask the seller or the town for the system's approval records and pumping history. A failed leach field in Laconia or Lebanon can cost far more than any repair the general inspection finds.
Oil tanks, old wiring and lead paint
New Hampshire is an oil-heat state, and many older houses keep an oil tank in the cellar, and some still hide an abandoned one underground. An inspector should note the tank's age and condition. A fill pipe sticking out of the ground near a house with no visible tank is a sign of a buried one, and a leaking buried tank is a serious problem. Ask whether the inspector looks for one, and ask the seller.
Older houses often have old wiring, fuse panels or knob-and-tube circuits, and paint that predates 1978. An inspector can note them; an electrician or a lead inspector can tell you what they mean. If you plan to rent part of a pre-1978 house, a 2024 state law makes you get the unit certified lead-safe by a state-licensed risk assessor before anyone rents it (RSA 130-A:5-d), and that belongs in your budget before you buy.
Two-families and condos in the mill cities
In Manchester, Nashua and Dover, many buyers look at a two- or three-family house to live in one unit and rent the others, or at a condo in a converted mill. The inspection changes with the building.
For a multi-family house, ask whether the inspector will inspect every unit, the common areas, the basement and each heating system, and whether the price is per unit. Ask them to note separate meters and shutoffs, and fire separation between units, which matters for safety and for insurance. For a condo, the inspector looks at your unit; the roof, the exterior and the common systems belong to the association. Ask the association for its reserve study and recent meeting minutes, which say more about the building's future bills than any inspection of one unit can.
Buying a lake house or camp
A camp on a lake is not inspected like a house in Hudson. Ask the inspector about:
- year-round use: whether the camp has heat, insulated pipes and a foundation that will hold up in winter;
- the water: many camps draw from the lake or a shallow well, which needs testing;
- the septic system, which may have been sized for summer use only;
- the shoreland. Under RSA 483-B:9, the 50 feet nearest the water is a protected buffer and primary structures sit behind a 50-foot line. Expansion and new structures may need state permits, so ask an attorney or the town about what you could add.
Pricing an inspection and the add-ons
A standard inspection of a single-family home under 2,000 square feet runs about $470 to $660 in the New Hampshire home inspection cost estimate. Larger houses and multi-family buildings cost more, and radon, water testing, septic and sewer-camera work are add-ons.
Choose by quality, not price alone. A thorough inspection of an old house in Keene or Berlin takes time, and a cheap one that misses a failing sill or a leaking tank costs far more than the difference in fee.
