A beautiful open house doesn’t tell the whole story. In this episode, host Andrew Orr sits down with Bay Area home inspector Brian Cogley to explore what buyers should know before committing to a Bay Area home; from making sense of inspection findings to understanding potential repair costs. Plus, a practical lightning round to help you look beyond the fresh paint and ask better questions.
Key Takeaways
Focus on the expensive problems. Significant foundation movement, major drainage issues, and concealed water damage deserve particular attention. Fresh paint and updated finishes do not necessarily mean a home is in good condition.
Not every finding is a deal breaker. Small cracks, uneven floors, and framing that falls short of modern standards can be common in older Bay Area homes. Their significance depends on the context.
Call the inspector for clarification. A conversation can help distinguish routine observations from serious concerns and explain why a specialist was recommended.
Use specialists strategically. Major structural or drainage concerns may warrant further evaluation. Before paying for another general inspection, consider the quality and completeness of the seller’s report.
Budget beyond the purchase price. Brian’s rough estimates put several major projects in the tens of thousands of dollars. Actual costs depend on the property and require contractor bids.
About the Guest
Brian Cogley has been inspecting Bay Area homes since 2004. A California licensed general contractor and American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) Certified Inspector, he also holds certifications in residential building, electrical, plumbing, and mechanical inspection. Brian served four years as president of Golden Gate ASHI and has taught building inspection and maintenance classes to Native American and public housing authorities across the country. He is also featured on the cover and in the introduction of The Complete Guide to Home Inspection.
Resources and Links
Cogley Property Inspections— Brian's company website and contact information
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Andrew: Welcome back to HouseCall SF, the podcast where we help Bay Area homebuyers navigate the real estate market with transparent, independent advice. I’m your host, Andrew Orr.
So you finally found the home you love, but then you open the inspection report, and suddenly you’re staring at 40 pages of foundation cracks, outdated wiring, drainage issues, and recommendations to call a structural engineer. How do you know what’s a deal breaker versus what’s just a normal part of owning an older Bay Area home? And, maybe most importantly, is this house going to turn into a money pit?
Today, we’re talking with Brian Cogley, an experienced Bay Area home inspector, about how to make sense of home inspection reports and identify the problems that really matter. We’ll cover the biggest red flags he looks for, the common issues buyers tend to overreact to, when it’s worth bringing in a specialist, and how much some of the most expensive repairs might actually cost.
We’re very lucky to have Brian on the show today. With over 20 years of experience inspecting homes in the Bay Area and a license as a general contractor, he has a wealth of practical knowledge to share. He owns Cogley Property Inspections, and you can find him at CogleyInspections.com. He’s certified by the American Society of Home Inspectors, or ASHI. He’s a former president of the Golden Gate ASHI chapter, a sought-after teacher for building, inspection, and maintenance classes, and he’s featured on the cover of a book about home inspections.
In addition to his skill, I’ve been impressed by the kindness, compassion, and empathy that so many of his clients mention. As you’ll see in our conversation, he really understands the pressure and challenges facing Bay Area homebuyers.
I remember spending hours poring over inspection reports during our own home search, trying to figure out what all these findings meant. My hope is that this conversation will save you some of that time and uncertainty. If you’re actively looking for homes and, like me, could use some support analyzing home inspection reports, this episode is for you. Let’s get into it.
Brian, welcome to the show. Our listeners have heard about your impressive credentials already. I’m really glad you’re joining us for what I know will be a valuable conversation.
When we were in the active search phase of homebuying, I would spend hours reviewing inspection reports and going down internet research rabbit holes, trying to figure out whether we needed to be concerned about the things that came up. With no prior experience in building or home repair, this was really hard and very time-consuming.
My hope today is that we can provide a basic playbook to help listeners interpret a home inspection report and get a general sense of the major things that might need to be repaired. To get there, let’s start with the basics.
What a Home Inspector Actually Does
Andrew: Brian, can you tell us what exactly a home inspector does? Walk us through a typical inspection. What are you looking at?
Brian: With a home inspection, we’re looking at pretty much everything. There are some things we’re going to disclaim: solar installations, wells, and things like that that are a little more specialized. But in general, we’re looking at the major systems and components of a building.
Going from the top down, that includes the roof and the exterior. The exterior includes porches, decks, staircases, walkways, retaining walls, siding, window exteriors, and things of that nature.
Then there are the various utilities. We’ll look at the electrical system and the plumbing system, which includes water piping, waste piping, and gas piping. We’ll look at the water heater and the heating or cooling system, depending on what they have, as well as interior components.
Lastly, you get down to the fun stuff: the foundation and what’s going on structurally with the building.
Andrew: Top down—that’s a good way of thinking about it. I wish I’d known that when I was analyzing all those inspection reports.
That sounds like everything to me. Are there things a general inspection does not cover?
Brian: I’m an American Society of Home Inspectors member—ASHI is the abbreviation—and my reports and inspections follow the ASHI standards.
If you get a copy of those standards, they have a list of things we don’t have to look at. We can if we want, but some of those things would be, as I mentioned, a photovoltaic system, backup batteries, or a well on the property.
I typically disclaim swimming pools because I don’t see enough of them out here to feel that I’m qualified to inspect them. I would certainly look at safety issues, though.
Usually, the things we wouldn’t inspect are a little more unusual—something you wouldn’t see in every house.
Andrew: What if you can’t get on the roof because it’s not safe, or you can’t get into the foundation area to see it? What happens in those situations?
Brian: I have a drone now, and I use that for the roof if I can’t get to it. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten a little smarter, too. There are certain roofs I won’t climb on because it’s not worth the risk. If something is really steep and I can see it from the ground with binoculars or send a drone up, I don’t feel like I need to walk on it.
I’ve found drones really useful, especially for three- or four-story buildings where you can’t get up there. More often than not, you send a drone up, and there’s something problematic that you couldn’t see from the ground.
As far as not being able to access portions of a foundation, it’s important that home inspectors note that in their report and usually give a reason why. Maybe the opening was too small, or there wasn’t an opening at all. Then, of course, there should be a recommendation to have somebody provide access and take a look. That’s how I approach it.
Andrew: Do you think drones are standard now? Are most home inspectors bringing them for roof access?
Brian: It’s pretty common now. I know a couple of home inspectors who are really grumpy and old-school, and I have to disagree with that. You have to embrace a little bit of technology. Even if you can only take a couple of photos with the drone, that’s better than not looking at all.
Andrew: Definitely.
Brian: I certainly have a disclaimer in my report saying I used a drone and am relying on camera footage. Small cracks or defects that would require your fingers to touch them aren’t necessarily things I’ll be able to see with a drone. But you can certainly find major roof issues.
Andrew: That’s great. Thinking back to the reports I looked at, I think the majority of the time it just said they couldn’t access the roof—no drone or anything.
Sometimes they couldn’t access the foundation, either. Obviously, you want to see that. If you can’t, I imagine there must be signs you can look for on the exterior or inside the house that suggest potential problems. Am I correct?
Brian: Most definitely. A lot of houses around here have stucco siding. Older houses often have what are called battered foundations. They’re shaped like a trapezoid instead of an inverted-T footing, which is what they make now.
A lot of those foundations are known to rotate out, away from the building. You can absolutely see that from the outside. Even if somebody tried to paint over the cracks, you’ll see displacement in the siding. That’s one way to spot an issue with that particular type of foundation.
With newer foundations—and “newer” to me means the late ’40s through modern times, since they started using steel after World War II—you’ll often see people finish out a basement. They put up Sheetrock, carpet everything, and really do it up.
Those concern me because I don’t know what was there before. Was it just a basement, and somebody decided to make it look like there’s a whole bunch of extra square footage? Now you have below-grade floors with carpet. When it was a basement, the floors might have gotten a little damp. Now that moisture gets trapped because of the carpet, and it can turn into a mold factory.
Those are concerns for me with below-grade foundation and drainage issues.
Andrew: Thank you for sharing that. I also love that the late ’40s qualifies as newer construction around here.
Brian: It’s crazy.
Biggest Red Flags to Fear
Andrew: Let’s keep moving. Brian, you’ve seen hundreds of homes. What are the biggest red flags that make you concerned about a property? What findings make you think, “This could be a really expensive problem”?
Brian: When I do a home inspection, I look at everything I can see. But at the end of the day, the things I’m really concerned about are the things that cost a lot of money.
Obviously, roofs don’t last forever. They get replaced, and it’s a bummer if one needs replacing. But the big red flags for me are foundation and drainage issues.
In the East Bay, we have slide zones all over the place. There are times when I come up to a house and see that it’s moved so far down the hill. I’ll look at my clients, who have their brand-new baby and that deer-in-the-headlights look, and say, “This is no good, you guys. Let’s just everybody go home.”
Things I look for include major sloping in the floors, interior cracking, exterior cracking, and patterns that might explain what’s causing the movement.
Other red flags can come from the style of the house. There are a lot of Tudor-style houses in the East Bay where the gutters are right up against the wall. When those were first built, the gutters were wooden and embedded in the stucco. A lot of stucco buildings also have parapet walls.
In my experience, almost 100% of the time with those types of buildings, there’s going to be damage behind the stucco. So I’m asking: Did the pest company do test openings? Did they check for what is very likely to be damage behind the stucco? If they didn’t do test openings, that’s a red flag to me. Why didn’t they?
There are other things, too. You walk up and look at the main electrical panel, and it has fuses. I looked at a house on Friday that had 30-amp, 120-volt service. Think about that. You can’t run a dryer on that, and it’s powering the whole house.
When I see that, then go through the house and see all this new electrical stuff, I think, “What’s going on? I need to look a little closer.”
Then there’s the question of whether it’s a flip. How long did they own it? If everything has been redone and they lived there for 30 years, I start to relax a little. If they bought the house two months ago and everything is brand-new, I know there’s no way they got permits for all of it because cities don’t work that fast.
Those things are always red flags for me. Flippers are guilty until proven innocent in my book. That’s what my experience has taught me.
Andrew: I think a lot of people share that concern: Is this house a flip? Anytime you ask the listing agent, it’s, “The sellers are moving because they got a new job.” They’re not necessarily going to describe it as a flip.
Have you seen situations where a house looked great on the surface—maybe it was a flip—but there was a serious problem underneath? What tipped you off that the average buyer might not have noticed?
Brian: One in particular comes to mind. It was a flip, and it had been raining recently. Something just looked off about one of the walls. I touched it, and my finger went through the wall because everything was completely rotten, but it had all just been painted.
For buyers, a little common sense helps. Pay attention to weird smells. If you smell mold, there’s mold there. That doesn’t necessarily mean everybody should get scared, because mold is everywhere. But look for things like wrinkled paint.
It’s a little hard to explain because I’ve been doing this for so long. Every style of house has its Achilles’ heel. I’ll come up to a Tudor-style house and, right off the bat, assume there’s damage behind the stucco. With houses from the 1920s or late 1800s, we may be dealing with brick foundations.
Every decade has its own Achilles’ heel as far as construction goes. Those are the house-specific things I look for.
Andrew: Based on the style of the home and when it was built, you have knowledge that clues you into the areas worth investigating further.
Brian: Correct.
Andrew: We have an older housing supply here. What problems do you see particularly frequently in older Bay Area homes? When we were looking, we saw homes built in the early 1900s, going way back. They all had some serious issues, from what I remember.
Brian: There are a couple of different types of serious issues. You can have an issue that has become serious because somebody didn’t maintain the house.
There are simple maintenance things you can do to make your roof last longer: clean your gutters and clean your roof every year. But if you let a place go, with plants growing against it and rooting into the siding, you can have major issues because of deferred maintenance.
Then you can have major issues simply because of the age of the house. I mentioned rotation in older foundations. It doesn’t matter how well you maintain your house. If the foundation is going to move, it’s going to move. Nothing you do, short of getting an engineer and a construction team out to stabilize it, will change that.
Other things are becoming major issues because of insurance companies. Electrical systems are an example. We have a ton of old electrical systems around here, including knob-and-tube wiring. That’s the really old style of wiring used when electricity first started being installed in buildings.
Insurance companies are refusing coverage unless all of it has been replaced. Those are becoming major issues now that weren’t considered issues three years ago.
Those are the big ones: deferred maintenance and things like electrical systems. It can be frustrating because three years ago it wasn’t an issue, and now people are having to spend $20,000, $30,000, or $40,000 replacing wiring just to sell their house. The buyer needs insurance before taking possession.
Andrew: Right.
Brian: Those are the bigger things I’m seeing.
Andrew: What about older plumbing systems? Is that common, and does it pose problems?
Brian: Older plumbing systems will have steel or galvanized steel water piping. Waste piping will be cast iron and galvanized steel, sometimes copper once you get into the ’40s.
I don’t see a lot of massive, catastrophic failures with plumbing systems. You can get a leak, including a waste pipe leak, then cut that section out and replace it while keeping much of the rest.
From a functional standpoint, older water piping can be kind of gross. Deposits build up inside steel pipes and restrict flow, so you can have flow issues at the faucets. Debris can break loose, and then you’re getting brown water out of the faucet.
There are definitely reasons to do plumbing upgrades. I suggest people consider them, especially if they’re remodeling or already have contractors out. Why not take care of the old stuff at that point?
Andrew: You may as well. So if buyers see galvanized steel piping in the inspection report, that’s something to pay attention to because it’s older. You mentioned copper as a more modern option. What would be the best type of piping to see in the report?
Brian: Around here, most people think copper is the best. It’s a really solid product. It doesn’t build up deposits like that.
We also have PEX, which stands for cross-linked polyethylene. It’s flexible tubing that’s been around for the better part of 50 years. Some people in the Bay Area get scared of it because they think it’s going to give them cancer or something, and it’s not.
I like seeing it, especially a product called Uponor, because Uponor won’t sell it to just anybody the way Home Depot does. When I see Uponor PEX, I know a plumber installed it because only a plumber could buy it.
For me, PEX and copper are the ones I prefer.
Andrew: Those are good ones. To circle back to foundation issues, you mentioned foundations rotating. Would you notice that through sloping floors or doors that don’t close properly? Are those the clues?
Brian: They can be. Usually, I literally see it. If I’m in the crawl space, the piece of wood framing physically touching the foundation is called a mudsill. That will be at an angle instead of level, and you’ll see gaps between the studs and the mudsill.
Sometimes, if it’s excessive enough, that translates into sloping floors.
A lot of sloping floors have to do with the expansive soils we have out here. There’s expansion and contraction throughout the seasons. If you have intermediate piers, those can heave and move, causing slope. If you’re on a hill, you might get movement on the downhill side.
A lot of things can contribute. Whenever I get into a house that’s really sloped, I try to see what’s going on. It depends on the house, the lot, the age of the foundations, and other factors.
I don’t usually start getting concerned about slope until I feel like I’m accelerating as I walk through the house. I know that sounds goofy, but that’s what I do.
Whenever somebody from the Midwest shows up for their daughter’s inspection with a six-foot level, I’m thinking, “There’s nothing in this house that’s level. I haven’t even been inside yet, and nothing is going to be level.”
I learned a long time ago to use my sense of balance to help determine whether the slope is substantial or whether something settled a hundred years ago and hasn’t moved since.
Andrew: I read somewhere to bring a marble when you’re looking at homes and put it on the floor. But it sounds like it’s going to move out here.
Brian: Most definitely.
Andrew: Thank you for answering these basic questions. This is obviously not my area of expertise, but your insight is valuable.
I want to revisit something else you said: water damage can be a major red flag and an expensive issue. I remember reading reports that suggested regrading or improving drainage. What are the options for addressing drainage issues or reducing the risk of water damage?
Brian: There are several types of drainage repairs, and a lot depends on the lot.
Let’s start with a moderate slope down toward the front. You have a house built into the hill, with the top floor above grade and a partial basement or garage below—a typical house in the El Cerrito hills.
If drainage is an issue, you could do what’s called a French drain. They dig a deep trench around the house and put in perforated piping. There’s a whole process involving drainage rock and drainage fabric to keep the piping from clogging. They slope it toward the front, where it terminates at the street, then backfill the trench.
The idea is that water reaches the drainage system, enters the perforated pipe, and is carried away from the building. Nothing mechanical is required. You don’t need a pump because gravity takes care of it.
Those are pretty expensive—usually something like $40,000 to $50,000.
Another scenario is a flat lot. Think of Albany down near the BART tracks. All those houses have water underneath them. I’ve inspected so many of them; it’s just a wet area.
You can’t really do a French drain in the same way because the property is flat. You could, but you’d need a pump. Since the water is coming up under the house instead of working its way down a hill, people often put in an under-house drainage system with a couple of sump pumps and a vapor barrier over it.
“Vapor barrier” is a fancy name for plastic sheeting. It keeps moisture vapor from moving up through the house through the stack effect and causing issues.
Sometimes, if there’s only a little water, a vapor barrier may be enough. You may not need an entire drainage system.
What I usually encourage my clients to do is wait for a year so they can see what they’re really dealing with. Typically, one more winter of rain isn’t going to be devastating. What can be devastating is a brand-new finished basement when you don’t know whether there’s drainage. That can be pretty scary.
Those are a couple of drainage options.
Andrew: It’s a different story if you have a finished basement.
We’ve talked about expensive problems and big red flags. What about the opposite? Are there common findings buyers tend to overreact to, even though they’re fairly routine and not really a cause for concern in your expert opinion?
Brian: All the time. I get calls from people saying, “We saw a crack in the living room. What does that mean?” It might simply mean there’s a crack.
But I understand why they’re scared. This is their first house, it’s in the Bay Area, and everything is expensive. Every little thing raises the question, “Does that crack mean the house is going to fall down?” No. It could just be a bad tape job behind the Sheetrock. Those are the conversations I have with people.
Usually, something very simple has made somebody nervous.
Another common example: About 90% of the attic sections in my reports say the roof framing is undersized by modern standards. That’s because the building is old. People call and ask, “What do I have to do to fix that?” Often, you don’t need to do anything. If you’re adding weight, such as a solar system, they’ll reinforce the framing in that area.
I never get annoyed at people calling. If I were about to spend the amount of money they’re spending on a home around here, I’d want to know, too.
Andrew: That’s the thing. You need to know how much more to keep in reserve for issues that might come up.
Would you recommend calling the person who did the inspection if you have questions? Or should buyers go through their agent or straight to a structural engineer?
Brian: Calling the home inspector is a great idea. Don’t bug us too much! But seriously, calling for clarification is a solid move.
Before going straight to an engineer, I’d talk to the inspector. Some reports recommend an engineer every time. Do you really need that? Or do you need a contractor to help you understand retrofitting? Was the engineer recommended because one would need to design a retrofit, even though the foundation itself is fine?
You can get clarity on those questions by talking with the inspector.
Sometimes, just hearing the inspector’s tone of voice as they discuss the issue can put you at ease. We write reports to standards, and they aren’t pleasant. All we do is talk about the bad things in a house. By the time you finish reading, you’re thinking, “Should I even consider buying this place?”
Getting some perspective from the inspector on a phone call can be helpful.
After you’ve been looking long enough and have read enough reports, you start to recognize what’s a big deal and what isn’t. But yes, calling the inspector is a great idea.
Andrew: You start to see the same things over and over. You either accept them or think, “We’re going to have to fix this no matter which house we buy.”
Would the inspector also provide a rough estimate of repair costs, or would you need a contractor?
Brian: For something in writing, you’d need a contractor. If I’m walking through with a client, I’ll often give rough numbers verbally. But I’m not doing the work, so I can’t put a price in writing.
A pest inspection report has prices because that company would actually do the work to repair the pest-related damage. We don’t do that.
I’m happy to give rough estimates, with the understanding that they’re just for ballpark calculations—helping you figure out an offer, for example. If it’s something I’m not comfortable pricing, I’ll say, “I don’t know. You’ll have to call somebody for a price.”
Andrew: Brian, I saw that you invite clients to walk with you throughout the entire inspection. Is that standard practice?
Brian: Probably not.
First, I’d say 80% to 90% of my inspections are for sellers, for disclosure purposes. I don’t deal with many buyers anymore.
When I do, my attitude has always been, “Please follow me.” I try to make it something of a team effort. Usually, people follow me for 30 minutes, get bored, and go do something else. But going through it together is a good learning process.
I’ll certainly tell them when I need some quiet time to enter findings into my tablet. I know a lot of inspectors who don’t like having somebody follow them. They’re happy to give a recap at the end, but they worry about getting distracted or missing something while talking.
My attitude has always been, “I’d want to follow me around if I were in your shoes, so go for it.” I even keep extra crawl clothes in case somebody wants to go under a house with me. If they’re that interested, I’m all for it.
Andrew: It’s an opportunity to see things they may never see again. It sounds like there’s a lot of valuable information to learn, but buyers should check with their inspector to make sure they’re comfortable with it.
Brian: Yes. The one thing that gets awkward is when somebody asks, “Do you mind if I video the whole inspection?”
I do mind, because then I’m going to feel self-conscious, and I guarantee I’ll start missing things. Usually, when you explain that, people understand.
But walking around, following the inspector, and asking questions is a great thing for a buyer to do.
Andrew: That makes sense.
You mentioned that most of your inspections are for sellers. In San Francisco and other competitive Bay Area markets, sellers often provide inspection reports up front. How much confidence should buyers place in those reports? We wondered about this ourselves.
Should Buyers Hire Their Own Inspector?
Andrew: Are there circumstances where you recommend buyers get their own inspection?
Brian: Absolutely. It depends on who did the inspection.
Usually, if you have a certified ASHI inspector, you’re probably in good shape. The requirements for certification are substantial. You need something like 250 paid inspections, and you have to take different tests.
There’s one organization—I’m not going to name names—where somebody got their dog certified to demonstrate how ridiculous the organization’s requirements were.
There are a few inspection firms around here whose reports prompt agents to call me and say, “We want you to do an inspection because we don’t trust these guys.” And rightfully so.
If an inspection company doesn’t include the roof in the home inspection and instead makes it a separate inspection, I’d generally avoid that company. At that point, they’re trying to get around a California law that basically says home inspectors aren’t allowed to work on houses they’ve inspected for a year.
Some companies have a separate roof inspection so their roofing company can offer repairs. Those companies are known for not being very detail-oriented with their inspections.
So it depends. Sometimes people call and say, “I have this report, but I think I want my own inspection.” I ask who did it, and it’s somebody I’ve known for 20 years and have the utmost respect for.
In that case, I’ll say, “Call them and ask your questions. This person is a great inspector, and you’re in good hands. You don’t need to spend more money on me when I’m going to give you the same results.”
I know that’s a somewhat vague answer, but it depends on who did the inspection.
Andrew: It sounds like ASHI certification is a big thing to look for. Is that shown in the report?
Brian: Yes. Most of us have a symbol that says “ASHI Certified Inspector” on the report cover, or something to that effect. It would certainly be on our websites.
We’re pretty good at self-policing. Every now and then, somebody uses the logo when they aren’t certified, and there’s a system for dealing with that.
The vast majority of the time, if somebody has the ASHI Certified Inspector logo, they’re going to be a decent inspector.
Andrew: You mentioned a couple of companies whose reports you don’t trust as much. Would a good agent know which ones those are and watch out for that?
Brian: Good agents will know.
Andrew: Let’s say issues are flagged. Then there’s a delicate balance: How do you avoid spending thousands of dollars on inspections you may not need while still protecting yourself? When should buyers go beyond a general inspection and bring in a specialist?
Brian: The last page of my report is the primary recommendations page. It’s a list of the things I consider the big issues.
I’m not saying to look only at that page. Read the whole report. But after reading dozens of 30-page reports, it’s nice to be able to skip to the back and see the major concerns.
Andrew: At least it’s a starting point.
Brian: Exactly. If the inspector recommends a structural engineer to look at the foundation, read the foundation section and see what defects were noted.
If there are massive cracks, substantial rotation, or movement down a hill, you probably should have an engineer look at it.
If you have a fuse subpanel in the garage, we’re all going to recommend replacing it. Do you need a specialist to assess that? You could bring somebody out, but you could also do a quick search and see that a new subpanel might be around $3,000.
It’s case by case.
Because I mostly work with sellers, they often have people come out based on my report and include that information in the disclosure packet. My report says to bring an engineer out, and then there’s the engineer’s report. It recommends an electrical replacement, and there’s a bid to replace the panel.
The seller’s agent typically looks at the report and helps decide what additional information is needed. Maybe an engineer should assess the foundation. Maybe they need a roof bid because it’s a large, complicated roof, and buyers will want to know roughly what replacement costs.
Another reason is to avoid a situation where a buyer brings in a roofer who says, “This roof will cost $100,000.” It helps sellers to have information from legitimate contractors so everybody is on the same page.
The times to bring in a specialist are when you’re dealing with major structural issues, major drainage issues, and things that could cost a lot of money.
Andrew: Those are the same red flags you mentioned earlier.
Repair Cost Lightning Round
Andrew: Brian, I want to wrap up with something a little different. Let’s do a lightning round.
I’ll name some common problems you might find in a Bay Area home. I’d love a rough ballpark of what each might cost to address in an average single-family home under 2,000 square feet.
Brian: Sure.
Andrew: We understand that costs can vary enormously depending on the house and scope of work. We’re not trying to be precise—just getting a sense of whether we’re talking about a few hundred dollars, a few thousand, or tens of thousands.
Let’s start with roof replacement. An older home’s roof has reached the end of its useful life. What’s a typical replacement cost?
Brian: $20,000 to $30,000. It could be more if the roof is complicated, but I’d say $20,000 to $30,000.
Andrew: How about foundation repair? Significant cracking or settlement requires structural repairs. What are we talking about?
Brian: Usually, you’re not repairing an old foundation; you’re replacing it. The numbers I’ve been hearing are roughly $700 to $800 per linear foot. You can pace it off and multiply.
For a foundation on a flat lot with a 1,500-square-foot house, you might be looking at $60,000 to $80,000. It goes up from there depending on the size of the house, whether it’s on a hill, and things like that.
Andrew: That’s definitely one of the more expensive ones.
Brian: Most definitely.
Andrew: How about an average seismic retrofit?
Brian: For four walls on a flat lot, a Plan C retrofit—which is a prescriptive retrofit contractors can do if the house meets certain physical requirements—is usually around $10,000 to $15,000.
It goes up from there. If you have a soft story, such as living space above a garage door or large windows, those are engineered issues. You’re getting into several tens of thousands of dollars.
Andrew: A couple more. Replacing a furnace or heating system—how much should a buyer expect to spend?
Brian: A lot, because there’s a rule coming into play on January 1 where you won’t be able to install gas-fired appliances in the Bay Area anymore. It will be interesting to see how that plays out because many electrical systems aren’t large enough to handle what the requirement will demand.
Heat pumps are pretty much the option you’ll have. Mini-splits are $15,000 to $20,000. For regular forced-air heat pumps, I’ve heard $25,000 to $30,000, which blows my mind because they aren’t that complicated to install.
Heating systems are about to get a lot more expensive because of this new energy rule.
Andrew: That may be one to watch as a potential significant cost item in the near future.
Brian: I know people who are buying gas water heaters just to have one when theirs fails. You could still drive to Nevada and get a gas water heater if you needed one, but it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
These requirements could mean people have to redo entire electrical services that are currently adequate and not dangerous. They just don’t have enough electricity coming in to power everything.
Andrew: You mentioned electrical systems. We talked about upgrading the electrical panel, but what about a house that needs a significant amount of knob-and-tube wiring removed and replaced? What does that cost?
Brian: Again, for a house under 2,000 square feet, the numbers I’ve been hearing are $30,000 to $40,000.
Andrew: Last one: replacing old piping. The house has aging galvanized pipes that need replacement. What’s a typical repiping cost?
Brian: That becomes so house-specific. With split-level houses, for example, you may not have access to the piping, so you have to open a lot of walls.
I don’t have a number for you on that one. Sorry.
Andrew: No problem. Brian, we’ve taken up enough of your time. Thank you so much for coming on HouseCall SF. Where can listeners learn more from you or about you?
Brian: Just go to my website, CogleyInspections.com.
Andrew: Perfect. Thank you again, Brian.
Closing and Takeaways
Andrew: A big thank-you to Brian Cogley for joining us today and helping demystify the home inspection process.
One of the biggest takeaways from this conversation is that not every problem in an inspection report is a reason to walk away from a house. Older Bay Area homes are going to have issues. The key is knowing which ones are relatively routine, which deserve a closer look, and which could cost tens of thousands of dollars.
And remember: If you’re overwhelmed by a report, pick up the phone and call the inspector. As Brian reminded us, sometimes a quick conversation can provide a lot more clarity than pages of technical findings.
There is one time-related update for Bay Area homebuyers and homeowners before we wrap up. Brian mentioned the upcoming restrictions on gas water heaters. Since we recorded, the Bay Area Air District has proposed delaying those new requirements until January 2028. It has also proposed exemptions for homeowners facing costly electrical upgrades, space limitations, or financial hardship.
If you’re buying an older home, it’s still worth checking the age of the water heater and what replacing it might eventually cost. Stay tuned, because the final decision is expected after a vote on November 4.
That’s it for today. I hope this was useful. You can learn more about Brian at CogleyInspections.com.
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Thanks for listening, and see you next time for our next HouseCall.
